TIGER HUNTER fINAL fLIGHT
After just under 20 years of operation and 1,350 passenger flights the Tiger Hunter "Double Victory" which is owned by the FFA Museum and operated by the Verein Hunter Flying Group will perform its last flight on the Saturday 23rd of October 2021.
The Fliegermuseum Altenrhein (FFA Museum Altenrhein) is located at the St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport in eastern Switzerland and has a considerable fleet of different historic aircraft with a close connection to the Swiss Air Force, some of which are still airworthy.
Already in November of last year, due to the pandemic-related loss of flight operations and the loss of strategic sponsors, the museum was forced to sell its two single-seat Hunter Mk.58’s HB-RVQ (ex J-4064) and HB-RVU (ex J-4086). In early 2021 the two-seat Hunter T.68 (HB-RVP) was also sold leaving the museum with only one Hunter T.68 HB-RVV (ex J-4206).
Besides financial difficulties, the Fliegermuseum Altenrhein has also struggled to find qualified and experienced mechanics to keep the historic jets in airworthy condition. Although the museum has established a certified maintenance operation for its aircraft in the form of Historic Flight Maintenance GmbH, the lack of qualified mechanics capable of maintaining the jets forced the Museum to ground their last Hunter at the end of the 2021 season.
This exact Hawker Hunter left the Hawkers Blackpool production plant in 1956 as a Hunter F.50 and was taken on Strength with the Svenska flygvapnet (Swedish Air Force) with a serial number 34072 on the 2nd of February 1957. In 1970 the Hunter was sent to Hawker Siddeley where it received a civil registration G-9-413 and was converted to a Hunter T.68 with a new-build front section.
On the 3rd of June 1975, it was transported by ground to Emmen where it was reassembled and taken on strength with the Swiss Air Force with a serial number J-4206 where it served with Fliegerstaffel-24 and Fliegerstaffel-5.
The J-4206 was retired from the Swiss Air Force on the 14th of June 1994 and in 1995 it was ferried from Payerne Air Base to Stans Buochs for short term storage. On the 2nd of April 1997, the aircraft was ferried once again this time to Raron where it was assigned to reserve and remained in storage.
In 2001 the Hunter was sold to FAA Museum and received a new civil registration HB-RVV as well as the tiger colour scheme of 11 Sqn (in 2009). During its time with the FAA Museum, the Tiger Hunter was available for passenger flights and also appeared at a number of airshows all over Europe.
The last public display of the Tiger Hunter took place on the 20th of October 2021 at Axalp during the flight demonstrations of the Swiss Air Force where it performed its solo display routine as well as the farewell flight together with the Swiss Air Force F/A-18 Hornets.
