Hawker Hunter - Survivor XE688 (ex PP-XHH, XE704, J-736)
T.72 XE688 - Hawker Hunter Aviation Ltd. (flyer), RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire
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Hunter T.72 XE688 at RAF Fairford, 16th July 2022; Jake Wallace
Originally built as an F.4 for the RAF (as XE704), she served with 112 Squadron, until she became a maintenance airframe, but was then later sold back to Hawkers for conversion to a T.72 for the Chilean Air Force.
The airframe retired to the National Aerospace Museum in Chile, she was then sold to Embraer of Brazil to be used as a flight test chase plane. For this, she was given the civilian ID of PP-XHH, and was chosen for its good Mach 0.95 level flight performance. During July and August 2001 she averaged 35 flight hours a month and had proved to be a reliable workhorse for Embraer, and with Hunters being a serious rarity in Brazil she was very popular at airshows. While with Embraer, Hawker Hunter Aviation (HHA) provided the aircraft with much support throughout its life as PP-XHH.
In 2018, PP-XHH came up for sale, and so HHA purchased the airframe and shipped it to their Scampton facility in August of that year. After a period of extensive overhaul, she was back in the air again in early 2020, wearing the serial XE688.
With the closure of RAF Scampton at the end of 2022, HHA relocated XE688 earlier in the year to RAF Leeming where she continues to operate alongside one or two other HHA Hunters.
The airframe retired to the National Aerospace Museum in Chile, she was then sold to Embraer of Brazil to be used as a flight test chase plane. For this, she was given the civilian ID of PP-XHH, and was chosen for its good Mach 0.95 level flight performance. During July and August 2001 she averaged 35 flight hours a month and had proved to be a reliable workhorse for Embraer, and with Hunters being a serious rarity in Brazil she was very popular at airshows. While with Embraer, Hawker Hunter Aviation (HHA) provided the aircraft with much support throughout its life as PP-XHH.
In 2018, PP-XHH came up for sale, and so HHA purchased the airframe and shipped it to their Scampton facility in August of that year. After a period of extensive overhaul, she was back in the air again in early 2020, wearing the serial XE688.
With the closure of RAF Scampton at the end of 2022, HHA relocated XE688 earlier in the year to RAF Leeming where she continues to operate alongside one or two other HHA Hunters.
Information on this page current as of 24/11/2022, last updated by Jake |
Find other photos of XE688 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net