Hawker Hunter - Survivor N-302 (ex ET-273)
T.7 N-302 - RAF Coltishall Heritage Centre, Coltishall, Norfolk
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Hunter T.7 N-302 at South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum, 22nd September 2023; Jake Wallace
N-302 was built as a T.7 for the Dutch Air Force (KLu) and first flew on 30th May 1958, being delivered to Twente airfield on 18th July 1958. Retired from the KLu in 1967, she was sold to the Royal Danish Air Force and delivered to them in December 1967, becoming ET-273.
Retired once more and bought by Hawkers in 1976 for possible resale, she never returned to the air and by 1981 was on display at the Bomber County Aviation Museum at Hemswell - wearing WT741's nose - which is, coincidentally, now sat within the same museum.
She was moved to Lovaux at Macclesfield in 1983 and reunited with her original nose again, but by 1985 had arrived at Biggin Hill for use as a gate guard with Hunter One - and fitted with a single-seat nose once more, this time from XJ690.
ET-273's nose then got kicked about the UK over the next 20 years or so, becoming ever more stripped out and tired-looking. She lost her overall green Danish colours and was stripped to bare metal, and with her arrival at AeroVenture, a cosmetic restoration was begun to put her back into her original Dutch colours as N-302.
In April 2024 she moved on to the RAF Coltishall Heritage Centre, and work has begun to restore the cockpit, which is basically an empty shell, though they have various components boxed up and ready to restore. They plan to repaint her to represent a 74 Squadron T.7 as operated out of Coltishall in the past.
Retired once more and bought by Hawkers in 1976 for possible resale, she never returned to the air and by 1981 was on display at the Bomber County Aviation Museum at Hemswell - wearing WT741's nose - which is, coincidentally, now sat within the same museum.
She was moved to Lovaux at Macclesfield in 1983 and reunited with her original nose again, but by 1985 had arrived at Biggin Hill for use as a gate guard with Hunter One - and fitted with a single-seat nose once more, this time from XJ690.
ET-273's nose then got kicked about the UK over the next 20 years or so, becoming ever more stripped out and tired-looking. She lost her overall green Danish colours and was stripped to bare metal, and with her arrival at AeroVenture, a cosmetic restoration was begun to put her back into her original Dutch colours as N-302.
In April 2024 she moved on to the RAF Coltishall Heritage Centre, and work has begun to restore the cockpit, which is basically an empty shell, though they have various components boxed up and ready to restore. They plan to repaint her to represent a 74 Squadron T.7 as operated out of Coltishall in the past.
Information on this page current as of 03/05/2024, last updated by Damien |
Find other photos of N-302 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net