London, ON Canada — The Jet Aircraft Museum will soon be home to a Hawker Hunter aircraft, an iconic Cold War-era plane that served the British Royal Air Force for decades as a ground attack jet and fighter-bomber.
“We are just incredibly excited,” said Simon Pont, who along with his wife Laura and Graham Rawlinson, bought the plane at an auction in the United Kingdom this month.
“We have acquired an aircraft that, in terms of global aviation, is a very significant aircraft.”
The version of the plane they bought was a Hawker Hunter T7, a two-seater training aircraft that first flew with the Royal Air Force in October 1958.
The fact the plane was a two-seater made it particularly attractive to the buyers.
“We want to bring that aircraft to the museum and have the opportunity to fly in it with more than just the pilot,” Pont said.
The jet was used exclusively by the Royal Air Force as a trainer before being transferred to the Royal Navy as an instructional airframe.
“We can prove its pedigree. It only ever served with the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, so it’s not been anywhere else, or adapted or modified. It is pretty much the same as when it first flew,” he said.
The aircraft last flew in 2014 and was going through its annual inspection when the company that owned it went into receivership. Pont declined to say how much they paid for it at a bankruptcy auction.
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