podgysteve
April 16, 2009 at 8:07 am

Hunter Losses

I heard the other day that 6/7 operational hunters were lost in one day due to poor decision making during bad weather.

Is there any truth to this rumour – Does anyone have any other details….?

Podgysteve

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By: Mick B - 16th April 2009 at 09:50

Gents

The crash details are as follows;

WT629/T HUNTER F1 DFLS
WT639/N HUNTER F1 DFLS
WW603/G HUNTER F1 DFLS
WW633/H HUNTER F1 DFLS
WW635/L HUNTER F1 DFLS
WW639/X HUNTER F1 DFLS Although bad weather had been forecast the aircraft took off together from West Raynham, Norfolk. After encountering the weather they attempted to divert to Marham but were unable to locate the runway due to fog. Four aircraft ran out of fuel, the pilots ejecting near Swaffham. WW635 flew into the ground killing the pilot. WW603 did make a final approach but ran out of fuel and belly landed short of the airfield.

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By: pagen01 - 16th April 2009 at 09:04

My old boss was an ex RAF recovery driver, he always mentioned this occasion with the six Hunters. He thought it was down to a fuelling error before departure.

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By: 12jaguar - 16th April 2009 at 08:14

A quick Google shows that 6 out of 8 Hunter F1s were lost on 8 Feb 1956 from West Raynham. Apparently they were diverted due to poor weather conditions and they ran out of fuel.