Hawker Tornado

History of Hawker Tornadoes

The Hawker Tornado grew out of the same initiative that produced the Hawker Typhoon in World War II. The initiative itself arose when Hawke wanted to launch an improved form of their war-winning Hawker Hurricane monoplane - the star of the Battle of Britain. While the Typhoon set a strong wartime record and reached production in the thousands (and became the RAF's first fighter with a cannon), the Tornado continued as a test bed for various engine types Sluggish, and only four examples have been completed.

The heavy sinking of the tornado proved the unreliability of the Rolls-Royce Condor engine, and even the appearance of the Rolls-Royce Merlin family was eventually abandoned.

Specification

Tornado and Typhoon were developed in accordance with 1937 Air Department Specification F. 18/37, which called for a single-seat monoplane with a speed of 400 mph, a service ceiling of 35,000 feet, and a maximum weight of 12,000 pounds, equipped with 12 x 7.7mm machine guns (both listed as minimum standard). To keep pace with the new airframe, Napier & Sons and Rolls-Royce were each tasked with developing entirely new piston engines to power the model. For Napier's bid, it was the "Saber", so the following aircraft prototype was once referred to as the "Type N".

Likewise, the Rolls-Royce product will be called the "Condor" and the prototype aircraft will be called the "Type R". In 1938, Hawker was awarded a contract for a prototype of each engine type (B. 815124/38).

Typhoons and Tornadoes

Napier-powered mounts got off to an early start, appearing on paper as early as April 1937, followed by a Rolls-Royce version in October of the same year. For convenience, both designs use the same fuselage and wing assemblies, differing only in engine trim and the details required for each installation. Unlike the original Hawker Hurricane, these designs introduced a new, thicker chord wing for greater internal volume and strength (and possibly using a cannon instead of a machine gun).

On July 10, 1939, a production contract was announced to produce 500 aircraft of each engine type, for a total of 1,000 airframes. The two competing designs were further distinguished by assigned nicknames between August and September 1939 - the Napier-powered bracket became the "Typhoon" and the Rolls-Royce-engined version became the "Tornado" .

Tornado with Wright Duplex Cyclone

For a brief period between March 1940 and July 1941, the idea of ??a long-range tornado with an American Wright duplex Cylone engine was proposed. However, this only ended with the delivery of the powerplant to the Hawker facility.

Prototype P5219

Delays in the Napier engine program have seen Rolls-Royce Condor prototype Tornadoes first emerge from construction, thought to be "P5219". This model features a newly forged Vulture II series piston engine mounted in its forward mounted compartment (for managing the three-bladed propeller) and a cockpit aft of the engine. The wings are low-profile monoplane assemblies, while the landing gear is affected by Hurricane Hawke. The cockpit frame is heavy, with entry and exit through a car-style door with the fuselage spine blocked and straight back. The air intake for the radiator is located amidships under the hull.

Rolling trials took place in October 1939, and the first flight was recorded on October 6, 1939. However, testing soon found chatter in the radiator opening, forcing engineers to move the installation slightly forward in the design. Again, additional wind tunnel testing and evaluation uncovered significant issues with this placement by relocating the radiator scoop to the chin mount.

Testing continued, which resulted in enlarged tail rudders for improved stability and aerodynamic improvements, such as a cover door on the rear retractable tail wheel unit.

Avro Commitment

While production will take place outside the Hawker facility, Hurricane has promised to ask Avro to be recruited as a subcontractor - his experience with Vulture engines in Avro Manchester bombers has worked to his advantage. The Avro factory will then begin production of the Tornado, which will be divided into machine gun-armed and cannon-armed models.

However, on February 17, 1941, it was decided to equip all Tornadoes with machine guns and to free up a vital cannon stockpile for the nascent Typhoon line.

P5219 and Vulture V

On March 27, 1941, the P5219 was equipped with a Rolls-Royce Vulture V-Series piston engine and exploded. However, cracks discovered in the connecting bolts soon grounded all future Vulture V flights.

The prototype P5219 was then grounded and used as a test bed for its life cycle until it was scrapped in August 1943.

Prototype P5224

The second Vulture-equipped prototype was completed as the P5224, this one with the Vulture II series installed. The first flight took place on December 5, 1940. The design was improved somewhat at this point - the radiator scoop was already in the chin position, and the pilot had improved visibility to the rear with the help of additional windows in the cockpit.

The P5224 was then modified to carry the Vulture V, as in the first prototype, and it was decided to put all Tornados into production with V-series engines. The P5224 was moved to Boscombe Down and then to Farnborough on the test track. In practice, the Tornado prototype hit nearly 400 mph and handled very well. One of the main complaints is that the view from the cockpit is blocked by the raised fuselage spine. Otherwise, the aircraft proved to be comparable to the prototype Typhoon that first flew on February 24, 1940.

However, the P5224 had the same fate as the No. 1 prototype, being stored at Aston Down, then moved to Oxford, and finally scrapped on September 20, 1944.

Centaur Typhoon

Back in January 1940, the Tornado with the Bristol Centaurus engine had been developed and paired with the prototype P5224 ahead of the expected arrival of the Vulture engine. The use of Centaurus caused certain technical problems with the existing Tornado airframe and several major modifications to its compartments were made before installation. The Air Force gave the tornado the confusing name "Centuarus Typhoon," when in reality it was still a tornado through and through.

The prototype HG641, equipped with the Centaur IV, flew for the first time on October 23, 1941. Vibration problems encountered in the design forced some modifications until testing ceased in August 1944 (airframe scrapped in September).

Expected Yield

The production of tornadoes (and typhoons) then threatened to come to a complete halt in March 1940, again because of the need for large numbers of true hurricanes that needed to be tested. The tornado/typhoon plan was not updated until July, causing avoidable delays.

In addition to the commitments of Avro (Chadderton) (201) and Avro (Leeds) (360), the Cunliffe-Owen (Eastleigh) group was added to supply another 200 Tornados. This would bring realistic wartime production to 761 units.

Hawker Tornado Tour

The tornado has a clean design reminiscent of Hurricane Hawke in 1937, and resembles a competing typhoon in appearance. Its structure consists of all-metal wing assemblies, which are separate parts not connected by a central spar. The compressed skin covers both appendages. The substructure uses alloys and steel pipes to obtain the required strength.

Lightweight alloys are used for the tail (it itself resembles a Typhoon), while a compressed skin covers most of the rear wing and fabric wraps the rudder. The tubular fuselage adds excellent aerodynamics, as does the fully retractable landing gear. The initially proposed 12x7.7mm machine gun armament would be concentrated in battery packs of six guns per wing.

It was then changed to the same all-gun arrangement as the Typhoon, integrating two guns into a single wing assembly. None of the Tornado prototypes appear to have been done with their flight/armor test cannon.

The Condor Dilemma

Ongoing issues with the Vulture engine only add to Tornado's problems. The engine proved to be very problematic in the Avro Manchester bomber and was never fixed. Before the contract was completely cancelled, Avro built only three production-grade devicesthe R7936, R7937, and R7938. Ongoing problems with the Condor also led to its own cancellation, falling into the growing shadow of the up-and-coming Rolls-Royce Merlin range.

Development of the Condor (and the Tornado) ended on October 15, 1941, although the Condor engine performed reasonably well on the Tornado prototype (unlike the Manchester Bomber). Merlin is followed by the excellent Griffon series. As engine and propeller test beds, all three series of Tornadoes have a long service life.

In particular, the R7936 was developed as a Vulture-equipped dynamometer with a counter-rotating propeller unit (six blades in total). Testing ran from February 1942 to April 1944, before being scrapped.

End of the road

While the Tornado made aviation history, the Typhoon entered service with the RAF in September 1941, with 3,317 prototypes produced from 1941 to 1945. In return, this genre also affects Hawker Storm and Hawker Sea Fury. While the Typhoon has limited utility as a combat mount, it excels as an assault platform when armed with bombs and missiles while relying on its cannon for additional ground fire. Before the design was abandoned, the tornado was destined to be watched from the sidelines. At this point, the Hawker Hurricane, the Super Sea Spitfire and all related types were ripe resources for the British war effort.

Avro Manchester barely maintained a humble existence as a bomber with the unreliable Vulture engine, with 202 prototypes built in total.

Specification

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