The Hawk wore the original smart red-and-white training colours well. XX169 was an early production aircraft, delivered on 29 January 1977 and it flew with a succession of RAF training units until 2009, when it was transferred on loan to the Royal Navy's FRADU. This proved not to be a long-term assignment, however, and on 17 May 2011 XX169 was withdrawn from service and ferried to Shawbury for storage, owing to its high fatigue life and flying hours.