The guns were borrowed from G-AWHE and slaved in for the initial ground based photo shoot that I took and released, as the originals were not with the aircraft when it came from Breighton. As they had not been fitted in that rebuild, they were not part of the original technical certification and so new items were manufactured and a modification approval had to gained before fitment for flight. This took a while and so initial flying was undertaken without the guns fitted, hence the blanking plates at that stage. They were subsequently fitted and have been on ever since. From memory they were put on just before Legends this year. I think it looks best with the guns fitted, myself. 😎
They were fitted the day before the show I believe.