No1 TWU Raf Brawdy, Hunters

Thanks for the info Webpilot, time to label up my slides now!:)

Must have been great days there HunterXF, I know Flt Sgt controller who when he has a younger audience boasts that when he started in the RAF it was working Meteors, he’s reffering to the Brawdy pair of course!

Bravo, if anyone who lives in your area doesn’t take that excellent offer up they must be mad!

Re Brawdy Hunters, wasn’t the forums’ BazV there aswel?

I wish I was a little closer – I googled the pub and it’s very nice 😀

Yes Baz was at Brawdy too – we first met when I turned up to work on those modern Hawk things… My time was spent going backwards in time as I progressed to Hunters, then JP’s and Meteors too – all based there as you know 🙂

Fantastic, better make this the last question as I don’t want this thread to go off on a tangent, but are the second set of numbers the airframe sequence, or sqn codes?

The ‘+XX’ is the individual aircraft identity – so 37+86 is the 86th example of type 7 in the fighter 3 series, if that makes sense. Fighters also start 2 and 4, (Tornado are 43+, 45+, 46+, Typhoon 30+ and 31+ for example).

Obviously they are limited to 99 in each type, so the F4 is also coded 38+ for the 100th example onwards. Not really a problem anymore with todays limited procurement !

List of first numeral codes
Test/Target towing 0 (not used anymore)
Maritime 6
VIP transport 1
Light helicopters 7
Fighters 2,3 and 4
Heavy helicopters 8
Transport 5
Trainers 9
Test aircraft 98
Target towing 99

Fantastic, better make this the last question as I don’t want this thread to go off on a tangent, but are the second set of numbers the airframe sequence, or sqn codes?

In all the time I’ve been spotting I never realised that there was an orderly number system, always wondered what the WGAF numbers meant!

Very Teutonic isn’t it!. They used to use a wing based system that meant the numbers changed with aircraft moves, the current system is much more logical and dates from 1968

Just found this shot of 37+86. Wow! bravo24 wasn’t wrong when he said ‘stunner’

In all the time I’ve been spotting I never realised that there was an orderly number system, always wondered what the WGAF numbers meant!

Bravo, if anyone who lives in your area doesn’t take that excellent offer up they must be mad!
Which aircraft is 37+86? Google wouldn’t reveal it for me.

3 denotes fighter, 7 the seventh fighter type in the current Luftwaffe numbering sequence – which was the F4 (for the first 99, then it moved to 38+).

That will be a nice exhibit. I assume it’s a cockpit section.

🙂

The bait being I will buy you a beer as I own the Cherry Tree In Catthorpe, which is in the GBG for the last 5 years.

Bravo, if anyone who lives in your area doesn’t take that excellent offer up they must be mad!
Which aircraft is 37+86? Google wouldn’t reveal it for me.

HunterXF, the Hunter in your last link is the one that someone has made a flying model of that I mentioned earlier, nice to see a pic of the real thing!:)

Re Brawdy Hunters, wasn’t the forums’ BazV there aswel?

bravo24; yes it was a long time ago. Brawdy was full of Sea Hawks and St.Davids had Sea Venoms when I first visited.

Posting pics.

With regard to pictures of Hunters/ JPs, Hawks at Brawdy If anyone is local to Catthorpe A14/M6/M1Junction, and can guide me in how to post pictures I have a few that may be of interest to the forum! With regard to computers I Haven,t. got a clue. The bait being I will buy you a beer as I own the Cherry Tree In Catthorpe, which is in the GBG for the last 5 years. Also I am involved in the restoration of 37+86 Which is going to be a stunner!!!!!

AMB: Thanks for that Brawdy shot by the way – June 79 was the month of my arrival, so I must have been blind to miss seeing that – don’t like the colour though 😀

Bravo24: Love to see your pics please 😉

Oh no – when googling for another Hunter pic unrelated to this thread, I found another example of earlier Hunters with high-vis markings back in the days of the Day Fighter School in ’64

LINK here another yellow peril 🙂

I couldn’t agree more with increased exposure of Brawdy’s Hunters, in whatever scheme – but then I could be biased having been lucky enough to work on them and still have one to look after 😀
I would post loads of photos on here but as they’re built up on my personal archives from all sources with copyright uncertain on a few I don’t tread on toes…. My own website covers them all anyway – but would always remove any that the copyright holder didn’t want on there etc. As far as I’m concerned, airing them is done without any profit making or the like, just to share amongst other enthusiasts 😉

Well thats all food for thought, I too really like the idea of meteors, however I two hunters already started so I think both the red and yellow will make for an interesting and colourful picture with maybe some meteors in the background, I’ll post a pic when its finished. Might have to make the next painting Meteors though.

thanks for all the help

Cheers and merry xmas
PaulC

Great to see the info and pictures of the Brawdy Hunters, you can’t beat hi viz schemes applied to camo aircraft IMO.

I agree!

Looking at the photo of XG226/28 it is exactly as in my photo, the fin flash is not outlined in white and it is red as the above published photographer described it. I never saw a dayglow Hunter. However I did see the one with the white tail and have a poor photo of it XG172/23 during a pairs landing with another single seater.
Regard

There was a thread on pprune back in 2007 discussing the Brawdy Hunters. One contributor based at Brawdy at the time confirms that XG226 was in dayglo.

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/304580-brawdy-their-hunters.html

Great to see the info and pictures of the Brawdy Hunters, you can’t beat hi viz schemes applied to camo aircraft IMO.

Happy days

Looking at the photo of XG226/28 it is exactly as in my photo, the fin flash is not outlined in white and it is red as the above published photographer described it. I never saw a dayglow Hunter. However I did see the one with the white tail and have a poor photo of it XG172/23 during a pairs landing with another single seater.
Regarding the Gannets and Noratlas, I just wish I had been visiting in those days. You must be older than me which is no mean feat.:)

Without wishing to start any dayglo arguments (!) the ‘dayglo’ photo doesn’t seem to show a red painted aircraft as there is a distinct tonal variation between the fin colour and the red of the tail flash. XF418, the “Red Hunter” had the flash outlined in white to separate it from the background.

From what I know, only XF418 had any extensive use at TWU in the high viz scheme, the other two paint schemes were fairly short lived which might explain the lack of sightings of the orange ‘un.

Here’s another view of XG226, although the caption on the original does refer to ‘red paint’!
http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1153119/

“Whilst on holiday in Tenby over the years we spent many hours alongside the runway at Brawdy, and captured the various Transalls/Starfighters/F4s of the Luftwaffe on film.”

Likewise, except that when I was doing that it was Luftwaffe Noratlas and Royal Navy Hunters…..

I have photographs of the Red & yellow Hunters at Brawdy in July 1979. Also
XG172 coded 23 with a White tail. However the White a/c photo has nodate on it so it may have been a year or so each side of the 79 photos.
I also have one shot at least of the Meteor during its TT duties.
If you want copies I could do you some. In my photo of the Red bird it only has the red tail/empennage, outer wings. The spine is camo as are the drop tanks. The yellow bird is as in the superb pic above.
Whilst on holiday in Tenby over the years we spent many hours alongside the runway at Brawdy, and captured the various Transalls/Starfighters/F4s of the Luftwaffe on film.
Also from my memory and photo it was Red not dayglow. Were there one of each? Having spent many many hours there over time I never saw a Dayglow bird.