Price: £40.00

Hawker Sea Hawk

With the end of WW2 the Royal Navy found itself lagging behind the RAF in getting itself equipped with jet fighters. It was not immediately obvious that jet aircraft could even by operated from aircraft carriers. However trials with the De Haviland Vampire showed that a jet fighter could successfully take off and land from a carrier and the Royal Navy issued requirements for it's first jet fighters. The first to enter service was the Supermarine Attacker in 1951 which was not entirely successful, but the second, the Hawker Sea Hawk was a much more capable aircraft.

The origins of the Sea Hawk begin with project number P1035 in 1944, which was essentially a development of the Hawker Sea Fury, with a Rolls Royce RB41 jet engine situated amidships. Over time any resemblence to the Sea Fury was lost, the elliptical wings being replaced with straight ones, and the cockpit situated well forward giving the pilot excellent visibility. The RAF was not interested in the Hawker design, having decided to standardise the fighter force on the Gloster Meteor which had just broken the World Air Speed Record. The Navy was interested, (neither the Meteor or the Vampire were suitable for carrier borne operation) though and the prototype Sea Hawk was flown from Boscombe Down on September 2nd 1947, powered by a Rolls Royce Nene I. This was followed by an initial production order for 35 Hawker Sea Hawk F1's in 1949. Majority production of the Sea Hawk was to be undertaken by Armstrong Whitworth in Coventry.

The Sea Hawk began to enter service in 1953 with 806 squadron at Brawdy. By 1955 the Sea Hawk performance was already considered mediocre which led to the installation of the more powerful 5,200 lb thrust Nene 103 and the use of the Sea Hawk as a ground attack aircraft, cleared to carry external stores, a task at which the Sea hawk excelled. In all 434 Sea Hawks were built for the Royal Navy, the largest production run for any British naval jet fighter. The Sea Hawk remained in service until 1960 with the Royal Navy, but the Sea Hawk story does not end there. The Sea Hawk was a major export success, the Indian Navy finally retiring it's last example in 1984. Forty years after the project began, a remarkable achievment for a first generation jet fighter.

Performance Hawker Sea Hawk Mk.6

Maximum level speed: Mach 556 mph at 36,000 ft
Weight: 15,225 lb all up.
Powerplant: One Rolls Royce Nene 102 of 5,200 lb thrust.
Armament: Four 20 mm Hispano cannon and a wide range of underwing stores.