Hawker Hunter - Survivor XE670
F.4 XE670 - RAF Museum Midlands, RAF Cosford, Shropshire
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Hunter F.4 XE670 at Cosford, 21st April 2022; Jake Wallace
XE670, on display at the Aerospace Museum Cosford, is sometimes available for people to sit in but is usually out of bounds. An F.4, XE670 was first flown in May 1955 and was delivered to 5 MU at Kemble on 25th June 1955. After being prepped at 33 MU at Lyneham, she entered service with 26 Squadron, RAFG Oldenburg.
In February 1956 she was transferred ot 93 Squadron at RAFG Jever, until 12th April when she was damaged by taking off with the cockpit access ladder still attached! It broke away as the aircraft climbed, with damage to the port intake and FOD damaging the engine compressor stage. A careful landing was made and the aircraft was grounded for repairs until June. In March 1957, 93 Squadron upgraded to the F.6 and so XE670 was returned to storage with 5 MU at RAF Kemble.
She was formally retired in October 1959 and in March 1963 moved to 71 MU at RAF Bicester to become part of the Exhibition Flight - a collection of nose sections that travelled the country to recruitment fairs etc. She was reduced to a nose section for this purpose, and mounted on a trolley. In 1976 she moved to RAF Abingdon, then to RAF St. Athan in 1992 with Abingdon's closure, having at some point been repainted in these somewhat inaccurate and anonymous colours.
Serco took over the Exhibition Flight's duties and soon XE670 was considered to be no longer relevant. She was transported to the Cosford Aerospace Museum in July 1995 and has been there ever since.
In February 1956 she was transferred ot 93 Squadron at RAFG Jever, until 12th April when she was damaged by taking off with the cockpit access ladder still attached! It broke away as the aircraft climbed, with damage to the port intake and FOD damaging the engine compressor stage. A careful landing was made and the aircraft was grounded for repairs until June. In March 1957, 93 Squadron upgraded to the F.6 and so XE670 was returned to storage with 5 MU at RAF Kemble.
She was formally retired in October 1959 and in March 1963 moved to 71 MU at RAF Bicester to become part of the Exhibition Flight - a collection of nose sections that travelled the country to recruitment fairs etc. She was reduced to a nose section for this purpose, and mounted on a trolley. In 1976 she moved to RAF Abingdon, then to RAF St. Athan in 1992 with Abingdon's closure, having at some point been repainted in these somewhat inaccurate and anonymous colours.
Serco took over the Exhibition Flight's duties and soon XE670 was considered to be no longer relevant. She was transported to the Cosford Aerospace Museum in July 1995 and has been there ever since.
Information on this page current as of 24/04/2022, last updated by Jake |
Find other photos of XE670 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net