Hawker Hunter - Post War Jet Fighter Art Print

The tenure of Sidney Camm at Hawker Aviation lasted for over twenty years and resulted in some of the most famous and loved of all British aircraft. Seldom has an aircraft entered service with as much pedigree as the Hawker Hunter and, as a second-generation jet, the aircraft must rank as one of the best.

Swift advances in the development of both engines and aircraft design had rendered the Gloster Meteor and de Havilland Vampire near obsolete by 1950 and when the Meteor faced Soviet MiG-15 over Korea there was little doubt that a new British aircraft was desperately needed. Camm and the design team at Hawkers had been working on such an aircraft and the first prototype flew in July 1951. Development trials using two different engines continued, with both the Rolls-Royce Avon and Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire powering early versions of the aircraft.  From the standardised Mk.4 onwards the aircraft proved outstandingly popular with pilots and public alike.

Although it was replaced as a front-line fighter by the Lightning from 1960, Hunter’s served in many other guises with the last British aircraft not being retired until the 1980s. The last Hunter’s in service that we aware of were retired in 1993, these being the Swiss F.Mk.58.

The aircraft shown comes from 43 Squadron that used the aircraft from 1954-1967