On a dismal May day, a group of retired fighter pilots and groundcrew from the legendary I I I Sqn gathered on the ramp at RAF Wattisham for the roll-out of back from the brink of the scrapyard' Hawker Hunter FGA.9 XG194. From its glory days as the lead aircraft: in the Black Arrows 22 aircraft loop, its chequered career had led it eventually to RAF North Luffenham where, 'modified' into a facsimile Soviet Sukhoi, it was used by the Army and RAF in training teams to make safe the aircraft of defecting Eastern Bloc pilots. Once its usefulness in this ro e had passed, it was virtually abandoned in the open and deteriorated rapidly both through the weather and the attentions of souvenir hunters. Luckily the aircraft was spotted by aircraft engineer David Burke who, realising the significance of this particular airframe, set about trying to find the aircraft a safe home. Eventually it was taken on by Maggie Aggiss and the team at the Wattisham museum and a three-and-a-half-year restoration project commenced.
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