F.5 WN907 at Walpole, October 24th 1999; author	F.5 WN957 at Llanbedr, May 2002; Stephen Taylor

Poor old WN907 is in quite a state. Rescued from a scrapyard, since then the nose section has lain in storage, the current owner not having the resources to begin restoration. When I visited the owner mentioned it was available for any interested party as a restoration project - however several people have since contacted him to be told it most definitely isn't available - I guess he's changed his mind!

Tucked away at Maes Artro Village - The Museum of Bygone Days in Llanbedr is WN957, a Hunter F.5 cockpit section. Unfortunately I have next to nothing on the history of this particular example.

F.6 N-250 at Duxford, 17th February 2001; author	F.6 XF383 at Oxford, 2001; Julian Mitchell

Next to the IWM's complete Hunter (XE627), you can find this nose section which was once part of a Dutch Air Force Hunter (N-250). It's in good condition and the cockpit appears to be complete - unfortunately unlike most of the exhibits, there's no information about it to be found on any placard or nearby display - so you'd never know it was a Dutch Hunter at all!

Being restored by Julian Mitchell, XF383 is currently in his workshop but he hopes to move her out soon so that he can extend the nosewheel leg and carry on restoration work in that area. He is also hoping to get the canopy working and sit her in a rig so the nose leg can lower and retract! He's looking for a pair of those elusive canopy rails, so if you know of any available, get in touch with him.

F.6 XG290 at Boscombe Down, July 1st 2000; author	F.6 XG290 at Kemble, early 1999; Glen Moreman/Delta Jets

And here's the other end of XG290! On loan from Tony Dyer's Air Defence Collection to the excellent museum at Boscombe Down, XG290 is undergoing restoration and as you can see was wearing primer at the time of my visit. From what I could see she looks to be in good condition. She's since been given a lick of paint.

A well-travelled bit of Hunter is the rear fuselage of XG290 which has in recent years passed through the hands of Jet Heritage at Bournemouth and Neville Martin at Bruntingthorpe, and is currently resting at Kemble! XG290's nose is to be found with Tony Dyer's Air Defence Collection. I'm only counting this a survivor as it's a sizeable chunk with a visible serial; if it gets incorporated into another Hunter it'll lose its place here and the entry will merge with whichever other one is appropriate.

F.6A XF516 at Abingdon, 5th May 2003; author	T.7 ET-273 at Doncaster, 10th May 2003; Bob Lawson

XF516 appropriately enough had its first post-restoration flight a day after XF515! Owned by Peter Hellier and restored from basic airworthy condition to full civilian flying condition by Barry Pover's Classic Jet Aircraft Company (now Classic Jets (UK)), its first outing was at 1998's BAe Warton Families Day, and she was then shown off rather more publicly at Farnborough a few weeks later, and again two years later. Only the F.6 is capable of creating the unique 'Blue note' noise you hear on fast passes - two-seaters and F.58s cannot do it, no matter how much airshow commentators may try to convince you otherwise. Sadly this beautiful aircraft crashed on the 1st of June 2003, pilot Craig Penrice ejecting on the way back from a show in Northern Ireland. Craig is recovering in hospital but 516 is now just a pile of wreckage stored at Exeter. The picture above is therefore not very representative of her condition - but it's rather nicer to look at.

In a sorry state is the nose of Danish Hunter ET-273, for a good while stuck outside the South Yorkshire Air Museum in all weathers. Happily with their move to Doncaster, ET-273 has gained covered accomodation. This is basically a shell as the cockpit is completely gutted with no seats, joysticks, controls or instrument panel at all. Surface corrosion is beginning to make its presence felt and a few panels are missing too. Work is in progress to arrest the corrosion now and since 2002 she has had some missing panels replaced and gained a nose wheel door. Information current as of 10/05/2003.

FGA.9 XE584 at BAe Woodford, July 1998; author	FGA.9 XE597 at Newark, 15th June 2002; author

FGA.9 XE584 was owned by the Macclesfield Historical Aviation Society and I first saw her (in camo colours) on an outing to the then-annual BAe/RAFA Woodford airshow. She was acquired by her current owners not long afterwards and repainted black to represent a Black Arrows aircraft and has been moved to Hooton Park for display. She's seen on a day out at Newark for the annual Cockpitfest. XE584 served with 1(F), 8, 111 and 208 Squadrons. She has a couple of claims to fame - first she was No.3 aircraft in the famous 22-Hunter loop at Farnborough, and second she was flown by the infamous Flt. Lt. Alan Pollock (he of flying a Hunter under Tower Bridge fame!), and was one of the aircraft to bomb the Torrey Canyon oil tanker!

XE597 was originally built as an F.6 and served as such with 66, 63 and 56 Squadrons. After conversion to FGA.9 standard it returned to service with 208 Squadron in Kenya and later served as a trials aircraft with the Ministry of Aviation. Moving onto 54 Squadron and then 1 Squadron, she ended her service life with 229 OCU at Chivenor and later the TWU at Brawdy. Finally retired in 1985, XE597 became the gate guard at RAF Bentley Priory until replaced by a Lightning. After that she went to RAF Halton for instructional use. At some point she was scrapped and the nose section moved to the FETC at Moreton-in-Marsh where it resided in one of the classrooms - in excellent condition - for several years before being discovered by Bob Dunn and Mick Boulanger of the Wolverhampton Aviation Society. They made an offer and bought her not long afterwards! She's seen her on a trip to Newark for the annual Cockpitfest, where she was much admired.