F.6 XF375 at Spanhoe, 24th May 2005; author	F.6 XF509 at Marfleet, February 2nd 2000; Allan Barley

F.6 XF375 previously belonged to the OFMC at Duxford but was stored on the South side of the airfield awaiting disposal for many months before moving to her new home at Spanhoe Lodge. As you can see she needs a bit of work! She had been partially stripped for a repaint before activities on it at Duxford came to a halt. Unusually this F.6 has what looks like an FR.10 nose cap fitted; it was like that when they bought it from the RAF - maybe this was a special fit like that of XF382 (q.v.). Originally planned to be the OFMC's first airworthy Hunter, the better condition of the ex-Swiss F.58s resulted in XF375 being put to one side, and eventually put up for sale. Since arrival at Spanhoe back in 2004, little or nothing appears to have been done with the aircraft and apparently she is now due to leave Spanhoe. Information current as of 01/09/2007.

Humbrol's bird had a varied life, beginning with 54 Squadron in 1957 and moving on through the AFDS, RAE Bedford and finally 4 FTS at RAF Valley, ending its days as a gate guard at RAF Chivenor. On the station's closure, Humbrol (owners of Airfix) bought themselves this big kit and stuck it on a pole outside their plant in Hull; the amount of work necessary being considerably less than normal as the aircraft had been placed in similar position at Chivenor after a full restoration in 1990. Sadly with the collapse of Humbrol and the closure of the factory, the aircraft has been left to rot. The receivers view it as an asset, when in fact it is worth very little, and it has already been vandalised (the factory has suffered two attempts at burning it down so far too). Information current as of 01/09/2007.

F.6 XF526 at Birlingham, 31st October 1998; author	F.6 XF527 at RAF Halton, November 21st 1999; author

Part of private collection belonging to farmer Graham Revill is this Hunter - XF526. Unfortunately she's not in great condition, with several panels missing, no engine, no ejector seat and a stripped cockpit. The aircraft obviously saw heavy use with 4 FTS, and since retirement served as an instructional airframe, being further bashed about. Strangely the roundel on the port fuselage side has been modified so that the red dot is now something else - some sort of rat or maybe a kiwi... New Zealander vandals? :-)

Another gate guard is F.6A XF527, guarding RAF Halton. Serving with Linton-on-Ouse's Station Flight from 1956, XF527 also served with 19 Squadron, 66 Squadron, 111 Squadron, the AFDS, 4 FTS and the TWU among others! She was grounded in 1981 and placed on the gate at Halton in 1986.

F.6 XG164 at Poole, March 2001; Alan Allen	F.6 XG210 at Beck Row, 29th May 2002; author

Standing guard on the Poole Industrial Estate between Wellington and Nynehead, XG164 is owned by Military Aircraft Spares Ltd., who sell MoD surplus spares. XG164 had a busy life, serving with 111 and 74 Squadrons, the RAF West Raynham Station Flight, the FAA at RNAS Brawdy and later back to the RAF and the TWU.

An ex-RAE F.6 now privately owned, her wings are those of XL572 and XL623. Unfortunately during the summer of 1999 some low-life broke into the cockpit and stole the entire instrument panel; the owner moved the aircraft to a more secure location for some months but then put it back on display in his front garden, easily visible from the road. She's accumulated some moss and muck on one side and could really do with a clean at the least and really needs to be repainted, but she appears to be in fairly decent nick otherwise. Last I heard the aircraft had been adopted by a local ATC unit - 2417 (Newmarket) ATC and they had begun cleaning the aircraft. However their website no longer exists so no more updates can be found on progress...

F.6 XJ690 at Hurn, April 2002; Tony Inkster	F.6A XE587 at Wilkes-Barre, 14th April 2001; Andrew McNeil via Mike Reeler

Bit of a tricky Hunter to pigeonhole, this one. It's made up largely from the fuselage of T.7 ET-273 with the nose of FGA.9 XG290 grafted on, which I reckon makes it an F.6. Argue all you want :-) Once displayed near the Bournemouth Aviation Museum (ex Jet Heritage) at Bournemouth (Hurn) Airport, the aircraft was dedicated to the memory of Mike Carlton, the founder of the original Hunter One collection which formed the roots for Jet Heritage and the BAM. Unfortunately in 2002 she was unceremoniously dumped on her belly on the picnic area outside the museum (as seen above). She was repainted and has now happily been mounted on a plinth in a more appropriate pose! Information current as of 01/09/2007.

XE587, techinically an F.6A, has actually been upgraded to FGA.9 standard but never redesignated as such. She also lacks cannons and Sabrinas. One of the aircraft used in trials to persuade the Swiss to buy the type, she was first flown on 23rd March 1956 and became the brake chute trials aircraft (as the Swiss required operation from short runways). She was sold in 1992 to Andrew McNeil in the US and her first post-restoration flight was in 1994. Sadly she ran off the end of a runway in 2002 after a brake failure and is now awaiting repair. Information current as of 06/06/2002.

F.6A XE606 at RAF Cottesmore, 28th July 2001; author	F.6A XE627 at IWM Duxford, 31st May 2006; author

XE606 served with the AFDS, 92 Squadron, 229 OCU, the TWU and was finally issued to RAF Laarbruch as a BDRT airframe. However 20 Squadron at Laarbruch (then a Tornado unit that had previously flown Hunters) sought permission to save the aircraft for display and so in 1984 XE606 was given a facelift, becoming XJ673 (the CO of 20 Squadron's personal aircraft in the 1960s) in the process. The real XJ673 had been lost in an accident while flying from Hong Kong to Tengah. With 20's disbandment and reforming as a Harrier unit at Cottesmore, she was moved to Cottesmore and is now looked after by 4 Squadron, back in the correct markings as XE606. She's displayed outside one of the hangars, in immaculate condition. 606 is seen here at RIAT 2001, thankfully bereft of the damned blue cones she was blighted by the previous year!

The IWM's Hunter is F.6A XE627, in excellent condition. Repainted in the mid-1990s and hangared almost all the time, she's absolutely immaculate. While work was ongoing on the new AirSpace hangar extension, XE627 was moving around a fair bit, and spent some time outside, when the picture above was taken. She's now inside the AirSpace hangar. Information current as of 01/09/2007.