Date:	Saturday 9 November 1957
Time:	day
Type:	Hawker Hunter F Mk 6
Owner/operator:	'A' Sqn A&AEE Boscombe Down
Registration:	XE588
MSN:	41H-679946
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Cuckoo Hill, near South Gorley, 3 miles north of Ringwood, Hampshire. -   United Kingdom
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Test
Departure airport:	RAF Boscombe Down, Wiltshire (EGDM)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Hawker Hunter F.Mk.6 XE588: Delivered to the RAF at 19 MU St. Athan 15/5/1956. Transferred 23/10/1956 to C(A) MoS (Controller (Aircraft) Ministry of Supply) for used by Hawker Aircraft as a sale and demonstrations aircraft to the Swiss Air Force (see below for more details) then for spinning and handling trials with the A&AEE Boscombe Down.

XE588 was also used by Hawker Aircraft Ltd in 1957 as a sales and demonstration aircraft. Hawker Aircraft test pilot David Lockspeiser wrote the following about this:

"...Inevitably the pilot develops a greater affection for the individual aircraft he is most familiar with and I can think of three. XE588, a Mk 6, was used for most of the single-seater demonstrations in Switzerland and the associated armament development work at the A&AEE. So impressed were the Swiss with the Hunter's ability to turn in narrow mountain valleys, even when at maximum weight, that when we turned up at the airfield at Meiringen one morning we found that they had painted the Swiss mountaineers' badge on the side. During the demonstrations the Swiss also wanted to see the safe release of napalm bombs. This was to be carried out over Lake Payerne, but napalm could not be used because it would endanger the fish, so the authorities came up with a liquid that had the same specific gravity as napalm. To my chagrin I have to relate that two drop tanks, each containing 100 gallons of Liqueur Poire William, were dropped in the lake!"

The Swiss were so impressed with the Hawker Hunter, that they ordered the type for service, and it remained part of the Swiss air Force from the late 1950s to the mid-1990s.

XE588 was written off (damaged beyond repair) 9/11/1957: The pilot used an incorrect technique to try and recover the aircraft from an intentional spin and ejected. The aircraft crashed into Cuckoo Hill, near South Gorley, three miles North of Ringwood, Hampshire. The pilot was seriously injured being unable to jettison the canopy after therefore had to eject through it, the seat and the parachute having become tangled.

Crew of Hunter XE588:
Wing Commander D. F. Dennis, DFC, RAF (pilot) - ejected 9/11/1957, survived with injuries

The wreckage of XE588 was recovered by (and to) 71 MU RAF Bicester, where Struck Off Charge as Cat.5(scrap) on 21/1/1958

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.194 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft XA100-XZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 2001 p 23)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.270
4. http://web.archive.org/web/20170421194235/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/PROJECT/YEAR_Pages/1957.htm#nov
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1957.htm
6. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/hancrash.html
7. http://www.cmlx.co.uk/hawkerassociation/hanewsletters/hanewsletter013nvu/testflyingthehunter.html
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Gorley
9. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030007201

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
21-Mar-2012 11:52	Dr. John Smith	Added
17-Aug-2012 03:00	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Departure airport]
12-Aug-2020 17:20	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
13-Aug-2020 22:12	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Narrative]
05-Dec-2020 10:25	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Location, Operator]