Thunder & Lightnings - Hawker Hunter

Hawker Hunter
Survivor XL623
Woking town centre (pole mounted), Surrey

The Big Apple leisure complex in Woking town centre boasts this Hunter proudly displayed on a pole outside the front entrance. This adds to the generally surreal atmosphere of this part of town, which also has a Martian war machine (and cylinder) just round the corner - I kid you not (read The War of The Worlds to find out why!). Originally painted in a garish multi-coloured scheme, by 1998 it had acquired a more sedate overall silver finish, with no markings at all. The aircraft is basically a stripped-out shell with no engine or cockpit interior. Another visit 10 years after my first found her in much the same condition as before - though one of the intake blanks is partially missing so no doubt the interior is full of bird's nests and corroding away nicely. A few cracks are visible in some of the underside panels too. It is owned by the local council who do at least appear to be keeping her cosmetically clean and tidy.

Google Streetview link

Information on this page current as of 16/10/2008

Find other photos of XL623 on the following sites:

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

Add Comment
Your name:
Your email:
Your location:
Country (flag):
Your comments:

Steve from Banbury	Posted at 7:59pm on Saturday, May 16th, 2009
A pleasing account, though when I saw it recently I thought it looked down in the dumps and - because there's no plaque - hardly anybody knows that this was (still is!) a successful British fighter.