![[Hunter from the side]](../img/fvmus96/j34_hunter.jpg)
Since interceptors with good speed and climb performance were needed, which neither Vampire or Tunnan were, and Draken wouldn't enter service until the 1960's, parliament authorised the purchase of foreign interceptors to equip two wings.
Among the suitable alternatives were Hawker Hunter, Vickers Supermarine Swift and Dassault Mystere. As it was furthest along in development, the Swift was early on the favoured choice, but in 1954 120 Hawker Hunter Mk 50s were purchased. Mk 50 was the export designation for Mk 4s destined for Sweden. Swedish designation became J 34.
The two wings in Stockholm, F 8 at Barkarby and F 18 at Tullinge, each got 60 aircraft during 1955-57. There they replaced J 28B Vampire and J 29 Tunnan.
When F 8 was abandoned, and F 18 reequipped with J 35B Draken, the J 34 Hunters were transferred to the wing F 9 in Säve, Gothenburg and F 10 at Ängelholm in 1962. Some were put in storage and not used more.
The F 10 Hunters were operational until 1966 then transferred to F 9 or put into storage. As F 9 were to be abandoned in 1969, it was never reequipped with Draken, but operated Hunter until the end.
![[Nose section]](../img/fvmus96/j34-2.jpg)
It wasn't until 1957-58 the Hunters could be used as
interceptors, something which of course was kept quiet at
that time. It had to do with problems related to the four 30 mm
guns. The first problem was the the empty cases and links
could be ingested into the air intakes, which was solved
by fitting bulges to collect them. The second was
compressor stalls caused by the shock waves, which was
rectified by fitting blast dampers.
Later on, they became more effecive with the fitting of launch rails for two Sidewinders under the outer wings.
Hawker Hunter remained an importand part of the Swedish air defence until the late 1960's. It had a reputation for beeing robust and usable under field conditions. For example it was reloaded quickly by changing the entire gun installation with four 30 mm Aden guns and 135 rounds for each gun.
In 1956 trials were started as it had been found to be possible to fit an afterburner, in spite of the small dimensions available. Three aircraft participated in the trials: One for ground trials, one for flight trials and one not rebuilt for comparison purposes.
Flight tests started in 1958, and were a success insofar as time to 12 000 m was reduced to 4 min and the only aerodynamic was a slight vibration in the rudder at speeds over Mach 1. But as the aim was to increase climb performance, not speed, that didn't matter.
The project was cancelled later in 1958, both on cost grounds as Draken would enter service relatively soon anyway, and on combat efficiency grounds. Fuel consumption increased so much that total efficiency would have been lower with afterburner, due to decreased range and endurance.
Span: 10.26 m Length: 13.99 m Height: 4.00 m Empty weight: 5600 kg (5760 kg with drop tanks) Max climb speed: 31 m/s Max altitude: 15600 m Max speed: 1150 km/hOn the first 44 aircraft, the canopy had to be jettisoned before ejection of the Martin Baker Mk 2 seat, on the rest it was done automatically in sequence with the ejection. Later on, the seat was modified to be able to eject through the canopy.