US contractors operating Hunters as aggressors

[erolb]

Found this an interesting read:

http://www.atacusa.com/ATAC_brochure.pdf

Mostly in the fact that they are operating Hunters and secondly the amount of them they are using. I wasn't aware there were that many left airworthy.

[Dr Jekyll]

Impressive that a fighter that was basically obsolete for air to air 50 years ago can still score the odd 'kill' against a modern aircraft.

[Tango13]

The USAF have scrapped pretty much all their various Mig's so they need something to train against.

There are also rumours that the USAF have an SU-27 hidden out in the high desert...

[kurt535]

What a job to have!! I'm in!!!!

[Elroy Blue]

They are privately owned SU-27 and Mig-29 in the USA so I'm not sure why the USAF would need to hide one

[aeropilot]

erolb said:

Mostly in the fact that they are operating Hunters and secondly the amount of them they are using. I wasn't aware there were that many left airworthy.

ATAC had more than that, but they've lost 2 Hunters (and sadly both pilots flying them at the time) during the past couple of years, one in 2012, and another last year.

I'm not sure of the exact amount of Hunters still flying, but it's quite a lot, probably as many as 30-40 around the world. Got to be another half dozen or more in the USA in addition to the ATAC ones, in private ownership plus half a handful in South Africa, half a dozen or more in the UK, and others in Sweden and Switzerland in private ownership.

[Mojocvh]

aeropilot said:

erolb said:

Mostly in the fact that they are operating Hunters and secondly the amount of them they are using. I wasn't aware there were that many left airworthy.

ATAC had more than that, but they've lost 2 Hunters (and sadly both pilots flying them at the time) during the past couple of years, one in 2012, and another last year.

I'm not sure of the exact amount of Hunters still flying

They must be pretty tired by now, canning a decades old airframe as an "aggressor" hmm...



...However in this time of austerity many are working through retirement to make ends meet [sic]...

[Hooli]

I love to go watch Hunters being flown properly like this.

[Mojocvh]

Really?

A Tornado's wings deflect 1m [weight/sweep dependent] at 6g....

What performance limits are placed on these aged aircraft in the performance of this "aggressor" role??

[aeropilot]

Mojocvh said:

aeropilot said:

erolb said:

Mostly in the fact that they are operating Hunters and secondly the amount of them they are using. I wasn't aware there were that many left airworthy.

ATAC had more than that, but they've lost 2 Hunters (and sadly both pilots flying them at the time) during the past couple of years, one in 2012, and another last year.

I'm not sure of the exact amount of Hunters still flying

They must be pretty tired by now, canning a decades old airframe as an "aggressor" hmm...

The ex-Swiss AF Hunters that ATAC have were not high time a/c, most when retired from the Swiss AF in the mid 90's had less than 2000hrs, some a lot less, others more, and a testament to Camm's design genius that they are still able to perform such a role 60 years after the design first flew.

[converted lurker]

Lovely lovely aircraft.