Hawker / Hawker Siddeley
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Dogfights have always attracted attention. Since the First World War, their participants have been considered heroes, stories have been written about nothing, and they have become idols of generations. However, the reality of air combat is much more prosaic. Whatever the motivation of the pilots to fight, there was always a winner on one side and a loser on the other in a crippled or burning plane falling to the ground. This series deals with the struggle from their beginning to the modern age, when the sky is steadily ruled by jet engines.
It is said that an aircraft that looks good also flies well. One of the types that fully applies to this is the Hawker Hunter. Another truth is that many aircraft designed by designers based on their best experience met the requirements of pilots better than the ideas of ministry officials. This also applies to Hunters literally.
Hawker's new arrow-wing fighter returned Britain to the modern jet manufacturers' club. In addition to being good, she was elegant and aroused deserved attention wherever she appeared. RAF pilots could not wait for the new machine, and buyers from abroad also showed interest.
Serial production began at Hawker's parent plant in Kingston, where the F.1 version was produced, and at Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft (AWA) 's Coventry, where the F.2 version was produced. Both aircraft differed only in the power unit used. In the first case it was a Rolls-Royce Avon engine, in the second Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire.
Hunters were created at a time when development was moving forward by leaps and bounds. The aircraft became obsolete very quickly. However, there were many countries in the world for which simple and cheap jets came in handy. The first generation of arrow-wing aircraft received a long service - and the Hunters were no exception.
Hawker Hurricane was a single-seat fighter and fighter bomber low-flying aircraft with a piston engine
Hurricanes (Hawker Hurricane) belong to the main types of fighter in the history of the participation of Czechoslovak pilots in World War II. The fact of the Czechoslovak Republic fighters in the cabins of Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain, but also other campaigns, speaks for this fact. However, this is also evidenced by the number of air victories achieved by them: 111 certain, 24 probable victories and 37 damaged enemy machines.
The British Hawker Spanish Fury has become one of the most remarkable fighter types of the initial phase of the Spanish Civil War. Although only three specimens arrived on the Iberian Peninsula, and in September 1936 the last of them remained in regular service with the Republican Air Force, but the type gained an excellent reputation in the Aviación Militar. He confirmed his value in the heavy fighting on the approaches to Madrid in the summer and autumn of 1936.
Tests of the new universal aircraft are currently underway, which should be unique in all respects. This is the largest contract in the history of the Air Force, in which many countries participate. It is assumed that after a long time, it will be an aircraft that will experience thousands of series. It has already received its combat name: F-35 Lightning II.
At the turn of the 1940s and 1950s, Hawker caught up with the delays it had in developing jet aircraft. The first P.1040 project saved only the FAA's interest because the RAF lost interest. Nevertheless, he was almost buried by his younger brother with an arrow wing.
During World War II, Supermarine and Hawker were the "major" suppliers of fighter planes for the Royal Air Force. Due to their complete workload of mass production of aircraft, which were swallowed by dozens of operational units, the development of the first jet fighters was entrusted to companies that had "freer hands". After the war, it was time to catch up.
The article describes five battles of RAF Hurricanes with unusual enemy aircraft.
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