Photograph, World Speed Record Flight, 30 year anniversary.

Framed colour photograph of Hawker Hunter Mark 4, registered as G-HUNT in flight over the Needles, on the Isle of Wight.

The framed photograph shows a red-painted Hawker Hunter aircraft (G-HUNT) over the Needles rocks of the Isle of Wight. It was repeating the flight which set a new World Speed Record in 1953 and is dated 30 years after the Record was set. The Record Speed was 727.63 (1,171.01 km/h), set by Neville Duke, who was the Chief Test Pilot for Hawker Aircraft Ltd.

This time Duke was flying in a two-seat version of the Hunter (G-BOOM), operated by Hunter One,. This was a private collection of early jet aircraft. These often flew at airshows. The two aircraft had flown the same Record course for a fund-raising event. This was for the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire.

The photograph is signed by Neville Duke and the two pilots. The single-seat aircraft in the photograph was flown by Adrian Gjertsen. He had trained at the Empire Test Pilots’ School, as had Duke. The School is now based at Boscombe Down, in Wiltshire, which is the main subject of our Museum.

The World Speed Record now stands at 2,193.2 mph, (3,529.6 km/h), It was set by an American aircraft, the SR-71 Blackbird in 1976.