Corgi AA32714 Hunter T7 RAF – XL573 – RAF, 237 OCU, Honington, July 1987

Work on a 2 seat variant of the Hawker Hunter began in 1954, when a contract was issued for the manufacture of two prototypes. Designed by a team led by Sir Sydney Camm, the first of these aircraft flew on July 8th 1955 with Neville Duke at the controls Hawker Hunter trainers enjoyed a long career in RAF service and one of its key roles was in training crews for the Buccaneer strike aircraft. To assist with this, several Hunter T7 cockpits were fitted with the same instruments and controls as those in the Buccaneer The Hunter T7, XL573, was delivered to the Day Fighter Leaders School at West Raynham in July 1958. After duty with 229 OCU and 4FTS, in Feb 1980 it joined 237 OCU at Honington where, following the grounding of the Buccaneer fleet, its primary role was to keep the Buccaneer flight crews current. XL573 served the RAF for almost 33 years before ending its military days at Lossiemouth in 1991.