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Built at Christchurch under contract 6/ACFT/10865/CB.5(b)
First flight
Issued to 700Y Flight, Yeovilton
Received at 700Y Flight, Yeovilton. This was the RN Intensive Flight Trials Unit (IFTU) responsible for service trials before the aircraft was released for general squadron use.
Damage to starboard engine noticed before flight at Yeovilton.
Detached to RAE Farnborough for investigation of Airborne Interim Dynamic Reference System
Returned to Yeovilton Y-Flight
Returned to Farnborough
Returned to Yeovilton Y-Flight
To 892 Squadron Yeovilton. Coded 210. (Some sources state 01JUL59).
892 Sqn Ark Royal (AEA Mod)
Nose oleo fully compressed landing on HMS Ark Royal
While spreading wings on Ark Royal the starboard aileron was damaged when it contacted the nose of a Scimitar.
U/S with cracked nosewheel oleo
Received at Yeovilton for repair and 250 hourly inspection
Additional crack discovered
To be issued to 766 Sqn, Yeovilton as temporary replacement
Issued to 766 Sqn, Yeovilton. Coded 713.
To Abbotsinch Air Holding Unit
Issued to RNAY Belfast for modernisation
Received at RNAY Belfast
To Abbotsinch
Delivered to Abbotsinch AHU under call-sign 726.
At Abbotsinch for limited modernisation programme
To Aircraft Holding Unit, Brawdy
Received at Aircraft Holding Unit, Brawdy under call-sign 711
To 892 Sqn Yeovilton.
Received at 892 Sqn Yeovilton. Coded 210/H (HMS Hermes)
Wheel brakes caught fire landing on HMS Hermes. Damage to centre section.
Issued to RNAHU Tengah, Singapore and later ferried to the U.K. (presumably by ship)
To Hawker Siddeley, Brough for CAT 4 repair
Transferred to Hawker Siddeley at Chester for repairs and conversion to FAW Mk 2
To RNAS Brawdy
To NARIU Lee-on-Solent
To 766 Sqn Yeovilton. Coded 726/VL.
(Some sources state 02JUN66).
To NASU Brawdy by this date.
Delivered to Hawker Siddeley at Chester.
To 893 Sqn Brawdy coded 245 replacing XJ524.
Photographed at Yeovilton in 893 Sqn markings coded 245/H from HMS Hermes. Also photographed at Luqa, Malta 1969
To NASU Yeovilton.
Issued to 899 Sqn.
No 899 Sqn in HMS Eagle deployed to the Far East and Australia on its last trip. Two Sea Vixens were offloaded at Simbang Dockyard. Aircraft "121" had crashed into the barrier after undercarriage problems and "126" had a cracked boom. Two replacement Sea Vixens (XJ490 & XJ579) were shipped out from HMS Daedalus (Lee-on-Solent, UK) as deck cargo on the SS Glenfalloch by the Mobile Aircraft Repair Transport and Salvage Unit (MARTSU). Both aircraft were towed from the dock to Tengah for re-erection and test flying. While XJ579 was successfully flown out to Eagle, XJ490 was found to be too badly corroded and was stripped of useful parts at Tengah and "scrapped". XJ490 had been loaded on the foredeck of the Glenfalloch while XJ579 had been loaded aft of the superstructure. XJ490 was to take up the call sign "126" and the following crew names but these were not painted on the aeroplane when it arrived in Singapore.
| LT TAYLOR-SCOTT | (PILOT) |
| LT JEWEL | (OBSERVER) |
| NAM DOWNTON | (RED WATCH MAINTAINER) |
| LAM WATERS | (WHITE WATCH MAINTAINER) |
| NAM KEY | (BLUE WATCH MAINTAINER) |
Note - 899 Sqn was the last operational squadron to fly Sea Vixens and HMS Eagle made its last deployment before scrapping in 1972
The S.S. Glenfalloch anchored at Singapore at 2030 local time. Both Sea Vixens were offloaded (XJ490 first) and stowed in a locked dockyard hangar by 0130 hours on 21OCT71. (Source: Paul Eitzen)
XJ490 was towed from the dockyard to Tengah departing at 2300. The aircraft was stowed inside Hangar No 2 at S.A.F. Tengah at 0445. (Source: Paul Eitzen)
Work began to prepare XJ490 for embarkation on HMS Eagle but the aircraft was found to be so badly corroded that the aircraft had to be written off. Read the full Survey Report (Source: Paul Eitzen)
Donated to Aeronautical Engineering Department of Singapore Polytechnic.
Noted on display on Sentosa Island, Singapore in 899 Sqn colours but with no codes or canopy.
QAM resolved to purchase Meteor WA880, Hunter XF311 and Sea Vixen XJ490 from the Aik Hong Hardware Company of Singapore.
Removed from Sentosa by QAM on barge "Tai Chen"
Arrived in Townsville on M.V. "San Juan" from Singapore
Arrived Brisbane from Townsville on M.V. "Sid McGrath"
Trucked to Caloundra and cosmetically restored in 899 Sqn markings with bogus code "490"
A cockpit canopy was donated by British Aerospace and freighted to Brisbane courtesy of Qantas.
Examination revealed that last digit of code appears to be a "3".