Inside The Cockpit - Hawker Hunter F.6 / Mk.58 

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As a Swiss guy and a true Hunter fan I really appreciate your video about the Hawker Hunter as it is really hard to condense the extensive history of that iconic aircraft into a 20 minute video. So you did a good job on that. However there is a small thing I'd like to correct. Before you entered the Cockpit you talked about the Sabrinas and pointed out that the gases from the Gun firing where emitted backwards, away from the jet intakes. Now what you pointed at actually where the Chaffs and Flare installation. The gases where pointed downward by the gun deflectors at the end of the barrels as you correctly said before and some of the internal gases where evacuated together with the shells of the guns via the tubes between the Sabrinas and the fuselage. Furthermore with the newer Rolls-Royce Avon 203 which was in the Swiss Hunters this problem wasn't existent anymore. How ever the Swiss hunters are special in many ways and differ from all the others. So where the MK 58 the only ones with RWR, Chaff and Flare containers e.g. (as far as I know). This was all added in the KAWEST - standig for "Kampwertsteigerung" (or Hunter 80 Program) in the 80es. Also the Swiss Hunters where the only ones able to deploy Sidewinders and some where even equipped to deploy the "Maverick AGM65" Television guided Air to ground missile. Special as well at the Swiss Hunters Sabrinas was that they where elongated, not only to collect the ammunition links (which was the main reason for the Sabrinas) and contain the Chaff and Flare installation, but they had to collect the empty shells as well. The first Swiss Hunters ejected them as all Hunters did, but during training's on shooting ranges in the Swiss alps (Axalp e.g) these shells fell to the ground on meadows, where in the summer cows where located. Now these cows licked on the shells during the grass feeding and showed signs of poisoning later on. So the Swiss airforce hat to do something to prevent this. So they defined, that in peace times the Hunter just carried 30 rounds of ammunition per gun, so that the empty shells could be collected in the Sabrinas as well. Furthermore because of the immense recoil of the four 30mm Aden guns (could be more than 5t), which tended to damage the structure over time the Swiss airforce decided to fire only two of them simultaneously. B.T.W. In the 1970es Switzerland got an offer from Hawker-Siddley for a more modern and improved Hunter the so called Super Hunter. How ever the Swiss airforce wasn't interested in it, as it offered to less and many improvements Hawker-Siddley proposed where already incorporated in the Swiss Hunters anyway by the Swiss airforce them self.

Watching Chris squeeze into yet another tight cockpit reminds me that one of the reasons the great Eric Brown was able to fly a record 487 aircraft types was that he was small enough to fit.

My dad used to maintain these when he was doing his national service. They had a hoot testing the guns on the beach.

Best looking jet fighter ever made (In my opinion) no matter what angle you observe a hunter from it always looks "right". Great piece Bis.....

The hunter is still operational in US/Canada for training! Lortie Aviation is a private contractor and they fly them since 2002!

My favorite fighter of that era. I had a small die cast metal Hunter as a child and I always loved the shape of them. The Hunter looks like a fighter!

hi Bismark this is the only jet fighter i have ever sat in the cockpit of and that would have been about 1961 /62 there was a fuselage only section at the then called boys and girls exhibition held every year in the kelvin hall in Glasgow Scotland i cannot remember but i would think this was to recruit for the RAF you brought back long forgotten memories thank you so much

Just a gorgeous aircraft. Excellent video. Thanks Bismarck!

IMO, the most beautiful warplane ever built.

I spent over ten years working on the Hunters of the RAF in various places. It had a novel starting system which used isopropyl nitrate turbine starter (although the trainers used a cartridge system). The air brake was interesting from a hydraulic point of view in that when set to operate hydraulic pressure was fed to BOTH sides of the jack. This resulted in the air brake operating very quickly. Engine changes needed the aircraft to be split in two just aft of the wings, this was always a lengthy job. And I recall changing an engine which went u/s on its first run. The only spare engine we had was in another aircraft which was at that time u/s for another reason, so I think that the one engine change turned into four! The other major job was setting up the undercarriages to Service Instruction 72. This was a seriously fiddly job and if it needed doing to all three undercarriages could take a couple of days. One had to adjust the locks to hold the legs up, also the sequence valves for the doors and the door locks, nightmare!

The Hunter is my favourite jet aircraft, so beautiful to look at in my opinion. It just seems to want to fly! It is the jet age version of the Spitfire!

Greetings & support from Singapore! The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) was a former operator of Hawker Hunters & I loved seeing them up close during visits to Air Force open houses where the Black Knights, the aerobatics display team of the RSAF would fly them in the 1980s. Thanks for making this video!

This is probably the best introduction of any of his videos. Love it

I saw one of these pretty planes on an airshow last year, and I just love the howling sound they make, sometimes called the 'blue note'. This is apparently caused by the airflow over the gun ports' compensators seen at 11:43 .

worth watching the Roger Hyman videos, amazing career in the RAF and fascinating to listen to his tales of flying the Hunter.

What an absolute beauty the Hunter is.

A member of my Golf Club was part of the twenty two Hunters performing the loop. He was a originally a conscript selected for pilot training ,

The blue note sound these produce is really something quite awesome, was the inspiration for the noise of the Tie fighters in Star Wars

Considered by many the best subsonic fighter ever. The Swiss FGA.58 is much upgraded and a very capable machine. I believe the segmented box's at the rear of the 'Sabrinas' is the Chaff and Flare dispensers. The RAF Hunters had a ranging Radar and a Ballistics computer to aid Air to Air gunnery and accurate firing. The controls of which were duplicated on the Throttle to give a measure of HOTAS in Combat. The gunsight had air to air and air to ground modes.

It's interesting to see how the gear indicator looks so similar to that used on the earlier Hawk aircraft like the Hurricane. The massive evolution of the early jets coupled with those reminders of how little time it took to make those leaps and bounds is utterly fascinating.

One of my favorite post-war era fighters, thanks for the great content!

my favourite aircraft! i just want to add that the swiss air force actually tried to replace them in the attacker role in the 70s with either the A-7 Corsair 2 or the Dassault Milan. The air force wanted the Corsair while the government wanted the Milan because it was co-developed by the federal aircraft works in Emmen (todays RUAG). this quarrel led to neither aircraft being adted and the Hunter serving until 1994 when it was quickly phased out without replacement due to cracks being found in the airframes. a lot of planes continue to fly though, some through private clubs and a couple where sold to the company ATACS which uses them as Aggressors. Swiss Hunters where also equipped with swedish BT-9 bombing computers (a modified version was also put into the Saab Viggen) and later version where able to carry BL-755 cluster bombs (TABO in swiss air force lingo, short for Tiefabwurfbombe (Low drop bomb)) and some for early AGM-65 Mavericks, which where deemed of limited usability becasue they didn't have an IR camera but still used a contrast lock on system. this worked fine in deserts but poorly in forested areas

Used by our 🇮🇳 IAF during 1965 & 1971 War... One of the Iconic fighter jet of its era... My favourite fighter plane... "Hawker Hunter"

Very comprehensive. Thank you

The Hunter F6 is a beautiful aircraft. She has an elegant design that is graceful, unlike many of her contemporaries from both sides of the iron curtain. I've been building an F6 as a balsa wood model and while it's taken a while, I love the design.

I saw these flying during all my youth (in Switzerland)...the most beautifl fighters ever produced.

My favorite plane of all time. Thank you!

2:02 the Tempest pilot is Bill Humble, grandfather of TV nature presenter Kate Humble.

I love how you present the Hunter at 0:35, you sound like it just snuck up on you

Ahh my favourite plane. Liked and will watch later today 😁

Loved it!!, I recently started working at my local RAF museum and I will be trained up on the Hawker Hunter and another Cold War jet so I am doing some of the guess work myself. Thank everyone for the input and information you give to giving us some help along the way :)

Very good. Just for your information, the Nene is pronounced Neen. All RR jets are named after British Rivers and the River Nene flows through Peterborough to the Wash.

Speed in km/h, alt in ft, climb indicator in m/s. Good god.

The "Black' Arrows performed that record. a couple of years before the RAF formed the red arrows.

Always consistently great videos on so many iconic aircraft, and sometimes a few hidden gems. Thank you!

Many years ago I went to RAF Chivenor as an Air Cadet which was then a Fast Jet Conversion School for pilots who had just graduated from flying Jet Provosts. They had mainly F mk6s and T mk7s trainers to bring them up to speed. During a tour we visited the flight simulator which was a Hunter cockpit recessed into a housing where even the instructors would be put through their paces. The officer in charge told us a tale that only a few weeks earlier he had to ground one of the instructors. He had flown a perfect pattern, had intercepted and destroyed the supposed target and returned to base without problem, except that he hadn't adjusted his altimeter settings and 'landed' the simulator, perfectly, 250ft underground!

Yet another stellar and informative video Bis. Learned more than I thought I would. A famous but simultaneously underrated and underappreciated aircraft. I look forward to the next video.

Super video. Love all the work-arounds and fixes. One of my favorite aircraft.

Enjoyed this episode. Good history, good cockpit tour. Kudos.

Love the content, good job mate.

Rolls Royce Nene is pronounce like knee - neen. It is the name of a river, like the Derwent and Trent, which are also Rolls Royce jet engine names.

This icon was the mainstay of 🇮🇳 Indian Airforce in the 1965 & 1971 Indo-Pak war.. My dad worked on these legendary machines..

" UNTIL IT WASN'T " !! I LOVE YOUR WORK ! GREAT INTRO !!

Ingenious engineering to handle blasts from the guns, at both ends! Max speed 120 km/hr? That should give it endurance.. (Beautiful shot of the turbine blade connections at 10:51.)

Excellent video. I've always loved the Hunter.

As always, love the vid!

Great video and information. Thank you!

Another great presentation with some excellent rare photographs...

Australia dropped out because we had a cunning plan for Sabres with Avon's and 30mm guns

Awesome video: thank you!!

Your videos are simply excellent! Thanks so much.

Just about the most beautiful of the cold war jets.

Great content as always! Loved the punchy intro music.

Great. Presentation Bismarck it how stuff should be presented good research, loved the gun blast deflectors, double fix, clear the gas stop the nose down with some simple metal work, great looking jet smooth lines.

Das ist ein tolles Video!

French, German and English mixed up on the controls, keep you on your toes. Big thanks to the museum and to you.

Awesome. Love the Hunter

I remember the Black Diamonds display team with, I believe, 24 Hunters. I saw them at a Biggin Hill display but also practising at RAF Abingdon. The name Neville Duke seems to be associated from my schooldays with the Hunter.

It was interesting to see how little head room you have. My dad told me this was a problem for pilots, as a result he said it was unusual to see fighter pilots taller than about 5’ 9’’. Taller pilots tended to fly aircraft types with larger cockpits. However he said there were exceptions.

I like this Jet!

Thank god for bismarck

I like the way the drag shoot control knob is shaped like a parachute, class.

Nice Docu. Thank you

I thought first you where in Dübendorf for a second... that would really hurt me that i didnt knew when you where there :D - i live 15min from the Museum there and would really liked to say hi ... from a distance :) // also a really cool intro!

If I recall correctly the Hunter was actually tested with the Sapphire engine and the problem of ingested gasses from firing the guns caused a problem even worse than engine surge - a flame every time.

10:16 that would be bill bedford rocking up with a supersonic dive, dramatic bang for the crowd, some low level aerobatics and this his infamous spin from 18,000 ft where he forgot that the airfield was +500 ft from his calculation and he nearly pancaked it into the ground!

Enjoyed the narrative.

If you get a chance to see Miss Demeanor, a Hunter that graces the airshows, then do it. Such a beautiful aircraft... And such a sound!!! I have a book from the 1950's with an article by Neville Duke called "Taking the Hawker Hunter through the sound barrier." Understated British piloting at it's very best! Erm... Did I hear you mention "Brown Alert"? Is that a euphemism for "The pilot requires a new flightsuit?"

Great review

Bismarck, For Inside the Cockpit, I suggest the Hanover CL.IIIa, the Halberstadt CL.II, the Roland Walfisch, the Rumpler, the Bristol F.2b, the Airco DH.4, the RAF F.2b, the Salmson 2a. Jeder Erste Weltkrieg Zweisitzer. Oder Ju 87.

My grandfather flew FGA.9s in Rhodesia in the 50s/60s

I use the Hunter quite often in MSFS 2020. It's a nice freeware model.

Beautiful aircraft.

Nice to see love going to the unloved

0:34 I like the dramatic introduction

RHODESIANS NEVER DIE, I love the hunter and the Rhodesian Camo pattern that they used

These were still being flown by the Rhodesian Airforce when I did my National Service in 1975. I also worked, for a short while, with Sqr Lrd Rich Brand who once bragged that, in a Hunter, he could hit a dustbin in a jungle clearing (with cannon fire). He was taken up on the bet, and was successful!

My Chief Tech' in the gun bay at Brueggen told me that, Hunters normally only fired two Aden guns at a time. As if all four Aden's were fired at once and the Hunter wasn't in a dive it could slow it considerably? I never witnessed it my self as I only worked aircraft fitted with two Aden's', two Mauser's or a SUU gun.

Dang, that intro was cool :)

Sometimes I have to wonder. The Hunter was so specificialy built arround the Adens and later proved to be a solid early jet aera groundattacker aswell. What if Hawker would have had enough funds to redisign the airframe to convert it into a proper close air support plane? Just imagine a streight wing configuration with the potential for more payload, ammunition and maybe armor ( A bit like a Fougar Magister on steroids if you know what I mean). This could have been a true predecessor of the A-10 if you ask me.

I was able to sit in the Hunter at the RAF museum at Cosford and I was surprised at how little room there was inside.

Excellent video with excellent research. I am happy that this video and your whole channel exists. Edit: i actually live in Payerne and have visited this museum on multiple occasions

The P.1081 bears a striking resemblance to the Grumman Cougar.

Good vid, just a suggestion, I'd think there are not to many P47s in Europe but there is 1 in Zagreb, Croatia in the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum, would be a good opportunity perhaps. Other aircraft in the museum are just a few trainers but the P47 is pretty cool and like I said there probably aren't alot of them in Europe.

Just wondering, do any of the planes you have made videos of have any height restrictions for pilots? I know you have mentioned that you are taller than average but man some of these cockpits look so bois for tall bois

The most beautiful aircraft ever built. 😚

Conversion Mk 6 to Mk 9 was thought to be the best. This was an upgraded in the mid 1960s to fire four guns at once (RADFAN War) and fitted with an upgraded 'Foxhunter 'RADAR for interception. MK9s are quickly/simply identified, by a strut supporting the inboard fuel tanks and camouflage which overlapped the leading edges of the wings.

A beautiful airframe

The Hunter has my vote for being the most beautiful jet fighter ever built. It just looks the part. The first swept-wing British jet fighter to enter service was the Supermarine Swift. It had some issues though, and when the Hawker Hunter came along, I remember (yes, I was around then!) publicity being given to them both being evaluated against each other in order to choose which would be the future RAF jet fighter. The Hunter won and the Swift was soon phased out.

7:20 true. the sapphire engines the gun tests were done on were nearly surge proof. The team from Armstrong's essentially reworked the compressor for RR so the later Avon engines had some gusto. As with many british things, politics & the old boys network. The Sapphire engine may well have been the better option, if was good enough for the Americans who licensed built it and put it in their A4 skyhawks!

During 1967 Six Day War, the most effective air force units , faced by Israeli Air Force, were the Hunter Squadron(s) of Royal Jordanian Air Force. Equipped by British, and trained by British and South African instructors, Jordanian Hunter crews were most competent of all the air units used by Arab nations.

NEEEEEEN and AYYVON

Nene, as you say it Bismark, is french slang for, well... Sabrina most prominent feature. No wonder I ve always love the look of this aircraft. 🙂😍

The HERO OF BATTLE OF LONGEWALE

Looks like Grumman designed their Panther, for the navy, around this model. Very similar. Douglas also had something like it.

Baby got back!

My late father worked on Hunters at RAF West Raynham. He was part of the ground crew of the Black arrows display team. It was made up of squadron pilots, in contrast to the Red arrows which was made up of pilot instructors. I believe many Black arrow pilots went on to fly with the Reds. At my Dad’s funeral his old Chief tech told me that because my dad was artistic and had a flare for design he was given the job of painting the pilots helmets. It’s possible that one or more of these helmets still exist in private collections..

Very interesting video, how about a comparisson with other aircraft of similar times, like the Saab 32? (And no i am not talking about childish which one is the best, just differences, maybe different technical solutions, similarities, or in general what where it's competitors ect.)

Clin d’Ailes Museum next to Payerne Air Base ! it's host to a great Military Air Show every 10 years, last one was "Air 2014" so watch out for "Air 2024" ✈️🚁