> I have seen several pieces of artwork which shows aircraft with an
> additional inner pylon which is carrying a sidewinder missile. Can
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> GOndor
I don't think there ever was one. There was one Hunter F4, XF310, which was
experimentally fitted with 2 Fireflash missiles on pylons, but it was not
proceeded with. Also, there was a proposal to produce a "Super Hunter"
which would have had provision for Sidewinders but, again, it came to
nothing.
Regards
Pat Macguire
Dave Williams - 23 Oct 2007 22:52 GMT
>> I have seen several pieces of artwork which shows aircraft with an
>> additional inner pylon which is carrying a sidewinder missile. Can
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> Pat Macguire
There is a picture of an Omani T.MK.66 in Wings of Fame showing it with an
AIM-9P on a special inboard pylon. I believe I have seen Omani single
seater Hunters with the pylon/missile also. Swiss Mk. 58s also have an
extra inboard pylon, although I don't know if it was used for Sidewinders or
just A-G ordnance. Finally, there is a photo of a Singapore Hunter carrying
the Sidewinder/extra pylon at the bottom of this page:
http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/hunter/survivorspics17.html
Dave
Pat Flannery - 24 Oct 2007 05:58 GMT
> I don't think there ever was one. There was one Hunter F4, XF310, which was
> experimentally fitted with 2 Fireflash missiles on pylons, but it was not
> proceeded with. Also, there was a proposal to produce a "Super Hunter"
> which would have had provision for Sidewinders but, again, it came to
> nothing.
Some of the overseas Hunter customers did get early model Sidewinders
stuck on them:
http://www.wingweb.co.uk/aircraft/Hawker_Hunter_in_service.html
"The effect of the White Paper on the Hunter was that production tailed
off quickly and plans for improved variants, such as the CFE Hunter,
were filed away. Even fairly simple improvements to the type were
neglected. One significant improvement would have been a "wet"
centerline stores pylon, which would have allowed carriage of bombs on
the inner stores pylons. This modification was actually performed on
Singapore's Hunters, but it was implemented with assistance by Lockheed.
Similarly, several foreign users, including Chile, the Netherlands,
Oman, Rhodesia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Singapore, wired up their
Hunters to carry the US-built AIM-9 Sidewinder AAM or foreign
counterparts like the Israeli Shafir and South African Atlas Darter.
Although Sidewinder variants available in the 1960s were of limited
effectiveness, they still provided a significant improvement in air
combat capability. The upgrade was straightforward, since the
Sidewinder's seeker obtained a target lock on its own, indicating the
lock to the pilot through a tone wired to the pilot's headphones. The
RAF was promised Sidewinders for their Hunters but never got them.
Although some Royal Navy Hunter trainers were wired for Sidewinders, no
British Hunter ever carried them operationally."
I'm still trying to track down photos of the pylon.
Pat
Mad-Modeller - 25 Oct 2007 04:44 GMT
Drat, when I did my Swedish F.50 I went to some trouble to eliminate the
shell collectors. Now I read they were added on later.
IIRC, I used missile rails from an F-104 kit. Removing the dogtooth
leading edges wasn't too difficult using the Airfix kit.
Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
Pat Flannery - 25 Oct 2007 07:19 GMT
> Drat, when I did my Swedish F.50 I went to some trouble to eliminate
> the shell collectors. Now I read they were added on later.
They ran into real problems with high subsonic and supersonic fighter's
large caliber shell casings damaging the underside of the aircraft on
ejection.
Pat
Bill Shatzer - 25 Oct 2007 04:46 GMT
>>I have seen several pieces of artwork which shows aircraft with an
>>additional inner pylon which is carrying a sidewinder missile. Can
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>>
>>GOndor
> I don't think there ever was one. There was one Hunter F4, XF310, which was
> experimentally fitted with 2 Fireflash missiles on pylons, but it was not
> proceeded with. Also, there was a proposal to produce a "Super Hunter"
> which would have had provision for Sidewinders but, again, it came to
> nothing.
I think it was a modified FGA.9 and the serial number was XF378 - but
otherwise that's basically correct.
http://www.vicflintham.co.uk/post-war-military-aircraft/hunter/hunter.html
Cheers,
P & H Macguire - 25 Oct 2007 15:07 GMT
>>> I have seen several pieces of artwork which shows aircraft with an
>>> additional inner pylon which is carrying a sidewinder missile. Can
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> Cheers,
My sources say:
Two Mk6 Hunters, WW594 and XF378, were modified for the Ministry of Supply
and designated , respectively, as P1109A and P1109B. They were fitted with
Firestreak missiles, but not proceeded with. The aircraft apparently
performed perfectly well, but it was felt to be not worth it as the Hunter's
days were seen as being numbered.
XF310, a Mk4, was modified for Fairey Aviation as trials aircraft for the
Fireflash missile. When finished with, it was converted to a T Mk7.
Regards
Pat Macguire
Jules - 25 Oct 2007 16:08 GMT
Saw a Hunter with a SHAR nose, that looked cool with the radart they were
testing.
> >>> I have seen several pieces of artwork which shows aircraft with an
> >>> additional inner pylon which is carrying a sidewinder missile. Can
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> > I think it was a modified FGA.9 and the serial number was XF378 - but
> > otherwise that's basically correct.
http://www.vicflintham.co.uk/post-war-military-aircraft/hunter/hunter.html
> > Cheers,
>
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Pat Macguire
Gondor - 26 Oct 2007 13:23 GMT
> Saw a Hunter with a SHAR nose, that looked cool with the radart they were
> testing.
[quoted text clipped - 35 lines]
>
> > Pat Macguire
Thanks to the guys at the start of this disscution for confirming the
existence of the inner pylon. However I am still after information
regarding its location and size so I can reproduce the pylon
reasonably accurately.
The radar and fireflash equipped hunter is a future project for
myself, but first things first.
Gondor