Hawker Hunter - Survivor XE668
GA.11 XE668 - Hamburger Hill Paintball, Marksbury, Somerset
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Hunter GA.11 XE668 at Predannack, December 2007; Vic Nixon
Built as an F.4 and delivered to the RAF in June 1995, XE668 served with 4(F) and 26(F) Squadrons before being returned to Hawkers in 1961 and converted to a GA.11. Returning to service with the RN - 738 NAS at Lossiemouth - she moved to Brawdy and then on to Hurn and the FRU in 1969. In October 1972 she moved to Yeovilton and FRADU and served with them until 1984 before retiring to the School of Aircraft Handling at Culdrose (with maintenance serial A2733).
In 1993 she was finally withdrawn from use and moved by road to nearby Predannack airfield and spent the next 14 years being used for pilot crash rescue training. As a result, she got in quite a state, with many bits missing including the canopy, ejector seat, wingtips, wing leading edges, and a good chunk of the rear fuselage burnt away. Surprisingly in late 2007, she was sold off - not to a scrap merchant - but to a paintball park south of Bristol. The park managed to find a canopy to fit the airframe, and repainted her in quite an odd camouflage scheme, with a lot of colourful paintball splats along the fuselage from where she's been shot at.
In 1993 she was finally withdrawn from use and moved by road to nearby Predannack airfield and spent the next 14 years being used for pilot crash rescue training. As a result, she got in quite a state, with many bits missing including the canopy, ejector seat, wingtips, wing leading edges, and a good chunk of the rear fuselage burnt away. Surprisingly in late 2007, she was sold off - not to a scrap merchant - but to a paintball park south of Bristol. The park managed to find a canopy to fit the airframe, and repainted her in quite an odd camouflage scheme, with a lot of colourful paintball splats along the fuselage from where she's been shot at.
Information on this page current as of 24/06/2022, last updated by Jake |
Find other photos of XE668 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net