Designed to a 1948 requirement, the Hunter was a major British success in the 1950s. Production totalled 1,985 aircraft, including 445 made under license in Belgium and the Netherlands. The prototype flew in July 1951 with a 6,500lb thrust Avon 100 series turbojet, and was supersonic in a shallow dive. The Hunter F.Mk 1 entered production in 1953.

Britain's Royal Air Force waited a long time for its first native transonic aircraft, but patience - or rather impatience - was finally well rewarded. The Hawker Hunter is generally acknowledged to be the best single-seat fighter of the mid-1950s. But the birth of this beautiful baby was not an easy one. The first test flight, on 21 July 1951, revealed many serious problems, some of which had not been remedied even after the RAE took delivery of the first production models in July 1954. There was difficulty in fitting an airbrake (as an afterthought); then this was damaged by spent shellcases, which had to be collected in huge bulged containers; there was pitch-up and then pitch-down, and engine surge when the guns were fired; and difficulty at high speeds with longitudinal control. All of these faults were eventually remedied, but the big problem fundamental to most jet fighter aircraft, that of inadequate internal fuel capacity, remained.
However, the F.Mk 4, flown on 20 October 1954, had additional wing fuel tanks and also attachments for drop tanks, and the Hunter promptly went on from there to become, worldwide, the best loved 'pilot's aeroplane' of its age. It could tolerate almost any abuse, it was close to perfection in handling, It had no flight limitations, it was virtually unbreakable and it had excellent engines. These and numerous other outstanding qualities endowed the Hunter with a reputation that was second to none. It was very handsome in appearance, and a marvellous airplane to fly.

The Hunter design, embarked upon as early as 1948 by a team led by Hawker's Sir Sydney Camm, introduced several new features in its cockpit arrangement, being the first-ever British layout to provide from the start of design for the fitting of an ejection seat. All instruments and controls fell readily in sight or to hand, an invaluable aid to pilot efficiency, especially when manoeuvring at high speeds. Later Hunters were capable of level flight at Mach 0.95. and supersonic speed was easily reached in all versions by putting the aeroplane into a 30° dive from heights above 30,000ft. Recovering was equally simple: the pilot merely needed to throttle back as he eased out of the dive and, if necessary, use the airbrake. The Hunter was remarkably steady as a gun platform and, once the problem of disposal of empty shell cases was resolved, the aircraft made full use of its devastating armament of four 30mm Aden guns (each much more powerful than the MK 108 guns of the Me 262), installed in a quick-demountable pack complete with ammunition magazines, winched up as a single unit. Later versions were able to carry a wide variety of underwing armaments, including rockets and bombs. It was indeed in its ground-attack role that the Hunter, in its latter years, was most employed.

In 1953 the next stage was to be a Hunter with an afterburner, but Camm did not like this. He preferred to use a more powerful basic engine, and Rolls-Royce had produced one: the 10,000 lb thrust Avon 203. The result was the Hunter F.6, and it had an all-flying tailplane, and wings with a dogtooth leading edge (retrofitted to earlier versions). It was different from its predecessors not so much in appearance as in performance. So much so, in fact, that it was adopted by the famous Black Arrow aerobatic display team of the RAF's No III Squadron, and also by the rival Blue Diamonds team of No 92 Squadron. In its more practical application, the E.6 as a fighting machine was fitted to carry a formidable array of weapons - two 1000 lb bombs and two 100-gallon tanks, or 2in rocket batteries on the underwing inner pylons and 3in batteries on the outers, or various retarded bombs and other stores. Each of these variations was additional to the removable pack of four 30mm Adens.

This assortment of devastating firepower was developed further in the FGA.9 (fighter, ground attack), with a strengthened airframe for sustained high-weight operations carrying increased underwing loads, and with a braking parachute above the jetpipe. This reached the RAF in October 1959, with No 8 Squadron based at Khormaksar, Aden. When in April 1968 Fighter Command effectively became Strike Command, Britain's tactical support and strike force was mainly represented by two FAC.9 squadrons, Nos I and 54. The last of this type was flown by No 8 Squadron, disbanded on its return from the Far East at the end of 1971. A few went on for use as trainers at RAE Valley, and with the Tactical Weapons Unit at Chivenor and Brawdy.

Fighter and attack Hunters served with over a dozen air forces scattered all over the world, In its final form for export, the Hunter could carry eight 500lb bombs and two Sidewinders. The Hunter was such a wonderfully 'easy' aircraft that, even in the hands of an inexperienced pilot, it could be flown at near-optimum performance. Piloted by an expert, it was one of the most deadly aerial weapons of its day, and it is fortunate that its full operational capacity was seldom exercised. RAE Hunters based in Cyprus and Malta were engaged in limited operations during the Suez crisis of 1956, and Hunters later saw some action in Aden. Basically, however, this most potent of Britain's fighting aircraft of the pre-1970 period was never deployed in anger. Some foreign air forces, though, made intensive use of its potential in both air/air and air/surface roles, notably during the wars between India and Pakistan, and with Jordan in the Middle East - but most of the Hunters then flying the world over were effective only as an ominous deterrent. The biggest fleet has been that of Switzerland.

Perhaps the most astonishing feature of this thoroughbred airplane is the fact that total production of Hunter, including those built under licence in Belgium and Holland, did not even reach 2000. However, the 1,972 that were manufactured remained in worldwide service over a period of very many years, being sold over and over, refurbished and sold yet again. Demand remained insatiable well into the 1970s and British Aerospace Kingston bitterly regretted that many had foolishly been scrapped.

It would seem that Hawker's decision to terminate production in 1966 was more than a trifle premature. Indeed, the company has profited considerably more from the overhaul and refurbishing of Hunters than it ever did from original sales.

The origins of the Hunter trace back to the Hawker Sea Hawk straight-wing carrier-based fighter.

The Hunter deserves the term 'thoroughbred'. It was an outstanding export and military success for many years. Early production Hunters were specifically transonic day fighters. The Hunter F.Mk 1 entered production in 1953, and entered RAF service in July 1954, enjoying a length of service equalled by few aircraft.

The The Avon-engined F.Mk I was succeeded by the Hunter EMk 4 with greater fuel capacity and provision for underwing stores, while a parallel series with the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojet comprised the Hunter F.Mk 2 and F.Mk 5. Next came the Hunter F.Mk 6 with the 10,000lb thrust Avon 200 series engine and dogtoothed wing leading edges. The Hunter FGA.Mk 9 was the ultimate operational variant, recast for the ground-attack role. There were also trainer, reconnaissance and many export variants.

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