Hawker Hunter - Survivor WT680
F.1 WT680 - Anglia Motel, Fleet Hargate, Lincolnshire
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Hunter F.1 WT680 at Fleet Hargate, 17th August 2024; Luca Jeffery
First flown on 6th October 1954, like many F.1s WT680 didn't have a long career and was retired to ground instructional duties by November 1957.
She ended up at Aberporth and was looked after by 1429 Squadron ATC at the Defence Test & Evaluation Organisation's facility there. In 2005 she moved and was refurbished and put on display in the car park of the Anglia Motel by the side of the A17 road. Unfortunately, her repaint was carried out by simply re-doing the previous inaccurate paint scheme - as an F.1 she never wore these colours in service. If you do go along to take your own pictures, there's a bucket next to it for donations - which usually go to charities. At one point, she did spend a little time resting on her bottom with nosewheel in the air but soon returned to a normal stance. Unusually for preserved Hunter, she is complete with an engine and her cockpit is also remarkably complete. Sadly, her canopy and quarter panels are beginning to go quite cloudy.
Over the course of 2015/2016, WT680 was treated to a repaint, albeit still in the incorrect colours.. However, another repaint was started in 2020.
The grey on the upper surfaces is now a much better match, although the green is more an emerald green, than dark green.
At some point during mid-2022, the airframe's nose leg suffered an incident and appeared to have snapped, also causing its main undercarriage legs to collapse. Some two years later the aircraft can still be seen in this condition, with the nose risen whilst her wings rest on a pile of concrete blocks, and wingtips resting on a few tires. Sadly, not the prettiest sight. Fingers crossed, she is able to return to her normal stance once again in the not too distant future.
She ended up at Aberporth and was looked after by 1429 Squadron ATC at the Defence Test & Evaluation Organisation's facility there. In 2005 she moved and was refurbished and put on display in the car park of the Anglia Motel by the side of the A17 road. Unfortunately, her repaint was carried out by simply re-doing the previous inaccurate paint scheme - as an F.1 she never wore these colours in service. If you do go along to take your own pictures, there's a bucket next to it for donations - which usually go to charities. At one point, she did spend a little time resting on her bottom with nosewheel in the air but soon returned to a normal stance. Unusually for preserved Hunter, she is complete with an engine and her cockpit is also remarkably complete. Sadly, her canopy and quarter panels are beginning to go quite cloudy.
Over the course of 2015/2016, WT680 was treated to a repaint, albeit still in the incorrect colours.. However, another repaint was started in 2020.
The grey on the upper surfaces is now a much better match, although the green is more an emerald green, than dark green.
At some point during mid-2022, the airframe's nose leg suffered an incident and appeared to have snapped, also causing its main undercarriage legs to collapse. Some two years later the aircraft can still be seen in this condition, with the nose risen whilst her wings rest on a pile of concrete blocks, and wingtips resting on a few tires. Sadly, not the prettiest sight. Fingers crossed, she is able to return to her normal stance once again in the not too distant future.
Information on this page current as of 30/08/2024, last updated by Jake |
Find other photos of WT680 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net