The Fleet Requirements and Air Direction Unit (FRADU) was, latterly operated by Serco Defence and Aerospace, under contact to the Royal Navy until it was stood down in June 2013. Last based at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall, the Unit was equipped with 14 British Aerospace Hawk T.1 and T.1A aeroplanes, all of which were previously used by the Royal ...

All 44 Hawker Hunter airframes that saw service with the FRADU unit are featured on this site, with details of where and/or if they survive today. A series of photographic collections are also featured.

The Hawker-Siddeley (later British Aerospace) Hawk served with the Fleet Requirements & Air Direction Unit (FRADU) at both RNAS Yeovilton and RNAS Culdrose for close to twenty years until its withdrawal in June 2013.

The FRADU Hunter, Canberra and Hawk websites have now been consolidated into one location. www.fradu.info

Declared surplus to requirements the two airframes were passed onto the Fleet Requirements and Air Direction Unit (FRADU), who placed them in open store at Yeovilton, thus bringing to an end, the Hunter’s second ‘life’ as a Fleet Air Arm aircraft.

This was a time when the FRADU Hunters were beginning to receive the new dark sea grey paint finish, and three of the four Hunters used by the team had been refinished in this manner. Leading that day was Derek Morter in GA.11 WW654/833, with Mike Sharp in WT744/868 flying as No.2.

The following Hawk airframes have at some point been transferred to, and used by FRADU, after it was moved to RNAS Culdrose in December 1995, and before the major airframe shuffle in 2008. It is intended that, subject to time commitments, these …

fradu hunters roll over concorde 15. An ultra-rare shot from Derek Morter's archives ... himself leading (in WW654 of course!) the Blue Herons in a roll over the RNAS Yeovilton Air Station.

The Black Seahawks display team consisted of four pilots from FRADU, based at RNAS Culdrose, and it first appeared on the airshow scene at selected events during 2001.

FRADU's Hawks were often operated from bases in Mainland Europe as well as the UK, including previous deployments to France, Spain, and Portugal, as well as RAF Kinloss and RAF Waddington in the UK. In June 2013, the FRADU fleet and role was absorbed into the newly reformed 736 Naval Air Squadron (736NAS) at RNAS Culdrose.