Graham
From Scramble
This week, Hawker Hunter Aviation Ltd. (HHAL) at RAF Scampton (UK) performed the first trials of Hunter T72 XE688’s Rolls Royce Avon engine. The two-seater is a former chaseplane which was used by Brazilian manufacturer Embraer as PP-XHH. It still has the beautiful livery from those days. XE688 arrived at Scampton in 2018 (*).
The aircraft’s history is somewhat obscure: XE688 was actually built as a model F4 with serial XE704 (construction number HABL-003035). For unknown reasons, the factory plate located in the nose gear bay is that of ex Fuerza Aerea de Chile (Chile Air Force) serial (J-)736, which had construction number HABL-003031. This Chilean aircraft was also originally built as a model F4 and allocated the serial XE688.
However, records show XE688 was written off in 1957 and the factory plate has found its way on to this aircraft. It is thought that the front fuselage/nose section of the original XE688 was used to convert the aircraft into a T72 and the data plate was never changed.
So its a hybrid converted from parts of two separate aircraft, do you go with the c/n of the front or the c/n of the rear section. Personally I will just go with whats on the aircraft
Alan