HAWK T.1 COLOURS AT RAF VALLEY
HAWK T.1 COLOURS AT RAF VALLEY
In November 1976, RAF Valley received its first Hawk T Mk 1 as the RAF had commenced withdrawing the diminutive Gnat from service. Adorned in the current training scheme of red and white, the fleet’s markings would later be amended with blue fuselage tops being added in an attempt to improve their visibility.
With the closure of RAF Brawdy and then RAF Chivenor, the Tactical Weapons Unit’s two functions were moved to RAF Valley resulting in the appearance of air defence grey coloured Hawk T 1As, together with specific name plates of No 19 (R) and No 234 (R) Squadrons. In addition, No 74 Squadron was reformed in late 1992. However in 1994 No 234 (R) was replaced by No 208 (R) Squadron.
By late 1991, it had been determined that all Training Command aircraft were to be painted in an overall glossy black paint scheme, which as a safety feature would make the aircraft more visible in daytime skies.
During this entire period, many Hawk T 1s were to appear in individual paint schemes to reflect various anniversaries or for specific air display purposes.
However, as the replacement Hawk T 2 entered service with 4 FTS, commencing in November 2011 with No 19 Squadron. By April 2016 all Hawk T 1s had ended their service at Valley when No 208 Squadron was to finally call it a day. (No 74 Squadron had disbanded in 2000.)
No 19 Squadron went on to be replaced by No 4 (R) Squadron, together with the later addition of No 25 (R) Squadron.
Photos supplied by Dimitris Triadafillou, Jim Le Cras, Lillian Jeffers, Dennis Pritchard and RAF Valley.
