RAF HUNTERS IN GERMANY : FRONT LINE DEFENDERS IN THE COLD WAR

EXTRACT FROM THE INTRODUCTION 

In the spring of 1955 a new shape started appearing in the skies above the North German Plain. Although the sight of swept wings - in the shape of RAF Sabre 4s - was not an unfamiliar one, the graceful lines of the Hawker Hunter with its skilful blending of fuselagę, air intakes and wings and the unique shape of its fin were something quite different. It seemed to look more like an exercise in airborne aesthetics rather than a combat aircraft with the lethal power of 4 Aden guns, which is how it would probably have appeared to the crew of a Soviet TU-16, an encounter which was fortunately destined never to occur.

It took little more than a year to reequip 13 squadrons with Hunter 4s, grouped in 4 Wings and based at the RAF stations at Jever and Oldenburg on the North German Plain as well as at Brüggen and Geilenkirchen in the Rhineland close to the Dutch border. Ten of the squadrons had previously flown Sabre 4's whereas three had been equipped with Venom FB.1s. 

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