The Hawker Sea Hawk was a single-seat jet fighter of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), the air branch of the Royal Navy (RN), built by the Hawker company.
The Sea Hawk was developed from the P.1040, a land-based prototype jet interceptor, itself a development of a jet powered Hawker Sea Fury prototype, intended for the Royal Air Force (RAF); however, the RAF showed little interest in the project, preferring other jet fighters such as the Gloster Meteor and de Havilland Vampire. The design was unusual in having a bifurcated jetpipe which freed-up space in the rear fuselage for a fuel tank, allowing the aircraft to have a longer range than many other early jets. Hawker subsequently developed it into a navalised jet fighter and offered it to the Admiralty who expressed keen interest in the design. The first prototype flew on September 2, 1947, though a fully navalised prototype did not fly until the following year. A third prototype which flew in 1949 incorporated a number of modifications from the second prototype. The first carrier trials occurred aboard the fleet aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious that same year. Over 100 of the aircraft, now named Sea Hawk, were subsequently ordered by the navy.
Unlike its rival the Supermarine Attacker (the first jet to enter service with the FAA), the Sea Hawk had a tricycle undercarriage rather than a tail-wheel, making it easier to land on carriers. It was a fairly conventional design however. Just one of its conventional aspects was that while other contemporary aircraft, including the Hawker Hunter and the F-86 Sabre, had adopted swept wings, the Sea Hawk had straight wings. The Sea Hawk was still a reliable and elegant design though its conventionality would mean it would only have a brief career before it would inevitably be superseded by newer and more advanced aircraft.
The first production Sea Hawk was the F1, which first flew in 1951 and entered service two years later. Just over 30 were actually built by Hawker. At that time, Hawker was also producing the famous Hunter for the RAF and so production of the Sea Hawk was switched to Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, part of the Hawker company. The F.1 was armed with four Hispano 20 mm cannons. It was powered by a single 5000 lbf (22 kN) thrust Rolls-Royce Nene 101 turbojet. It had a max speed of 599 mph at sea level and a range of 800 miles on internal fuel. The second fighter variant was the F.2 which introduced power-boosted aileron controls to the Sea Hawk as-well as other modifications, including to its structure.
The next variant of the Sea Hawk was developed into a fighter-bomber, the FB.3 (over 100 built) and differed only slightly from its predecessors. Its structure was strengthened to allow it to carry a wide array of equipment. Its new armament consisted of two 500 lb (220 kg) bombs and 16 unguided rockets. The fourth Sea Hawk was a fighter ground-attack variant and was designated the FGA.4, and had increased weapons capability. The fifth Sea Hawk was a fighter-bomber variant and was designated the FB.5, and were basically FB.3 and FGA.4s re-engined with the new Roll-Royce Nene 103. The final Sea Hawk was a fighter ground-attack variant, designated the FGA.6 and was the exact same as its immediate predecessor, though they were new builds rather than re-engined Sea Hawks, and just under ninety were built. All Sea Hawks were in service by the mid 1950s and eventually over 500 were built.
The first export variant was the Sea Hawk Mk.50, a single-seat ground-attack derivative for the Royal Netherlands Navy; 22 aircraft were in service between 1957 to 1964. The next export variant was the Sea Hawk Mk.100, a single-seat strike fighter derivative for the German Bundesmarine. The final export variant was the Sea Hawk Mk.101
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Sea_Hawk
Hawker Sea Hawk
Old Warden, Beds, UK4th June 2006
Hawker Sea Hawk
Old Warden, Beds, UK4th June 2006
Hawker Sea Hawk
Old Warden, Beds, UK4th June 2006