Hawker Hunter - Survivor WW654

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GA.11 WW654 - Privately owned (gate guard at former RNAS Ford), Ford, West Sussex

Hunter GA.11 WW654 at Ford, 17th May 2021; Damien Burke

Hunter GA.11 WW654 at Ford, 28th December 2002; Damien Burke

Hunter GA.11 WW654 at Ford, January 1999; Damien Burke

An ex-FRADU GA.11, WW654 was for some time resident in Harry Pounds' scrapyard in Portsmouth, so has survived a less than ideal retirement fairly well. WW654 belongs to the owner of what was once RNAS Ford and has now been pole-mounted near the entrance to the former station (follow the road from Arundel to Ford and keep on going out of the village). WW654 was cleaned and given a new canopy before going on display, though sadly wasn't repainted - having spent a few years up on this pole in all weathers it was looking even worse but was repainted in 2003.

Fast forward another 18 years though and the south coast sunshine has done her paint and canopy no good at all, and the proximity of nearby trees has resulted in an accumulation of lichen and general filth. Poor old girl desperately needs a clean!

Information on this page current as of 18/05/2021, last updated by Damien

Find other photos of WW654 on the following sites:

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

Kim Beesley from West Sussex	Posted at 3:33pm on Tuesday, December 14th, 2021
What a sad sight....my favorite jet ever! Here's a thought; the Hunter is just up the road from HMP Ford which is an open prison. It was set up to prepare those serving long stretches for release and as such has work parties that often work outside of the prison. Could they be employed to give the old girl a much overdue spruce up. This, I feel would be of benefit to the prisoners themselves by giving them something very worthwhile to do, maybe even a plaque...'Restored by Inmates of HMP Ford' I would fo... read more »read more »
David Allen from Croydon, Surrey, UK.	Posted at 8:02pm on Tuesday, September 8th, 2020
Been past several times when on holiday, often wondered why it was on a post on a country rd, so stopped and snapped a few pics, so decided to Google it. Pity itâ€™s looking rather neglected perhaps a person with a few bob could splash out and have a paint job done on it to or get it to a museum ( Tangmere?) or Hendon. I did Hear the Hunter that broke the sound barrier when I was just a lad on holiday in Littlehampton but didnâ€™t see it , but have been to Tangmere to s... read more »read more »
John Bransgrove from Tangmere, West Sussex	Posted at 10:56am on Friday, May 8th, 2020
I regularly go past WW654 and it's looking pretty shabby and sun bleached. It's a real shame. Any more information and history would be good please as I would like to build a jet turbine powered flying model of it although time is at a premium so unlikely to achieve that. Thanks, John

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