History
Hawker
Hunter XG228 first flew on the 2nd October 1956 with Hawker test
pilot Neville Duke at the controls. The
aircraft was delivered on the 15th October 1956 to 5 MU at RAF Kemble
for entry into RAF service. XG228
was first delivered to 92 Sqn based at RAFG Geilenkirchen, West Germany and was
coded C on the unit. In
1965 the aircraft was reworked to FGA.9 standard and was reissued to 1 Squadron
at RAF West Raynham this time coded D.
By
August 1972 the Hunter had been passed onto 79 Squadron and was based at
RAF Chivnor, Devon with 229 OCU. 229
OCU was transferred to RAF Brawdy, Pembrokeshire in 1974 to form the 1st
Tactical Weapons Unit. XG228 stayed with 79 Squadron and was coded
56. The Hawker Hunter was retired from RAF service in 1984 and was
replaced by the BAe Hawk T.1 in the weapons training role.
XG228
has the place in RAF history of being the last Hawker Hunter in RAF service.
In
July 1984 this Hunter was flown to RAF St Athan to be stored. This Hunter
was sold to the Zimbabwe air force in 1987 and was delivered to its new
operating country on 30th September 1987. Now
carrying the serial R1811, the aircraft was flown until 2002 when the
Zimbabwe Air Force retired all of its Hunter force.
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This Model was built
from the excellent Revell 1/32nd
scale kit.
A
lot has been said about this kit and I can confirm that the fit and build is
very good.
I
built this Hunter out of the box with no after market help.
What
you see is a what you get!
I painted the model with Extra
colour decal ready paint, which was spray applied.
I
used the kit decals for only the roundels and stencils.
The
other decals came from Extra decal set X005-32.
This
is a nice decal set and offers some nice alternatives to the kits 208 Squadron
option.
The
model was weathered with a pastels and sealed with a flat coat.
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This
kit can be highly recommend to any Hunter or jet fan, and would make a nice
addition to any 1/32nd collection.
Shaun
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