When all F-104 deliveries were temporarily suspended  during the investigation of  a rash of in-flight breakups in August 1962, Japan issued an urgent requirement for a stopgap fighter.  

The British proposal to immediately lease 24 RAF Hunter FGA.9s, with an option to  license Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to  build a further 88 was selected in November 1962.

The first of the ex-RAF FGA.9s arrived two months later in January 1963.  The type proved popular with the JASDF, and the option to license build was exercised in December 1963, with the original 24 RAF machines being purchased outright at the end of their lease in 1965.  The Hunter was seen as an ideal aircraft by the JSDF.  It was rugged and simple, had room for local improvements, and at a time when public opinion in Japan was strongly against any armed forces at all, the graceful, subsonic Hunter presented a better public image than the Flaming Tubes of Death being offered by Dassault, Lockheed, English Electric, McDonnell, and Convair.

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The Hunter was known in JASDF service as the 'Ryoushi', a direct translation of 'Hunter'.   The JASDF took delivery of a total of 111 Hunters, including the original 24 from Britain.  The FGA.9 was optimized for offensive ground attack operations, but to comply with the strict constraints of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution the only weapons fitted initially were the ADEN cannon and the US AIM-9B Sidewinder AAM.  As these restrictions eased through the life of the Ryoushi other weapons were added to the inventory, and by the end of its service life in 1984 the Ryoushi was capable of carrying bombs unguided rockets, and AGM-65 Maverick missiles in the anti-shipping role.

This Ryoushi, one of the original RAF FGA.9s was the eighth example delivered in 1963.  It is shown in late 1965 wearing the new pattern camouflage and the markings of 4th Sqn, 6th Air Wing.  It has been upgraded with Japanese avionics.  This aircraft served until May 1975 when it was lost over the Sea of Japan due to a catastrophic engine failure.  The pilot ejected safely, and was rescued by a fishing vessel. 

The model is Academy's 1/48 Hunter FGA.9 with no mods other than a few new antennae and a new ejection seat to replace the tiny thing in the kit.  I didn’t have a Mk.2 seat in the spares box, so I modified a Monogram Mk.10 from a Mirage 2000 to look like a Mk.2.  It's not perfect, but with a pilot and a closed canopy it looks OK.  The decals and pilot came from a Hasegawa JASDF F-86F.

Nick