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Hunting Jet Provost XM424 was built at Luton. It was delivered to the RAF in April 1960, going initially to 27MU (Maintenance Unit) at RAF Shawbury for final preparations prior to service.
A month later, XM424 was delivered to RAF Little Rissington, where it entered service with the CFS (Central Flying School) as aircraft 'R-K'.

On 16th April 1961, XM424 suffered a flying accident, sustaining Cat.3 damage in the resulting impact.
A team from 71MU were later sent to repair the aircraft, with work starting a few days later.
After 10 months off flying duties, XM424 was restored to the CFS fleet in February 1962.
In July 1963, the aircraft was re-coded '72', and retained these markings for the remainder of its stay at Little Rissington.

On 20th August 1970, XM424 was transferred onto the strength of newly re-formed 6FTS (Flying Training School) at RAF Finningley. It remained in service, as aircraft 'W', with the School until April 1971, when it was moved to RAF Cranwell. Now a part of the RAFC (Royal Air Force College) Jet Provost inventory, XM424 was kept busy on training tasks as aircraft '46' for the next four years.

On 17th December 1974 XM424 was ferried to the British Aircraft Corporation's Warton factory,
for conversion to T.3A specification. It was test flown in March 1975, and returned to service a month later, joining 3FTS based at RAF Leeming.
This period of service only lasted 10 months, as the aircraft was ferried to RAF Kemble in February 1976, and placed in long term store with 5MU.
In 1982 5MU began work to prepare the aircraft for re-entry into service, but it did not get issued to any Unit. Then in 1983, following the closure of RAF Kemble, XM424 was moved to RAF Shawbury for further hibernation.

It's return to service finally arrived on 30th August 1984. XM424 was flown out of RAF Shawbury to join 1FTS, based at Linton-on-Ouse. Flying as aircraft '30', it was kept busy continuously on training duties for the next two years.
In June 1986 1FTS loaned XM424 to RAF St Athan, where it was used by the Station Flight as a ferry pilot 'taxi'. It was back in service at Linton-on-Ouse by the beginning of July.

In 1992, the aircraft was selected as the RAF Jet Provost display aircraft, and for this role it received a special colour scheme. This included the name of its pilot, Flt. Lt. Steve Howard underneath the cockpit, and the Yorkshire rose applied on the jet intake.
XM424 was subsequently seen at several events both in the UK and in Europe. It continued in its training role until 1993, when it was retired from service.

Info: www.jetprovostheaven.com

Little Rissington 5/8/1966

Little Rissington 10/10/1965

Little rissington 5/7/1968

XM424 when in service with the CFS at Little Rissington in 1961

Photo courtesy of Ray Deacon, who worked on XM424 at that time. Ray renewed his acquaintance with the aircraft at Kemble Air Day, June 15th 2008