Hawker Sea Hawk FGA6 – XE339, Fleet Requirements Unit, Hurn 1968

Aviation72 1/72 scale AV7223009: Hawker Sea Hawk FGA6 XE339 of the Fleet Requirements Unit based at Hurn in 1968. Limited edition of only 600 pieces, complete with uniquely numbered card.

Length 6.75 inches Wingspan 6.5 inches

XE339 was built as an FGA.4 by Armstrong-Whitworths at Coventry and entered service in 1955 with 800 NAS. In 1956 she was converted to an FGA6 and went on to serve with 803 and 801 NAS before being loaned to the Fleet Requirements Unit in 1965. She was retired in 1969 to ground instructional duties, passing through RNAY Fleetlands and the School of Technical Training at RAF Halton before ending up at the School of Aircraft Handling at Culdrose in 1974. On retirement from those duties she was placed in store at Lee-on-Solent from 1985 to 1995, when she was acquired by the RNHF as a spares source for their airworthy example and transported to RNAS Yeovilton. In 2007 she was disposed of – unfortunately the wings had been scrapped before the sale – and dismantled, with the nose section going to one owner and the fuselage to another (the plan at the time being to mate the fuselage with some wings and WV838’s nose to create a complete example).

The Hawker Sea Hawk was a British single-seat jet fighter of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), the air branch of the Royal Navy (RN), built by Hawker Aircraft and its sister company, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Although its origins stemmed from earlier Hawker piston-engined fighters, the Sea Hawk became the company’s first jet aircraft. After successful acceptance in the RN, the type proved to be a reliable and sturdy workhorse and went on to export success abroad.