In this section, there are a number of short articles and other links relating to the Hunter era. Please click on the
photographs below to access the articles.
Flt Lt Peter McLeland joined 208 Squadron at Eastleigh in 1959 for a 2½-year tour in Middle East Command. Once settled in, he became a member of the MEC Aerobatic team, flying Venom FB.4s and moved on to the Hunter FGA.9 when the Squadron converted to the latter in March 1960. The picture of Peter at Embakasi in 1960 on the left is a link to his slideshow covering 1959-1961. 208 Squadron had Venom FB4s then Hunter FGA9s and was based at Nairobi. The 179-page slideshow will open in a new window; it is a large file (43MB), which may take several minutes to download.
During his time on 208, Pete captured many of the Squadron’s operational and social activities on film. He maintains his own page in a separate website, in which his galleries give an insight as to what it was like to be on a front line Venom unit. The photograph on the right is a link to that website, which will open in a separate window.
Pete’s galleries are part of a larger site (The Radfan Hunters), which is dedicated recording the outstanding role the Hunter played in policing the hostile environment of the Middle East in the 1960s, and providing an account of life on the RAF Khormaksar Hunter Squadrons during those hectic years. The picture on the left is a link to that Site, which contains many interesting photographs of 208 Squadron.
