Belg 02

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were considerably lower than any other Hunters in service between 1955 and 1966. Indeed, some of the Belgian aircraft spent almost all their lives in storage.

Thus it was that when world demand for Hunters increased during the mid- and late 1960s, the choice of Dutch and Belgian aircraft for purchase by the parent company was logical, and the fortunes of these ‘second-hand’ Hunters will be described elsewhere.

One notable Belgian Hunter was Mk.6 serial IF-19, which landed itself after the pilot had ejected following an engine failure. It was repaired by Hawker Aircraft Ltd and, with the addition of other airframe components taken from a second damaged Belgian F.4 and a T.7 nose built for demonstration purposes, it became Hawker’s famous two- seat Hunter demonstrator, G-APUX.

HUNTER MARK 4: 112 aircraft produced by Avions Fairey in 1955-56: numbered ID-1 onwards . Served with No.1 Wing at Beauvechain, 7 Wing at Chievres and 9 Wing at Bierset. These aircraft were replace with by Hunter Mark 6.

HUNTER MARK 6: 144 aircraft produced by Avions Fairey and SABCA in 1956-58: numbered IF-1 onwards - serving on the same squadrons as above and were replaced by the F-104

Hawker Siddeley Aviation [HSA] bought many of these aircraft for conversion and resale. The following list gives an indication of the ultimate destination of many of them.

Indian Air Force: IF-1, IF-3, IF-4, IF-7, IF-13, IF-16, IF-17, IF-18, IF-36, IF-43, IF-50, IF-62, IF-64, IF-66, IF-77, IF-78, IF-85, IF-89, IF-91, IF-98, IF-104, IF-110, IF-113, IF-115, IF-116, IF-117, IF-120, IF-123, IF124, IF-127, IF-128, IF-131, IF-123, IF-137, IF-144.

Iraqi Air Force: IF-6, IF-8, IF-9, IF-10, IF-11, IF-14, IF-20, IF-21, IF-22, IF-24, IF-25, IF-27, IF-28, IF-31, IF-32, IF-48, IF-49, IF-51, IF-54, IF-59, IF-68, IF-71, IF-72, IF-74, IF-75, IF-79, IF-80, IF-84, IF-87, IF-88, IF-93, IF-94, IF-97, IF-99, IF-107, IF-114, IF-122, IF-126, IF-135, IF-138, IF-140, IF-142, IF-143.