The Hawker Sea Hawk Collection

A collection of Hawker Sea Hawks around the Google Earth globe, designed as a companion to the Hawker Hunter Collection.

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The Hawker Sea Hawk

From Wikipedia :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 Aircraft and its sister company, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft.

Design and development

The Sea Hawk was developed from the P.1040, a land-based prototype jet interceptor 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 (the P.1040, VP401) flew on the 2nd September 1947, piloted by Bill Humble. A fully navalised prototype did not fly until the following year (VP413, 48/8/31). 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. The first production Sea Hawk F1 was WF 143, which flew in November 1951 with 39' wingspan and a tailplane of increased area.

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The Hawker Sea Hawk in India

From www.vectorsite.net/avsehawk The last production Sea Hawks were 14 FGA.6 aircraft, delivered in 1961 to the Indian Navy, along with 10 refurbished ex-FAA machines. (Sources tend to vary on the relative numbers of used versus refurbished machines in this batch, and it appears to be one of those little things that will likely never be straightened out.) India also purchased 12 more ex-FAA Sea Hawks from Britain and 28 more used machines from Germany, with the last Sea Hawks delivered to India in 1965 for a total purchase of 74 aircraft.

Indian Sea Hawks saw combat during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, performing strikes off the carrier INS VIKRANT on the Pakistani port of Chittagong and other coastal targets. The Sea Hawks inflicted substantial damage and suffered no losses to themselves. This was the second and final time the Sea Hawk were used in anger.

An Indian Navy pilot, Commander Peter Debras, accomplished an extraordinary feat on 4 March 1976, when the VIKRANT's catapult malfunctioned and his Sea Hawk splashed down and sank in front of the carrier. The vessel then steamed directly over the top of the aircraft, and Debras cooly waited until it had passed over before ejecting and being rescued. It was the world's deepest successful ejection.

The Indians would continue to operate their Sea Hawks until the early 1980s, when these aircraft were replaced by Hawker Sea Harriers. Several of the Indian aircraft survive as static museum displays and gate guards. One Sea Hawk was still flying in the UK until a few years ago, but at last notice the ravages of age had caught up with it, and it could no longer be safely flown

Links
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http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/seahawk/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Sea_Hawk
http://www.vectorsite.net/avsehawk.html
http://www.maltaaviationmuseum.com/seahawk.asp

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