Caruana, Richard J. The Fighting Colours of Richard J. Caruana. Volume 5: Hawker Hunter in British service

You can call it elegance, grace or even beauty; the Hawker "Hunter" was the last aircraft of a type where one of the rules of thumb in design philosophy was "if it looks right, it flies right". At that time, there were no computer gurus who could carry out simulated test runs on the desktop. Everything had to be done with a pencil and slide rule. Richard J. Caruana describes and illustrates this Hawker thoroughbred with a selection of some of the most colourful designs this fighter had to offer. Hawker's chief designer, Sir Sydney Camm, found little inspiration in the official specifications as set out in F.43/46 and developed a completely different design concept, designated P.1067, which was flexible enough to accommodate different engines. This resulted in the Mk. 1 and Mk. 4 models being fitted with the Rolls-Royce Avon and the Mk. 2 and Mk. 5 models with the Armstrong Whitworth Sapphire. This dual use of engines probably saved the "Hunter" from oblivion, as had happened to the failure-prone "Sapphire" and the Supermarine "Swift". However, with the introduction of the Hunter Mk. 6, a true combat aircraft was born. The revised and reinforced wings could carry more fuel in underwing tanks, increasing the range of the Hunter. In addition, the introduction of the Mk. 9 ground attack version made it possible to carry bombs and missiles. In addition to the Royal Air Force, the "Hunter" was also used by the Fleet Air Arm in single and two-seat versions. The flexibility, ease of operation and favourable price of the "Hunter" made the aircraft attractive outside the UK ... but that's another story.