Hunter

[dodgepot]

Nice surprise this morning

A Hunter flew over Sunderland twice in the space of a few minutes - cloudbase was pretty low so I estimate height approx 1500 ft

Only a brief spot but really nice to see

[heisthegaffer]

Beautiful machine. Can't be too many flying these days.

[aeropilot]

heisthegaffer said:

Beautiful machine. Can't be too many flying these days.

The only ones are the 2 or 3 operated on a military contract, by HHA at Scampton.

[chopper602]

Took off and landed at RAF Leeming - had quite a good flight over the North Sea too

[aeropilot]

chopper602 said:

Took off and landed at RAF Leeming - had quite a good flight over the North Sea too

Working the ranges at RAF Spadeadam I believe. Probably using Leeming to cut down on transit times and fuel burn?

[velocemitch]

Just been watching that on flight radar, still up as I speak..

[hammo19]

Been based at Leeming since early Feb 21 on detachment from Scampton. Been up daily around North East and ranges.

[velocemitch]

It’s really good to know it’s flying, but I do wonder why is It flying so much?
Is it training or something?
Seems a bit excessive to fly every day just for the sake of it, must be very costly and using up a finite amount of hours on the engine and air frame.

[aeropilot]

velocemitch said:

It’s really good to know it’s flying, but I do wonder why is It flying so much?

Its flying operations under a military contract.

[Simpo Two]

aeropilot said:

velocemitch said:

It’s really good to know it’s flying, but I do wonder why is It flying so much?

Its flying operations under a military contract.

Why would the military be using it? They have plenty of other options. It would be like the police having a Daimler Dart on ops.

[aeropilot]

Simpo Two said:

aeropilot said:

velocemitch said:

It’s really good to know it’s flying, but I do wonder why is It flying so much?

Its flying operations under a military contract.

Why would the military be using it? They have plenty of other options.

Like what?

There are barely enough front line assets left, and thus there are no second line assets left for all the second line and testing/calibration/training roles still required even for a much shrunken RAF/RN, and that is why those 2nd line roles have been contracted to civilian operations like HHA and Chobham etc.

[Eric Mc]

The Hunter is still a very useful aeroplane. Why not use them if they are available and fit for purpose.

[Lotobear]

aeropilot said:

Working the ranges at RAF Spadeadam I believe. Probably using Leeming to cut down on transit times and fuel burn?

I live within 10 miles of Spadeadam and heard nothing yesterday?

[aeropilot]

Lotobear said:

aeropilot said:

Working the ranges at RAF Spadeadam I believe. Probably using Leeming to cut down on transit times and fuel burn?

I live within 10 miles of Spadeadam and heard nothing yesterday?

That's because as per the other posts, range got closed and it went off to do other things instead.

[BlackStang5point0]

Thanks for posting it also flew over me yesterday

[Total loss]

aeropilot said:

heisthegaffer said:

Beautiful machine. Can't be too many flying these days.

The only ones are the 2 or 3 operated on a military contract, by HHA at Scampton.

Aren't there still some in the USA doing the same job?

[velocemitch]

aeropilot said:

Lotobear said:

aeropilot said:

Working the ranges at RAF Spadeadam I believe. Probably using Leeming to cut down on transit times and fuel burn?

I live within 10 miles of Spadeadam and heard nothing yesterday?

That's because as per the other posts, range got closed and it went off to do other things instead.

I thought that was a joke at the time, I didn't imagine the military would be using a Hunter. I mean they could have used a Spitfire, there's more of them so must be cheaper!

[aeropilot]

Total loss said:

aeropilot said:

heisthegaffer said:

Beautiful machine. Can't be too many flying these days.

The only ones are the 2 or 3 operated on a military contract, by HHA at Scampton.

Aren't there still some in the USA doing the same job?

Yes, quite a number of them working on military contract work in USA, although at least 3 have been lost in crashes during the past 3/4 years.

[chopper602]

It made it into the local paper . . . https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/s...

[Total loss]

aeropilot said:

Total loss said:

aeropilot said:

heisthegaffer said:

Beautiful machine. Can't be too many flying these days.

The only ones are the 2 or 3 operated on a military contract, by HHA at Scampton.

Aren't there still some in the USA doing the same job?

Yes, quite a number of them working on military contract work in USA, although at least 3 have been lost in crashes during the past 3/4 years.

Yes, I've just been googling, 5 lost between 2012 & 2019 with 2 fatal , they have been playing with F-35's out there.