Hawker Hunter - Survivor 543 (VH-JGP, ex WV331)
F.74A 543 - Steve Murray, Aviation Heritage Museum, Bull Creek, Western Australia
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Hunter F.74A 543 at Nowra, July 2002; Bob Lawson
Built as an F.4 and first flown by Hugh Merewether on 10th June 1955. Delivered to the RAF on 12th July 1955, WV331 served with x squadron. She was retired to ground instructional use at No.1 SoTT, RAF Halton, in November 1962.
She was sold back to Hawkers in 1971 and converted to an F.74A for Singapore, being flown in the UK as G-9-372 and delivered to Singapore on 16th August 1973 as '543'. The Republic of Singapore Air Force finally retired their Hunters in 1992 and 543 was sold to a dealer in Australia and from there acquired by her current owner, an ex-Hunter pilot himself.
She was been on on display in several places since then, and was painted up to represent Rhodesian Air Force Hunter '1280' (one the owner had flown) whilst on loan to the Australian Museum of Flight at Nowra. In February 2020 the owner had her moved closer to home, and she is now under restoration at the Aviation Heritage Museum in Perth. She'll be gaining a new RAF paint job in due course. Interestingly on dismantling the aircraft for transport the wings were revealed to be those from another Hunter - XF437.
She was sold back to Hawkers in 1971 and converted to an F.74A for Singapore, being flown in the UK as G-9-372 and delivered to Singapore on 16th August 1973 as '543'. The Republic of Singapore Air Force finally retired their Hunters in 1992 and 543 was sold to a dealer in Australia and from there acquired by her current owner, an ex-Hunter pilot himself.
She was been on on display in several places since then, and was painted up to represent Rhodesian Air Force Hunter '1280' (one the owner had flown) whilst on loan to the Australian Museum of Flight at Nowra. In February 2020 the owner had her moved closer to home, and she is now under restoration at the Aviation Heritage Museum in Perth. She'll be gaining a new RAF paint job in due course. Interestingly on dismantling the aircraft for transport the wings were revealed to be those from another Hunter - XF437.
Information on this page current as of 10/01/2021, last updated by Damien |
Find other photos of 543 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net