John “BJ” Aldington was one of the Lightning Flying Club’s pool of pilots that went on to fly the numerous Hunters at Exeter. The last I heard was he was with Scot Airways on the Dornier 328s.

Great news 🙂

For more info on WV382, please look here.

Yep – Always been told that the Mk.4 was the best of the bunch to fly – quite a few Mk.3s in the USA have been fitted with the bigger Viper.

Due to the FI problems there are not very many ‘stock’ Mk.4s in airworthy condition though – I can think of only six of the top of my head (seven if you include G-PROV)

– XP547 in Puerto Rico
– XR673 G-BXLO at Church Fenton, UK
– XR701 N204JP in Cheraw, SC, USA
– XR704 in the USA
– XS178 in the USA (for sale)
– XS219 in the USA

Thankyou for those kind words l dont have any up to date photos of the hunter that l can post but this will be the next aircraft we move and it will be repainted in the scheme it wears now

regards Dave

That’s great news Dave.
The last shot I have of it was taken in 2004 and shows the VL on the fin being painted black. This must be a replacement fin as the code didn’t go black until the fleet was refinished dark sea grey in the mid-80s.
The first FRADU Hunter in the call-sign sequence, and the first to be withdrawn from service – in 1976.

These new Hawks are being bought and built for training the next generation of aircrew, not to be painted red!
I’m sure the Hawks that will get released from 4FTS service by the new builds will keep the Red Arrows fleet going for a while.
FRADU have some Hawks that they could give up too….. 😉