Hawker Hunter in service with Swiss Air Force

Main article: Hawker Hunter

Hawker Hunter F.58A J-4029, at the RCAF Museum, Trenton, Ontario, Canada, circa 2007. Note the RWR bulges in the nose.

The Hawker Hunter had a very long career in Swiss Air Force, started in late '50s and ended only in mid '90s. The aicraft was bought in 160 examples, both new and second-hand airframes. The Hunter was upgraded several times and used mainly as attack aircraft by militia squadrons. Despite being only less than 1/10 of all the Hunter production, they are today an important part of the survivors, with many still employed by civil contractors or by private owners.

Selection and deliveries

In 1957, the Swiss Air Force evaluated several aircraft for a prospective purchase; competitors included the North American F-86 Sabre, the Folland Gnat, and the Hawker Hunter. Switzerland was also conducting an independent project to produce an aicraft, the FFA P-16. Swiss officials responded positively to the Hunter, thus an extensive evaluation was conducted in Switzerland with two loaned aircraft. In January 1958, Switzerland chose to place an order for 100 Hunters to replace the existing fleet of de Havilland Vampires; further development of the indigenous P-16 was discontinued.

The first 12 Hawker were F.Mk 6s formerly in service with the RAF, and were upgraded to Mk.58 standard. Further aircraft deliveries were staight from Hawker's production line, the deliveries took place from 3 April 1958 to 1 April 1960. Swiss adaptions included new radio equipment, and changes to the outboard stores pylons to enable the carriage of 400 kilogram (880 pound) bombs. The Hunter was operated as interceptors, with a secondary ground-attack capability. From 1963, half of them were wired for two AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles on the outboard pylons. A T.66 was borrowed for a while, but the SAF did not place any order for two-seat Hunters. A contract from a second batch of 30 Mk.58A Hunters was signed in 1971; deliveries took place from 7 December 1971 to 13 April 1973.

The Hunter survived the procurement efforts of several aircraft promising to be superior; in the case of the Dassault Mirage III this was due to excessive cost overruns and poor project management. A second competition between the Mirage III, Fiat G.91YS (a proposed variant for Switzerland, equipped with two extra Sidewinder missile pylons) and the A-7G Corsair II concluded without any contract being awarded.

A further 22 F.Mk.58As were ordered in a third contract signed in 1973; a fourth contract in 1974 purchased 8 Hunters of the T.Mk 68 configuration. The majority of the 60 Hunter Mk.58/68 were formerly Mk.4s, some were converted Mk.6s and T.Mk.7s. All the Mk.58As were fitted with the Avon 207; the Mk.58 had their Avon 203 replaced by the 207 as well.

Upgrades

A rare T.68 dual-seat Hunter, Berlin 2010

The Swiss Hunters had some important upgrades, known as KAWEST (frrom Kampfwertsteigerung - German: "Increased Operational Performance"). In 1963, the Sidewinder missile was added to ehance the Hunter's air-to-air combat capability. The T.68s would receive improved models of Martin-Baker ejection seats, while the single-seat Mk.58/58A were equipped from 1974 onwards with SAAB BT-9K bombsights, except for 12 aircraft that were used as target tugs. Two Aden cannons were retained, so the firepower was enough for a first line duty.

Swiss Hunters featured several armament changes, such as the intergration of SURA and SNORA 80mm rockets, as many as 32 rockets could be fitted on the underwing rails. The rockets were either equipped with an 4.5kg HEAT warhead capable of penetrating up to 400 mm armor, or alternatively a 7kg HE-Frag warhead. Operationally, Swiss Hunters were often armed with napalm bombs in adition to conventional loadouts.

A significant program of upgrades, under the name 'Hunter 80', was carried out in the early 1980s. A US-built AN/APR-9 Radar Warning Receiver was installed in the nose, along with AN/ALE-39 chaff-flare dispensers. The number of underwing rails for rockets was increased from 8 to 10, and adaptions were made to allow for the deployment of new munitions such as BL755 cluster bombs and AGM-65 Maverick missiles. A Hunter could typically carry a pair of AGM-65s and as many as 20 rockets for a combat mission.

Some T.Mk 68s could be fitted with T-708 Vista ECM pods, containing several jamming devices and chaff dispensers. Another simple but effective improvement for landing the aircraft in icy conditions was the addition of a brake-parachute.

Service

Hunters and Mirage flying in close formation

"The very first new-build F.58 delivered was put straight into service with the Gruppe fuer Ruestungdienste, a civilian test organization, and remained there for the rest of its career. It retained its RAF colors along with bright dayglow red edging around its wing, along its spine and tailfin, and on its nose, plus camera-calibration circles divided into black and white quadrants alongside nose and tail and an oversized bright gentian violet painted underneath."

To suppliment the Hunter's interception capabilities, Switizerland purchased a surface to air missile (SAM) defence system from the United Kingdom, closely based on the Bristol Bloodhound II. High-altitude air defence was maintained by these SAM batteries and Dassault Mirage III fighters, while medium-to-lower altitudes were patrolled by the Hunters.

A portion of the Swiss Hunter fleet was held in reserve as "sleeper squadrons", aircraft were stowed in remote mountain-side hangers, and held suspended in midair by cables. It was planned that in a large-scale conflict, these aircraft would fly from neighbouring highways, using them as runways. In 1991, during a major training exercise involving eight Hunter Mk.58s and eight F-5s, up to 4 kilometers of guard rails had to be removed from public roads to enable aircraft operations. Typically, Switzerland maintained about 150 Hunters in an operational flight-ready condition.

Patrouille Suisse, Payerne, 1991

The Patrouille Suisse flight demonstration team flew the Hawker Hunter for several decades. Squadron aircraft were fitted with smoke generators on the engine exhausts and, later on, were painted in a destinctive red-and-white livery. The group officially formed on 22 August 1964, and used the Hunter as its display aircraft until it was withdrawn from use in 1994.

By 1975, plans emerged to replace the Hunter in the air-to-air role with a more modern fighter, the Northrop F-5E Tiger II. The Hunter continued its service in the Swiss Air Force after the introduction of the F-5; similar to the RAF's own operations, the Hunter became the primary ground attack fighter, and held this role for two further decades until Switzerland purchased 32 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets in the late 1990s. Author Fiona Lombardi noted that with the retirement of the Hawker Hunter, the Swiss Air Force "definatively lost the capability to carry out air-to-ground operations".

In 1990, there were still nine squadrons equipped with 130 Hunters: 2st at Ulrichen, 3nd at Ambri, 5st at Raron, 7th at Interlaken, 9st at Raron, 15st at St.Stephen, 20st at Mollis, 21st at Turtman, 22st at Ulrichn and St.Stephen (with T.68s). They were almost the half of the first line (19 squadrons, 6 with F-5s and 3 with Dassault Mirage IIIS/RS), while one more was used by the experimental aicraft unit.

The Hunter F.Mk.58A were phased out first, as there were problems with the wing's structure. The last Swiss Hunters were phased out of service in 1994. That was a year earlier than planned, but the Hunters were becoming too expensive to maintain. Towards the end of their time, some were given diversive color schemes, one such being the "Paper Plane" of Fliegerstaffel 15. This machine was painted all-white, the names of squadron and aircrew members written across the fuselage, and the left underwing insignia featured a hybrid design between the Swiss white cross and a paper airplane.

The first Swiss Hunter J-4001, armed with Sidewinders

Overall, the Swiss Hunters had a very active career lasting over 30 years. Many of first contract Hunters flew 2,400-2,500 hours, but several of them logged 2,700 hrs and few 2,800. The most active was J-4023 which logged 2,860 hours with 1,567 landings (the average mission time seems over 1-1.5 hours, despite the short endurance of the Hunter). The first batch was the most used, while the '70 fighters/trainers topped around 1,200-1,500 hrs each. As British aviation writer John Lake put it: "If the Hunter had not existed, the Swiss would have had to invent it".

In the course of operating the Hunter there were 32 crashes, causing the deaths of 14 pilots. In consideration to the overall accumulated flight hours of 313,508, the loss ratio is roughly 10 losses/100,000 hrs. In one incident on 20 October 1982, a Hunter was accidentally shot down by a wingman during a live-fire exercise. A near-incident happened on 14 August 2024, where a Swiss pilot managed to land his Hunter in thick fog, landing with only 50 liters of fuel remaining.

During training, Hunters would typically carry only a half load of ammunition for the Aden cannon to allow for spent cartridges to be retained rather than ejected.

The last flight of the Hunter in Swiss service took place on 16 December 1994 at Dübendorf. This final flight was flown by J-4001, originally delivered to the RAF on 23 February 1956, before tranferring to Switzerland in early 1958. It flew a total of 2,541 flight hours, and had conducted 1,330 landings. J-4001 was restored to 1960s conditions before being preserved at Fliegermuseum Dübendorf for static display.

Retirement and preservation

J-4040 'Papyrus' at Payerne, 2004

"Originally all the Swiss Hunters, except for a handful to be donated to museums or used for gate guards and the like, were to scrapped in accordance with strict Swiss rules about exporting weapons. However, there was a loophole in the law in that while Switzerland could not sell the aircraft, they could be given away, and dozens of Swiss Hunters ended up in private hands. It was actually cheaper to give them away than scrap them, though it seems likely the end users had to cover costs associated with the transfer."

The Swiss Hunters were well regarded and conserved, and they are an important part of the surviving Hunters. According to Swisshunter site, today no less but 34 are still active, many others are conserved. Several Hunters are used in North America, one is even used by a private contractor for the French Navy (the J-4073, used by Apache Aviation). Many others are owned by aviation companies like ATAC and Hunter Aviation International Inc, Newark, USA. A British company, the Hunter team, got 12 Mk.58. Its Hunter fleet is claimed capable to perform missions with speed up to mach 0.95, up -3.75/+7.5G for 90 minutes at 185 km from the base, simulating air to air and air to surface threats for military costumers, with low operational costs compared to modern fighters. Lortie Aviation is another costumer of the former Swiss Hunters and claims to have flown 8,500 hours since 2002, with military missions lasting up to 2.5 hrs (with four auxiliary tanks). There is also a Hunter Swiss civil association, Amici dell'Hunter, that perform acrobatic activities.

Some of the last Swiss Hunters are available for 'jet-tourism'. The cost is around 6,900 euros for a 40 minutes flight. Up to 30 other Mk.58/68s are still conserved in museums scattered in Europe, North America, South Africa and Jordan.

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Condon, Peter D. Flying the Classic Learjet. Peter D. Condon, 2007. ISBN 0-646-48135-5.
• Lombardi, Fiona. The Swiss Air Power: Wherefrom? Whereto? Hochschulverlag AG, 2007. ISBN 3-7281-3099-0.
• Martin, Stephen. The Economics of Offsets: Defence Procurement and Countertrade. Routledge, 1996. ISBN 3-7186-5782-1.
• Senior, Tim. The Air Forces Book of the F/A-18 Hornet. Zenith Imprint, 2003. ISBN 0-946219-69-9.
• Anselmino, Federico: 'Fliegertruppen', A&D Magazine, Rome, June 1990 pp. 21-23.
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft, Aerospace Publishing Ltd. 1982. pp. 244-252.
• War Machine Encyclopedia. De Agostini, Novara, 1985. pp .1124-27.