aircraft ID needed

[rockabilly808]

few of these have been buzzing around the last few weeks, not a current design my any means and it has an american flag on the vertical stabilizer so 'm assuming it's an OPFOR aircraft used for training.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3086/2702594994_5b066abbd6_b.jpg

[Britania757]

Is it a Hawker Hunter? At least thats what it looks like to me. I could be wrong though.

[FlyingPhotog]

I do believe it is...

Didn't realize any were flying in the US

[rockabilly808]

you guys know better than me, I've never seen one before.

[Britania757]

I never knew we had these flying in the states. A very cool plane. I would love to see one of these birds.

[FlyingPhotog]

@ the OP:

Anything closer so we can try to find an "N" number?

[rockabilly808]

no I don't, sorry I snapped this one when I was out shooting sailing, the pic I posted was taken at 400mm and heavily cropped.

[Andrushka]

my guess is that its a privately owned aircraft - or maybe owned and flown by a "dogfight in a real jet fighter" company??

[rockabilly808]

no I think it's owned by the military, they've been flying in and out of the Marine base.

[FlyingPhotog]

It has a US Flag on the tail but this particular aircraft wasn't flown by the US (so far as I know...) It was an RAF bird.

[rockabilly808]

like I said my guess is it's an OPFOR aircraft but really I don't know.

[FlyingPhotog]

Hmmm...dunno.

It was more or less a Cold War era aircraft but I suppose the Navy could be playing with one. I've read where they've been known to bring in all manner of odd aircraft for Dissimaler Air Combat Training exercises so who knows?

Cool catch at any rate...

[40Dude6aedyk]

It appears that the first response from Britania757 is the winner:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hawker_Hunter-_Swiss.jpg

[Box Brownie]

Yes, surely a Hawker Hunter.

Here is the privately owned Miss Demeanour as supporting evidence

This is the right way up ;)
http://www.1stdesignit.co.uk/350d/wings_n_wheels2007/IMG_1267.jpg

http://www.1stdesignit.co.uk/350d/wings_n_wheels2007/hunter_colours.jpg

Taken at the Wings N Wheels show in 2007

[FlyingPhotog]

But can anyone nail down an airframe that is US owned?

[Box Brownie]

But can anyone nail down an airframe that is US owned?

That I will have to leave to my transatlantic cousins of POTN :lol:

[FlyingPhotog]

That I will have to leave to my transatlantic cousins of POTN :lol:

Love that paint job on "Miss D"

[Andrushka]

Love that paint job on "Miss D"

definitely a sportier look than the average Hunter! Pretty cool

[FlyingPhotog]

I suppose if you have the "coin" to own and fly one yourself, you can paint the sucker any color you want... ;)

Kinda reminds me of the story of the "Pink" P40 at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo in western Michigan. The so called experten screamed bloody murder until they found out the paint job was authentic. Seems no one had ever seen what "Desert Sand" looked like when it was freshly applied. They'd only seen photos of it after it had weathered.

[Andrushka]

I suppose if you have the "coin" to own and fly one yourself, you can paint the sucker any color you want... ;)

naturally! :lol:

[rockabilly808]

But can anyone nail down an airframe that is US owned?

i'll be out again probably tomorrow, if they're out flying I'll try to get a few more pics of em.

[casp3r]

Think it's a Hawker Hunter F58

http://www.airliners.net/photo/ATAC-(Airborne-Tactical/Hawker-Hunter-F58/1314905

[FlyingPhotog]

Think it's a Hawker Hunter F58

http://www.airliners.net/photo/ATAC-(Airborne-Tactical/Hawker-Hunter-F58/1314905

DING DING DING...

We have a winner...

Aircraft are registered to Hunter Aviation International and are incorporated in Delaware, USA (as are a lot of businesses...)

They do, in fact, provide "Fast Jets" for dissimilar air combat training and radar profiling.

They're essentially "Threats R Us..." Pretty Cool...

[Andrushka]

wow thats cool... so its civilian owned (well, corporate owned) then right? Why the heck do they need to profile/dissimilar train with hunters? what current potential threat (nation) has Hunters or something very similar in service?? Who did you Brits sell all your Hunters off to?? haha :-)

[casp3r]

I'd say from certain angles it would look like some of the earlier Migs and the Mig-19 is still in service with North Korea in the form of the Shenyang J-6

[Andrushka]

thats not a far off thought, i suppose the wing and tail shape and positioning are similar to the mig-19 and offspring... wouldn't some (ex-Warsaw Pact) new NATO members have some of the real thing sitting around available to be used for such?? or even bought outright?

this is a very interesting subject... i am not familiar with what resources are brought in for this type of training

[Jeff]

Very cool aircraft. Nice pictures too.

[Eagle]

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?airlinesearch=ATAC%20%28Airborne%20Ta ctical%20Advantage%20Company%29&distinct_entry=true

http://www.atacusa.com/sections/company.html

[DigitalSpecialist]

I can only confirm that it is a British Hawker, can't confirm model.

[FlyingPhotog]

wow thats cool... so its civilian owned (well, corporate owned) then right? Why the heck do they need to profile/dissimilar train with hunters? what current potential threat (nation) has Hunters or something very similar in service?? Who did you Brits sell all your Hunters off to?? haha :-)

They don't just rent them out for Dogfighting, they also rent them out to let military calibrate ground-based radar as well as see how a different airframe/airborne radar set reacts to jamming, etc...

According to their website, it sounds as if they can whistle up a flight of just about anything the customer wants to fight against or learn to defend against.