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Hawker
Hawker Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer responsible for some of the most famous products in British aviation history.
Hawker had its roots in the aftermath of the First World War which resulted in the bankruptcy of the Sopwith Aviation Company. Sopwith test pilot Harry Hawker and three others, including Thomas Sopwith, bought the assets of Sopwith and formed H.G. Hawker Engineering in 1920.
In 1933 the company was renamed Hawker Aircraft Limited and took advantage of the Great Depression and a strong financial position to purchase the Gloster Aircraft Company in 1934. The next year it merged with the engine and automotive company Armstrong Siddeley and its subsidiary, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, to form Hawker Siddeley Aircraft. This group also encompassed A. V. Roe and Company; Avro.
Hawker Aircraft continued to produce designs under its own name as a part of the Hawker Siddeley Aircraft, from 1955 division of Hawker Siddeley Group. The "Hawker" brand name was dropped, along with those of the sister companies, in 1963. The Hawker P.1127 was the last aircraft branded as "Hawker".
The Hawker legacy was maintained by the American company Raytheon who produced business jets (including some derived from the BAe 125, whose original design dated back to de Havilland days) under the "Hawker" name. This was the result of purchasing British Aerospace's product line in 1993. The name is currently used by Hawker Beechcraft after Raytheon's business jet interests (Hawker and Beechcraft) were acquired by investors and merged together.
In the interwar years, Hawker produced a successful line of bombers and fighters for the Royal Air Force, the product of Sydney Camm (later Sir Sydney) and his team. These included the Hawker Hind and the Hawker Hart, which became the most produced UK airplane in the years before the Second World War.
During the Second World War, the Hawker Siddeley company was one of the United Kingdom's most important aviation concerns, producing numerous designs including the famous Hawker Hurricane fighter plane that, along with the Supermarine Spitfire, was instrumental in winning the Battle of Britain. (During the battle, Hawker Hurricanes in service outnumbered all other British fighters combined, and were responsible for shooting down 55 percent of all enemy aircraft destroyed.) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Aircraft
Also check out The Hawker Hurricane Society.
Hawker Demon
Click for Hawker Demon sound recordings page
The Hawker Demon was a fighter variant of the Hart light-bomber, and which the Air Ministry stated should be able to intercept the Hart. The intention was for the Demon to just be an interim fighter until the Hawker Fury, arguably the pinnacle of biplane fighter design, entered service. Over 200 of the Hawker Demon were built for the RAF. The Demon were powered by varying types of the Kestrel engine. It had an armament of a single rear .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun with two .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns in the nose. Large numbers of the Hawker Demon were fitted with an hydraulically powered turret in the rear, which had been tested on the Hawker Hart. The Hawker Demon was also sold to the Royal Australian Air Force. The Demon saw only brief second-line operations during the Second World War.
Production of the Demon was by Hawker and by Boulton Paul Aircraft, Norwich.
Hart Two-Seat Fighter
Two-seat fighter version of the Hart. Used by No. 24 Squadron RAF. Later redesignated as the Hart Fighter.
Demon I
Two-seat fighter aircraft for the RAF.
Australian Demon I
Two-seat fighter aircraft for the RAAF similar to RAF version but fitted with a 600 hp (447 kW) Rolls Royce Kestrel V engine, 64 built.
Australian Demon II
Two-seat training version For the RAAF, standard Demon fitted with dual controls.
Turret Demon
Two-seat fighter version, fitted with a Frazer-Nash gun turret in the rear cockpit.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Demon
Hawker Demon, August 2009
Newly restored Hawker Demon K8203 / G-BTVE display at Old Warden, recorded at its first public outing in August 2009.
The Demon is finished as per it original markings of 64 Sqn at Church Fenton.
This is the only high quality recording of this aircraft available.
Hawker Hind
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The British Hawker Hind was a Royal Air Force light bomber of the inter-war years produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was developed from the Hawker Hart day-bomber introduced in 1931.
The Hind went into service in November 1935 and eventually equipped 20 RAF bomber squadrons. A number were also sold to foreign customers including Afghanistan, the Irish Free State, Latvia, Persia (Iran), Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia. By 1937, the Hind was being phased out of frontline service, replaced by the Fairey Battle and Bristol Blenheim, and with many of the Auxiliary Air Force squadrons changing role to fighter or maritime patrol units. At the outbreak of the Second World War 613 Squadron remained retained the Hind in the Army co-operation role before re-equipping the Hawker Hector in November 1939.[1] The Hind found a new career in 1938 as a training aircraft representing the next step up from basic training on Tiger Moths. It continued in use as an intermediate trainer during the Second World War.
In 1941, Hinds flew combat missions in their original role as light bombers. South African Hinds were employed against Italian forces in Kenya, Yugoslav Hinds were used against the Germans and Italians while Iranian Hinds were used briefly when invading Allied British and Soviet contingents attacked Iran. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hind
Hawker Hind, May 2008
Hawker Hind recorded May 2008.
Hawker Hind, May 2009
Hawker Hind recorded May 2009.
Hawker Hurricane
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The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. Some production of the Hurricane was carried out in Canada by the Canada Car and Foundry Co Ltd.
The 1930s design evolved through several versions and adaptations, resulting in a series of aircraft which acted
as interceptor-fighters, fighter-bombers (also called "Hurribombers"), and ground support aircraft. Further versions known as the Sea Hurricane had modifications which enabled operation from ships. Some were converted as catapult-launched convoy escorts, known as "Hurricats". Together with the Spitfire, the Hurricane was significant in enabling the Royal Air Force (RAF) to win the Battle of Britain of 1940, accounting for the majority of the RAF's air victories. About 14,000 Hurricanes were built by the end of 1944 (including about 1,200 converted to Sea Hurricanes and some 1,400 built in Canada), and served in all the major theatres of the Second World War. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_hurricane
Also check out The Hawker Hurricane Society for more Hurricane events, news and information.
- MK1 Hawker Hurricane displaying with the Shuttleworth Sea Hurricane
- Hawker Hurricane, Mk2b, "Hurribomber"
MK1 Hawker Hurricane displaying with the Shuttleworth Sea Hurricane
MK1 Hawker Hurricane displaying with the Shuttleworth Sea Hurricane. Recorded August 2009.
Hawker Hurricane, Mk2b, "Hurribomber"
Hanger 11's Mk2b Hawker "Hurribomber" Hurricane. Recorded August 2009 in its first year of display.
Hawker Sea Hurricane
Click for Hawker Sea Hurricane sound recordings page
The Sea Hurricane is a navalised version of the land based Hurricane aircraft.
Sea Hurricane Mk IA
The Sea Hurricane Mk IA was a Hurricane Mk I modified by General Aircraft Limited. These conversions numbered approximately 250 aircraft. They were modified to be carried by CAM ships (catapult armed merchantman), whose crews were entirely civilians and whose Hurricanes were crewed and serviced by RAF personnel, or Fighter Catapult Ships, which were Naval Auxiliary Vessels crewed by Naval personnel whose aircraft were operate by the Fleet Air Arm. These were cargo ships equipped with a catapult for launching an aircraft, but without facilities to recover them. Thus, if the aircraft were not in range of a land base, pilots were forced to bail out or to ditch.
Both of these options had their problems - there was always a chance of striking part of the fuselage when bailing out and a number of pilots had been killed in this way. On the other hand, ditching the Hurricane was problematic too. The radiator housing acted as a water brake, pitching the nose of the fighter downwards when it hit the water, while also acting as very efficient scoop, helping to flood the inside of the the Hurricane so that a quick exit was advisable before the plane sank. Then the pilot had to be picked up by the ship. In all, more than eighty modifications were needed to convert a Hurricane into a Sea Hurricane, including new radios to conform with those used by the Fleet Air Arm and new instrumentation to read in knots rather than miles per hour. They were informally known as "Hurricats".
The majority of the aircraft modified had suffered wear-and-tear from serving with front line squadrons, so much so that at least one example used during trials broke up under the stress of a catapult launching. A total of 50 aircraft were converted from Hurricane Mk Is.
Sea Hurricane Mk IB
Hurricane Mk IIA Series 2 version equipped with catapult spools plus an arrester hook. From October 1941, they were used on Merchant aircraft carrier (MAC ships), which were large cargo vessels with a flight deck enabling aircraft to be launched and recovered. A total of 340 aircraft were converted.
Sea Hurricane Mk IC
Hurricane Mk IIB and Mk IIC version equipped with catapult spools, an arrester hook and the four-cannon wing. From February 1942, 400 aircraft were converted.
Sea Hurricane Mk IIC
Hurricane Mk IIC version equipped with naval radio gear; 400 aircraft were converted and used on fleet carriers.
Sea Hurricane Mk XIIA
Canadian-built Hurricane Mk XIIA converted into Sea Hurricanes.
Also check out The Hawker Hurricane Society for more Hurricane events, news and information.
- Hawker Sea Hurricane, May 2009
- Hawker Hurricane Mk1 & Sea Hurricane
- Hawker Sea Hurricane, June 2009, 3 close fly pasts
- Sea Hurricane, 6th June 2010
Hawker Sea Hurricane, May 2009
The Shuttleworth Collection's Sea Hurricane recorded in May 2009
Hawker Hurricane Mk1 & Sea Hurricane
Mk1 Hurricane and Sea Hurricane displaying together at Old Warden during August 2009 display.
Hawker Sea Hurricane, June 2009, 3 close fly pasts
Hawker Sea Hurricane, recorded June 2009. This is a short complication of 3 fly pasts. Some very good detail of the RAF-loaned Rolls-Royce Merlin.
Sea Hurricane, 6th June 2010
The Shuttleworth Collection's Sea Hurricane recorded 6th June 2010
Hawker Sea Hawk
Click for Hawker Sea Hawk sound recordings page
The Hawker Sea Hawk was a British single-seat jet fighter of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), the air branch of the Royal Navy (RN), built by Hawker Aircraft and its sister company, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Although its origins stemmed from earlier Hawker piston-engined fighters, the Sea Hawk became the company's first jet aircraft. After successful acceptance in the RN, the type proved to be a reliable and sturdy workhorse and went on to export success abroad.
In the final years of the Second World War, Hawker's design team explored jet engine technology, initially looking at "stretching" and modifying the existing Hawker Fury/Sea Fury planform fitting a mid-engine Rolls-Royce Nene jet engine and moving the cockpit to the extreme front of the fuselage, creating the P.1035. The aircraft's fuselage fuel tanks were fore and aft of the engine giving a stable centre of gravity in flight. Initially, the P.1040 was intended for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as an interceptor, even though a top speed of only 600 mph was forecast. When in 1945 the RAF showed little interest in the project because it offered insufficient advance over jet fighters already in service such as the Gloster Meteor and de Havilland Vampire, the P.1040 was offered to the Admiralty as a fleet support fighter, the P.1046.
The P.1040 prototype (VP401), now known as the Hawker N.7/46 after the naval specification flew on 2 September 1947, piloted by Bill Humble. Teething problems including airframe vibrations and tail buffeting led to a redesign of the rear jetpipe fairings and the addition of a bullet fairing on the tail. Other minor issues including high stick forces and windshield distortion were addressed while a long takeoff run was attributed to the low powered Nene 1 that had been not rated for its full power settings.
A fully navalised prototype, VP413 equipped with folding wings, catapult spools and full armament did not fly until 31 August 1948. On 1 August 1949, the Royal Navy entered VP401 in the National Air Races, winning the SBAC Challenge Cup Race, beating a Vampire 3 and DH 108. The prototype was later converted into the Hawker P.1072 with the addition of an auxiliary rocket engine, becoming the first British rocket-powered aircraft.
Over 100 of the aircraft, now named Sea Hawk, were subsequently ordered by the Royal Navy. The first production Sea Hawk F1 was WF143, which flew on 14 November 1951 with 39 ft (12 m) wingspan and a tailplane of increased area. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Sea_Hawk
Hawker Sea Hawk
Changed
Hawker Sea Fury
Click for Hawker Sea Fury sound recordings page
The Hawker Sea Fury was a British fighter aircraft developed for the Royal Navy by Hawker during the Second World War. The last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, it was also one of the fastest production single piston-engined aircraft ever built.
The Hawker Fury was an evolutionary successor to the successful Hawker Typhoon and Tempest fighters and fighter-bombers of World War II. The Fury was designed in 1942 by Sydney Camm, the famous Hawker designer, to meet the Royal Air Force's requirement for a lightweight Tempest Mk.II replacement. Developed as the "Tempest Light Fighter", it used modified Tempest semi-elliptical outer wing panels, bolted and riveted together on the fuselage centerline. The fuselage itself was similar to the Tempest, but fully monocoque with a higher cockpit for better visibility. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Sea_Fury
Standard power is provided by a Bristol Centaurus XVIIC 18-cylinder twin-row radial engine, producing 2,480 hp
Hawker Sea Fury 1
The sound of a Hawker Sea Fury going through its paces at an airshow in the UK.
Sea Fury VR930 at the Shuttleworth VJ Day display on 7-8-05
Sea Fury FB.11 VR930 was delivered to the Royal Navy at RNAS Culham in March 1948, VR930 then spent from May to December of that year in front-line service with 802 Squadron aboard HMS Vengeance and ashore at RNAS Eglinton. Between December 1948 and August 1953 she was held in reserve at various Aircraft Holding Units at Anthorn, Abbotsinch, Sembawang and Fleetlands, undergoing a Category 4 repair at the Royal Naval Aircraft Yard Donibristle before returning to front-line service again with 801 Squadron. Between August 1953 and July 1954 she flew a further 284 hours with the squadron before going to RNAY Fleetlands for reconditioning. - http://www.royalnavyhistoricflight.org.uk/aircraft/seafury.htm
Standard power is provided by a Bristol Centaurus XVIIC 18-cylinder twin-row radial engine, producing 2,480 hp
Hawker Sea Fury 2 FB.11
Sea Fury VR930 at the Shuttleworth VJ Day display on 7-8-05
Sea Fury FB.11 VR930 was delivered to the Royal Navy at RNAS Culham in March 1948, VR930 then spent from May to December of that year in front-line service with 802 Squadron aboard HMS Vengeance and ashore at RNAS Eglinton. Between December 1948 and August 1953 she was held in reserve at various Aircraft Holding Units at Anthorn, Abbotsinch, Sembawang and Fleetlands, undergoing a Category 4 repair at the Royal Naval Aircraft Yard Donibristle before returning to front-line service again with 801 Squadron. Between August 1953 and July 1954 she flew a further 284 hours with the squadron before going to RNAY Fleetlands for reconditioning. - http://www.royalnavyhistoricflight.org.uk/aircraft/seafury.htm
Standard power is provided by a Bristol Centaurus XVIIC 18-cylinder twin-row radial engine, producing 2,480 hp
Hawker Tomtit
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The Hawker Tomtit is a British training biplane from the late 1920s.
The Royal Air Force in 1927 required a replacement for their current elementary trainers, the elderly Avro 504Ns. They specified that the power plant should be an Armstrong Siddeley Mongoose engine, a radial five-cylinder type, and the design should "have regards to the elimination of the Woodworking Fitter trades." In other words: the airframe, though not its covering had to be metal. This led Sydney Camm, then chief designer at Hawkers to design the Tomtit, a single bay biplane whose frame was of steel and duralumin tubes. The spars were made of tubular dumbbell sections, the whole aircraft fabric covered. Automatic slots of the Handley-Page type were fitted to the leading edges of the upper wing. It had the standard fixed main wheel and tail-skid undercarriage of its day. The engine was uncowled.
Instructor and trainee sat in open tandem cockpits. The latter, at the rear, was provided with the then-new blind flying panel and a cockpit hood was fitted so blind flying instruction was possible. The RAF Tomtits had 150 hp (112 kW) Mongoose IIIC motors. The prototype was first flown by George Bulman in November 1928. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Tomtit
Hawker Tomtit, June 2007
Hawker Tomtit G-AFTA at Old Warden, recorded June 2007.
The image on the left and the sound recording are of the same aircraft and were both recorded at the same time.
Equipment used: Audio Technica AT-822, Sony Hi-MD Minidisc Recorder
Hawker Hunter
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The Hawker Hunter was a UK jet fighter aircraft of the 1950s and 1960s. The Hunter served for many years with the Royal Air Force and was widely exported, serving with 19 air forces. A total of 1,972 Hunters were produced by Hawker Siddeley and under licence.
The origins of the Hunter trace back to the Hawker Sea Hawk straight-wing carrier-based fighter. Seeking better performance and fulfillment of the Air Ministry Specification E.38/46, Hawker Aircraft's chief designer Sydney Camm created the Hawker P.1052, which was essentially a Sea Hawk with a 35-degree swept wing. First flying in 1948, the P.1052 demonstrated good performance but did not warrant further development into a production aircraft. As a private venture, Hawker converted the second P.1052 prototype into the [[Hawker P.1081]] with swept tailplanes and revised fuselage, with a single jet exhaust at the rear. First flying on 19 June 1950, the P.1081 was promising enough to draw interest from the Royal Australian Air Force but development went no further and the sole prototype was lost in a crash in 1951.
Meanwhile, in 1946, the Air Ministry issued Specification F.43/46 for a daytime jet-powered interceptor. Camm took the basic P.1052 design and adapted it for the upcoming Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet. The Avon's major advantage over the Rolls-Royce Nene, used in the Sea Hawk, was the axial compressor, which resulted in a much smaller engine diameter and better thrust. In March 1948, the Air Ministry issued Specification F.3/48, to cover development of the project. Initially fitted with a single air intake in the nose and a T-tail, the project rapidly evolved to the more familiar shape. The intakes were moved to the wing roots, to make room for weapons and radar in the nose. A more conventional tail arrangement was devised, as a result of stability concerns. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hunter
Hawker Hunter FGA.9 G-ETPS
Hawker Hunter FGA.9 G-ETPS August 2009. A series of flypasts ending in a very fast and low fly by about 100 feet away. G-ETPS is operated privately and was appearing at the Hawker Hunter reunion at The Shuttleworth Collection.