Thunder & Lightnings

Hawker Hunter - Survivor XL618

T.7 XL618 - Flugplatz Museum Gütersloh, Germany

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Hunter T.7 XL618 at Newark Air Museum, 27th September 2014; Damien Burke

First flown on 7th January 1959, she served with the Gutersloh and Jever Station Flights and 229 OCU at Brawdy. XL618 made her final flight into RAF Shawbury in November 1982 for storage.

The aircraft was given the serial 8892M and was relocated to Cottesmore before moving on to Caernarfon Air World Museum in 1995. She stood here for several years in an overall green and grey colour scheme, which soon turned to brown and grey due to battling with the elements. XL618 received a much-needed repaint in 2007 into trainer colours, known as Rasberry Ripple. With little warning, the aircraft was suddenly under threat of being scrapped, but thankfully, Lakes Lightnings saved the Hunter and put it on loan to the Newark Air Museum. Sadly her years by the sea did her no favours and there was substantial corrosion in the undercarriage bays and wing attachment areas. The cockpit was partially stripped but what remained wasn't in that bad condition given the state of some other areas of the airframe. In early 2016, the aircraft was sold and exported to Germany for restoration and display at Flugplatz Museum. She is now, at last, undercover and receiving some TLC by the volunteers of Flugplatz.

Information on this page current as of 15/01/2022, last updated by Jake

Find other photos of XL618 on the following sites:

Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net