Hawker Hunter - Survivor XL612
T.7 XL612 - Privately owned, Chateau Pas de Loup, Saix, France
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Hunter T.7 XL612 at Chateau Pas de Loup, 3rd August 2025; Christopher Bettany
First flown on 12th December 1958, XL612 was delivered to 5 MU in January 1959 and served with 402 WTS and 43(F) Squadron before joining the Empire Test Pilot's School in the mid-1970s. They operated XL612 for some time, mostly for inverted spinning demonstrations - the Hunter being one of the few swept-wing jet types able to demonstrate an inverted spin (or more importantly, how to recover from one) with some degree of safety.
She made her final in-service flight on 10th August 2001 and was put up for disposal after some time in storage. She was then sold and transported to Exeter and was placed in storage again until she moved on to Swansea Airport for display. The airframe could be seen there for several years sat outside. In 2017, XL612 was moved to St Athan where she was given a repaint and was later exported to France with a private owner who owns a Chateau.
The Chateau is used as a holiday home and can be booked via booking.com - the Hunter is in good company with a Dassault Mirage III, MiG-21, and Vampire XD459.
She made her final in-service flight on 10th August 2001 and was put up for disposal after some time in storage. She was then sold and transported to Exeter and was placed in storage again until she moved on to Swansea Airport for display. The airframe could be seen there for several years sat outside. In 2017, XL612 was moved to St Athan where she was given a repaint and was later exported to France with a private owner who owns a Chateau.
The Chateau is used as a holiday home and can be booked via booking.com - the Hunter is in good company with a Dassault Mirage III, MiG-21, and Vampire XD459.
Information on this page current as of 06/12/2025, last updated by Jake |
Find other photos of XL612 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net