Hawker Sea Fury / Fury

Hawker Sea Fury / Fury Story

The Hawker Sea Fury was developed from Hawker's Typhoon and Tempest aircraft designs used by the British during World War II. While not without limitations, the Typhoon and Tempest platforms had significant inherent advantages that worked well throughout the war.

Although the development of the Sea Fury took place towards the end of World War II, she was not commissioned until long after the conflict ended, so the entire war saw no action.

For the next few years of the Cold War, Seafury held her own and served long enough to take part in combat operations in the Korean War, where she was one of the few piston-powered jet-destroying aircraft one of the platforms. As the Sea Fury's legacy continued to grow, the aircraft was purchased by several other countries, some of which used the aircraft in the form of the originally planned land-based Fury.

Before the advent of carrier-based jets, the Sea Fury was the last piston-powered fighter in service with the Royal Navy.

In 1942, Hawker engineer Sydney Camm designed a replacement fighter for the company's Hawker Tempest, then in service with the Royal Air Force. This new design originated from the Tempest itself, but evolved into its own aircraft design as a smaller and lighter version of the Tempest. Proposals for the new Hawker Fury fighter have been submitted to the UK Air Force and subsequently incorporated into its new F. 2/43 specification, which allows for the construction of six Furious prototypes with different engine types.

On September 1, 1944, the ground-based Fury prototype flew for the first time.

Around this time, the Royal Navy also issued Specification No. 7/43 calling for a similar interceptor design, but for shipborne operations. Camm set out to develop a revised version of the F. 2/43 to install the improved Centaurus XII engine.

The specifications of the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy were subsequently merged into Specification F. 2/43, as the requirements were considered to be essentially the same. Hawke was tasked with developing the RAF's land-based Fury, while Bolton Paul was tasked with retrofitting a similar Sea Fury for the Royal Navy. Royal Navy Specification #7/43 was subsequently superseded by Revised Specification #22/43.

In April 1944, 200 RAF Furies and 200 RN Fleet Air Arm Sea Furies (100 built by Boulton Paul) were ordered.

The first Sea Fury flew on 21 February 1945 as a prototype SR661 powered by a Centaurus XII engine with a four-blade propeller system. This prototype has a grappling but non-foldable wing.

The second prototype - the SR666 - was followed by a Centaur XV engine paired with a five-blade folding wing propeller system. A similar Sea Fury produced by Boulton Paul was based on the SR666, numbered VB857, and made its first flight on January 31, 1946.

After WWII, the RAF lost almost all interest in their Fury project as they saw the greater benefit of finding a jet type for the future. However, the Royal Navy remains interested in the navalised "Fury" concept.

The first SR666-based F. Mk 10 fighter made its maiden flight on September 7, 1946, with a four-bladed propeller. This propeller arrangement was later increased to five blades and became standard on future Sea Fury machines. The end of the war also halved the Royal Navy's original 200-man production contract and dropped the Boulton Paul as a potential manufacturer of the Sea Fury.

Although there were some early problems with the snap hooks during the HMS Victorious sea trials in late 1946 (the snap hooks were therefore lengthened in future Sea Furies production), the aircraft was refitted and cleared for full carrier service in early 1947, essentially Can be used by the Royal Navy's fleet aviation.

In terms of design, the Sea Fury has a streamlined monocoque hull. The engine is mounted at the very front, with a large spinner in front of the radial engine ports, controlling a five-blade propeller system. The wings are low-mounted semi-elliptical monoplanes with straight wingtips and the ability to fold out of the main landing gear (required for carrier-facing operations).

The pilot's seat is above and behind the wings and engines, some distance from the nose of the plane, but he reportedly had a pretty good view from the cockpit considering it was covered in teardrop-shaped "bubbles" - with The headliner with the specified frame covers only the front of the windshield. Unlike the Tempest, the cockpit is also designed to be tall. The rear wing features a conventional single vertical rear wing and corresponding horizontal plane, both with rounded edges. Beginning in World War II, the Sea Fury was equipped with traditional "tail-trail" landing gear, consisting of two front main landing gear and a tail wheel.

All three systems are fully retractable, with the nose gear retracted towards the centerline of the fuselage. Even though the Seafury is smaller than the Tempest by every measure, even when stationary on the ground, the Seafury is still a very large and impressive fighter design.

As a fighter, the Sea Fury pilot possesses the ability to target 4 x 20mm Hispano Mk V series cannons. Two guns were mounted on one wing, with appropriate ammunition magazines for each system. In the fighter-bomber role, the Sea Fury can deploy up to 2,000 pounds of external hybrid ammunition or up to 12 x 3 in. (76 mm) high-velocity high-explosive rockets mounted under the wings.

Drop tanks are also an option to increase range.

The most authoritative and most productive fighter-bomber FB. The Mk 11 is powered by a single Bristol-brand Centaurus XVIIC, twin-row, 18-cylinder, radial-piston, air-cooled engine. The engine is rated at up to 2,480 horsepower and has a speed of about 460 mph at 18,000 feet. Cruising speed dropped to 390 miles per hour. Other reported performance specs include a service ceiling of 35,800 feet and a climb rate of up to 30,000 feet in 10.8 minutes.

Range is limited to 700 miles, but can be increased to 1,040 miles by adding two wing-mounted fuel tanks.

Hawker Sea Fury produced only a few major variants. This started with the Sea Fury F. Mk 10, a single-seat fighter version for the Royal Navy. These first production prototypes were equipped with Centaurus XV series engines. Deterministic and quantitative FB. It was followed by the MK 11, a dedicated fighter-bomber derivative used by the Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy and Royal Canadian Navy (HMCS Magnificent's 871st Squadron).

A total of 615 were built, of which 31 were shipped to Australia and 53 to Canada. The T. Mk 20 was a two-seater trainer for the Royal Navy, with a total of 60 built. Ten of these were later converted to target tugs for West Germany.

The Sea Fury was also popular on the open market, with the F. Mk 50 single-seat fighter and FB adopted by the Royal Netherlands Navy. Mk 51 single-seat fighter-bomber. The Royal Netherlands Navy took over 24 of these models and then purchased licensed production rights to produce 24 more locally under the Fokker brand. The type used in Pakistan is FB.

The single-seat fighter-bomber configuration of the Mk 60 and the two-seat T. Mk 61 trainer - both systems are used by the Pakistan Air Force. Iraq received the Fury F. Mk I for use as a single-seat land-based fighter, of which about 55 were built and used by the Iraqi Air Force.

This rage is informally known as the "Baghdad Rage". In addition, five Furys were shipped to Iraq in their two-seat coaches.

Other Sea Fury recipients include Myanmar, Cuba, Egypt and Morocco. The total production of all aircraft was approximately 860, with production between 1945 and 1955.

When the Sea Fury entered service with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Force in October 1945, she quickly replaced the Supermarine Seafires that served during World War II. Supermarine Seafires are a navalized version of the very successful land-based Supermarine Spitfires (UK's "war-winning planes"), but only a temporary solution for the Royal Navy (like the Hawke's Sea Hurricane), not at all committed to a sea like the Sea Fury Fighter/Interceptor.

The Fleet Aviation (FAA) divided the F. Mk X Sea Fury into five squadrons (Nos. 778, 802, 803, 805 and 807). The final FB was then delivered. The Mk 11 (from this production model, the name has been officially changed from Roman numerals) is equipped with a 2,480 hp Bristol Centaurus engine, longer arrester hooks and Rocket Assisted Launch (RATO) equipment for Squadrons 802, 280, 804, 805 and 807.

In 1951 the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve replaced their Supermarine Seafire Mk 17 with the Sea Fury FB. 11 started with 1822 Squadron, followed by 1831, 1833, 1834, 1845 and 1836 Squadrons.

By 1953 the Sea Fury remained a mainstay of fleet aviation, and the system was completely withdrawn from combat service in the Royal Air Force and retired by the Navy. In FAA service, the Sea Fury was eventually replaced by the more powerful Hawker Sea Hawks and Supermarine Attackers.

The Royal Canadian Navy took delivery of the first Hawker Sea Furies in 1956. These Sea Furies were approximately 74 fighter-bomber models and operated from 1948 to 1956 as No. 871 Squadron on the deck of HMCS Magnificent (CVL 21). Canada has also developed the Sea Fury from a land base.

The Sea Fury saw intense action in the upcoming Korean War. These are from FB. The Mk 11 fighter-bomber highlights where its multi-role capabilities can be fully exploited.

Sea Furies are operated by a number of UK and Australian carriers (HMS Glory, HMS Ocean, HMS Theseus and HMAS Sydney) and are often launched with Fairey Fireflies as the Royal Navy's "thumping" element against ground targets across the peninsula. Like their WWII Tempest and Typhoon counterparts, the Sea Furies were successfully used in South Korea's ground attack role.

Not only that, but on August 9, 1952, the Sea Fury, flown by a Korean Lieutenant Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, was one of the few piston-engined fighters to be killed over a jet. This resulted in the only British airstrike of the conflict.

In every respect, the Sea Fury's involvement in the war cemented the aircraft's place in aviation history as one of the fastest and most powerful piston-powered fighter jets ever built.

The Cuban Air Force's Sea Fury was later enraged in the US-sponsored "Bay of Pigs" invasion.

Regardless, Sea Fury proved to be a solid mount, and when Typhoon and Tempest were included, the perfect culmination of a Hawker plane's three-game winning streak. Despite being cancelled by the RAF, the Royal Navy's deployment ensures that Sea Fury's legacy will live on. Seafury proved her worth in a major world conflict and lesser global battles until her inevitable retirement.

Today, it is a favorite among flight enthusiasts and airplane racers around the world.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes