FB.5 XE364 at Charlwood, April 1st 2000; author	FGA.6 6110 at Gatow, 1999; Christoph Westhaus

Here is a Sea Hawk in an all red scheme similar to that worn by five Sea Hawks of 738 squadron when displaying at the Farnborough SBAC show in 1957. This is 'XE364', marked up as G-JETH, but really she's XE489! She was the second last Sea Hawk to be built for the RN and is seen here on gate guard duty at the Gatwick Aviation Museum, though still wearing 'BOURNEMOUTH FLYING CLUB' titling on the port fuselage. A flying visit in early 2002 found her to suffering somewhat from the surrounding trees - lots of green muck building up on her upper mid fuselage.

Another German example is this anonymous-looking example at the Luftwaffenmuseum at Berlin-Gatow. Since the last photo displayed here was taken she's been repainted and had British markings applied, but no squadron markings or serial appear to be applied and the roundels aren't in the right place - shame to have gone to that effort and not done it properly.

FGA.6 WV795 at Bruntingthorpe, 11th August 2001; author	FGA.6 WV797 at Baginton, 11th May 2002; author

This is WV795. Exhibited in the open for some years at Bruntingthorpe, this took its toll on the paintwork but in October 1998 she moved on from Bruntingthorpe (along with 'WV906') to Kennet Aviation, who hoped to fly her. The plan fell through; 'WV906' returned to Brunty but WV795 stayed put - and had a new paint job applied. There was talk of continuing with a cosmetic restoration and using the aircraft as a gate guard by Kennet's hangars, but she then moved back to Bruntingthorpe for several years before being bought by FAS and moved to Farnborough. Information current as of 24/03/2006.

Looking rather faded is the Midland Air Museum's example, WV797, which served with 787, 899, 898 and 738 NAS before retirement at Sydenham, where it became an instructional airframe. Later spent some time at Halton and Culdrose before ending up at the museum. This FGA.6 is displayed in Suez colours - the yellow and black stripes were to aid recognition of friendly forces. The top grey was faded and peeling in places but the aircraft has been cleaned and polished and the markings repainted so she looks a lot better than she used to.

FGA.6 WV856 at Yeovilton, 23rd September 2002; author	FGA.6 WV906 at Bruntingthorpe, March 1998; author

Doing rather better is the Fleet Air Arm Museum's example, another FGA.6 - WV856, which served with 806 and 781 NAS before transfer to the Royal Aircraft Establishment and later retirement to the museum. On the mockup carrier deck of the Carrier exhibition, yet again this is another folded wings job, and in tip-top condition in common with the rest of the museum's aircraft.

The collapse of the Cardiff Air Museum resulted in a number of the aircraft there moving elsewhere in the UK. Many came to Bruntingthorpe and WV906 (which is really WV826 - the museum at Cardiff had a habit of inappropriate paint schemes for its aircraft) was one of them. Unfortunately many were in such poor condition they were scrapped, usually with the nose section saved. Thankfully this Sea Hawk has so far avoided that fate, though it was probably only being kept for spares use for WV795 - Kennet Aviation at Cranfield had a look at restoring WV795 to flying condition but this now looks unlikely and WV906 returned to Bruntingthorpe; then in summer 1999 it left the UK entirely and is now with the Aviation Museum on sunny Malta!

FGA.6 WV908 at Biggin Hill, 19th September 2004; author	FGA.6 XE327 at Bruntingthorpe, 11th August 2001; author

Now what's this... a flying Sea Hawk eh... well, YES! WV908 was for a good while the Royal Navy Historic Flight's airworthy Sea Hawk but in the 1980s funding became a problem and she was put into store. Once circumstances became right she was taken out of store and brought back into flying condition by British Aerospace, taking to the air once more in late 1996. She appeared on the airshow circuit in 1997 but at the end of the season her maintainers found that the jet pipe had cracked and hot exhaust had been pumping into the fuselage. The warping and damage caused by this grounded WV908 and work slowly progressed on repairing the damage to bring her back to airworthy condition, finally seeing her return to the air in mid September 2004, just in time for an airshow appearance at Yeovilton followed by one at Biggin Hill the next day. Fantastic to see her back where she belongs - well done to all involved! Information current as of 19/09/2004.

A long-time member of the Trout Lake Air Force, XE327 left Kings Langley for Bruntingthorpe in August 1999 and was repainted by the new owner soon afterwards. The colours weren't right when seen at the September 99 Cold War Jets Open Day at Brunty, but better painted the wrong colour than left to rot - the harsh winter of 2000/2001 has dulled down the colours even further.The aircraft is in pretty good condition considering all the time spent outdoors though there is a fair bit of corrosion to be found; the cockpit has suffered from the ingress of water and the canopy has clouded. However, as seems to be the case with all Sea Hawks that arrive at Bruntingthorpe, she's moved on to a new owner - the museum at Hermeskeil in Germany.

FGA.6 XE340 at Montrose, 28th May 2000; Bob Lawson	FGA.6 XE368 at Bruntingthorpe, 4th January 2003; author

This is the second Sea Hawk to carry the number "131" with 802 Squadron RNAS, the first being lost by fire on take-off from HMS Albion in late 1956. XE340 flew with 802 Squadron from 1957 aboard HMS Ark Royal with the CO as pilot. On disposal it went to the now defunct Strathallan Museum and then to the RN Air Station at Montrose. The fuselage is almost complete with the exception of the cannon packs but the cockpit, which is opened (weather permitting) for display, has no instrument panel and one of the side screens is badly cracked - unfortunately many items were stolen between the time the Strathallan Museum closed and the Montrose Museum got hold of her . The Museum has obtained a quantity of replacement items with a view to repainting and refurbishing her, and they intend to construct a storage building on site where XE340 and other aircraft at the museum can be worked on. The limiting factor, as usual, being time and money.

XE368, another FGA.6, resided at the Flambards Village Theme Park in Helston for many years. She's another Sea Hawk in Suez markings, and also suffered from the elements. As the aircraft collection at Flambards is slowly shrinking, XE368 did indeed move on to new pastures as predicted, and is now to be found stored at Bruntingthorpe. She's pictured here shortly after arrival on a very cold day in January! A full restoration began in 2004 and it is hoped the aircraft will be back on public display later this year. Information current as of 01/11/2004.