Almost sixty years to the week after Neville Duke set a world air speed record of 727mph in a Hawker Hunter Mk3 along the Sussex coast, it felt an honour to witness the unmistakable Miss Demeanour scream past Beachy Head and just above the English Channel as part of Airborne 2013.
Jonathon Whaley’s stunning Hawker Hunter has performed numerous breathtaking air displays all over the country this summer, showing off its truly outrageous paint scheme.
Now registered as G-PSST (as in “psssst, look at this”), Miss Demeanour is a single seat ex-Swiss Air Force Hunter whose unique livery was inspired by the creative American attitude to paint schemes on military and ex-military aircraft, as well as custom motorbikes.
Rather than dress the aircraft in some squadron or other’s markings, in which it may or may not have served, Jonathon thought it would be a refreshing change to see a Hunter painted as an art form. Working with a kindrid spirit who happened to own an aircraft paint spraying company, the idea that flames were going to form part of the scheme, was developed into a visual concept based around a Space Shuttle re-entry.
The final design features a white-hot leading edge, with flames getting cooler and fading to a dark midnight sky in which the accurately researched star positions represent the three major stars (Aries, Virgo and Taurus) present in Jonathon’s family.
Only when airborne does the design really come into its own, when it appears to accentuate Miss Demeanour’s clean lines and illuminate the sky for miles around, whilst thrilling audiences of all ages.
All copyrighted photos used with the kind permission of Jonathon Whaley at HeritageAviation.com
