The Hawker Hunter is
a transonic British jet-powered fighter
aircraft that was developed by Hawker
Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF)
during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It
was designed to take advantage of the newly
developed Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engine
and the swept wing, and was the first
jet-powered aircraft produced by Hawker to
be procured by the RAF. On 7 September 1953,
the modified first prototype broke the world
air speed record for aircraft, achieving a
speed of 727.63 mph (1,171.01 km/h;
632.29 kn).
The single-seat Hunter was introduced to
service in 1954 as a maneuverable
day interceptor aircraft, quickly
succeeding first-generation jet fighters in
RAF service such as the Gloster Meteor and
the de Havilland Venom. The
all-weather/night fighter role was filled by
the Gloster Javelin. Successively improved
variants of the type were produced, adopting
increasingly more capable engine models and
expanding its fuel capacity amongst other
modifications being implemented. Hunters
were also used by two RAF display teams: the
"Black Arrows", who on one occasion looped a
record-breaking 22 Hunters in formation, and
later the "Blue Diamonds", who flew 16
aircraft. The Hunter was also widely
exported, serving with a total of 21
overseas air forces.
During the 1960s, following the introduction
of the supersonic English Electric
Lightning in the interceptor role, the
Hunter transitioned to being operated as
a fighter-bomber and for aerial
reconnaissance missions, using dedicated
variants for these purposes. Two-seat
variants remained in use for training and
secondary roles with the RAF and the Royal
Navy until the early 1990s. Sixty years
after its original introduction it was still
in active service, being operated by
the Lebanese Air Force until 2014.
The Hunter saw combat service in a range of
conflicts with several operators, including
the Suez Crisis, the Aden Emergency,
the Sino-Indian War, the Indo-Pakistani War
of 1965, the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971,
the Rhodesian Bush War, the Second Congo
War, the Six-Day War, the War of
Attrition and the Yom Kippur War. Overall,
1,972 Hunters were manufactured by Hawker
Aircraft and its successor, Hawker Siddeley,
as well as being produced under
license overseas. In British service, the
Hunter was replaced in its principal roles
by the Lightning, the Hawker Siddeley
Harrier and the McDonnell Douglas F-4
Phantom II.
SOURCE: Wikipedia
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