(Image: Paul Glazzard, cc-sa-2.0)

If you’re a company that manufactures model aircraft and military vehicles, what better mascot – or “gate guard” – to have than a real military jet?  This 1957 Hawker Hunter F.6 fighter was mounted for years outside the Airfix/Humbrol factory on Hedon Road in Hull, England.  But when the factory closed down the premises was left to the mercy of vandals and, as usual, anything remaining – such as the Hunter – was swiftly degraded by spray paint and more severe damage.  Thankfully the aircraft has since been saved and moved to a somewhat unlikely place – Fort Paull, Yorkshire’s last remaining Napoleonic-era fortress.  (Full feature here.)