Question about Tower Bridge Hunter XF442

XF442

@Starfire ,
My sources were a couple of artists renderings of XF442 and XE624 ( Flt Lt Pollock’s personal aircraft ) .
As I said in my previous post I was stationed at RAF Wittering in the early 70’s but by then 1 Sqn was already flying Harriers . All the photo’s that I had taken there have unfortunately been lost , so I have nothing to work from . What makes this even worse is the fact that every now and again I had Fire Picket / guard duty and I have been in the 1 sqn crew room several times but never noticed the painting that was made .
I am also wondering if all I Sqn aircraft were given the ” kill ” marking or just XF442 ( and XE624 ) . I also read on another site ( don’t know which one but I bookmarked most of them ) that the Tower Bridge marking was in day-glo and judging by the second photo this appears to be on a white background – also that it was painted under the canopy and not next to the pilots name .

John

Edit : Have changed the registration and added white to the wingtips and also added Flt Lt Sim’s name to the aircraft . This may not be the name that was on the aircraft but then neither was the ” kill ” marking .
Here’s a screenshot :

Hi John,

regarding the markings I used (a high-resolution version of) the following picture which was taken in 1969 as a reference:
http://www.transportphotos.com/air/photo/MIL22761
Hence the black serial and white wing tips. However, the camouflage scheme on my kit does not exactly comply with the photo, as you can notice f.e. on the port serial… Also the nose cone can bee seen to have been partially repainted, see here:
http://www.transportphotos.com/air/photo/MIL22762

Well, since you raised the topic, do these white wing tip stripes possess any special meaning? F.e. as manoeuvre / training / group marking or just to increase visibility?

Brian, Andy – thanks for the positive feedback. I hope Mr. Pollock enjoyed it too. 🙂

XF442

Hi Gents ,
I am a new member to these forum’s and was interested to read about this Hunter . In the Flight Sim section I have opened a topic over XF442 as I have recreated this aircraft for FS9 and FSX , although after looking again at this model I have noticed the white wingtips and that XF442 is painted black ( not major changes luckily ) .
Couldn’t resist re-enacting Flt Lt pollock’s day trip to London and have posted some screenshots here : http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=91305
I also painted XE624 with the Tower Bridege ” kill ” marking , which I understood to be Flt Lt Pollock’s ” personal ” aircraft .
As I was stationed at RAF Wittering in the early 70’s there are a couple of 45 and 58 sqn repaints as well .

John Glanville

And an open top Morris Minor, say 1935, would be nice in black with maroon cheat lines ….

Can I do the double decker bus? – we’ve all got to start somewhere!

Cheers Brian.

Good idea, Brian!

My neighbour is a leading light in the LMA and a designer/builder as well as a CAA inspector. I’ll prime him to get building right away. Meanwhile, I’ll start work on a large scale Tower Bridge! 🙂

Hi,

Congratulations, that is a fantastic job, have you ever thought of joining up with the LMA (Large Model Aircraft) guys, your skills coupled with theirs in making the large jet models and flying them, would be an unbeatable team, imagine that Hunter with a six foot wingspan and jet turbine power to suit!!!

Cheers Brian Doherty.

I will get a message to Al and tell him to have a look…..!

Last week “my” interpretation of XF442 finally rolled off the assembly line. One of my best kits so far, yet not likely to become an award winner. Hope you enjoy it nevertheless. Kit is Revell’s 1/32 FGA.9, the markings are a mix of FGA.9/F.Mk.6 and some vintage Echelon decals.
BTW: I cunningly chose to omit the pilot’s name on the front fuselage (see first post) – in the end a wrong name is as inaccurate as no name at all. 😉

Alan’s story (written by the man himself) is also featured in my book Hunter – A Complete History published by Crecy last year.

It was done simply because Alan was frustrated by the official attitude towards the RAF’s anniversary which wasn’t being celebrated with any great enthusiasm. In true fighter pilot spirit he decided to take things into his own hands. It’s a pity that there are not more people like him still around in the RAF.

Alan Pollock also describes the Tower Bridge flight (and the reasons behind it) in an interview on the ‘Kemble – Hunter 50th Anniversary’ DVD/Video.

Out – Roxeth.

Hi Chris,
Semi gloss finish as far as I recall.

Best Wishes.
Robert.

The most detailed description comes from Mr. Pollock himself – Flypast published his account about the flight in 1982. You can read the article in full here:

http://www.rafjever.org/4sqnper004.htm

Al Pollock is still around. I suspect he’d happily do it all again!!

He was one of the original founding members, with me, of Tangmere Military Aviation Museum.

His story was written up in FlyPast many years ago.

I would be interested to hear the story behind the Tower Bridge Hunter story. Why was it done and what happened to the pilot afterwards? There must be someone here who was close to the event.
I remember it in the news when it happened At the flying club we were most impressed!
Jim