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Hawker Duiker

1923 GOLDEN AGE X-PLANE

Hawker Duiker History

In 1922, the British military sought a new design for a special "Army reconnaissance aircraft" in accordance with Air Office Specification 7/22. This prompted Hawke to develop plans for an equally new design under its new chief engineer, Captain Thomson, known as the Duke. The aircraft is unique in that it has a parafoil arrangement - that is, it has a monoplane form with the main aircraft suspended above the fuselage rather than directly attached to the fuselage.

Also, the aircraft appeared at a time when biplanes were still popular around the world, leading to little interest in Hawke's method. Only one airworthy prototype was completed in 1923.

The aircraft used as many off-the-shelf parts as possible for reasons of convenience and development costs, thanks to the fact that the aircraft was built at Brookland Airport, which was shared by another aircraft manufacturer at the time, Vickers. The plane has a plate-side fuselage with its engines attached to the nose as usual. The design of the main aircraft is very avant-garde, supported by thick struts on the underside of the fuselage.

The pilot sat in an open-air cockpit behind the engine unit, and a cutout was added to the wing to improve the pilot's view. A second open-air cockpit was added behind the pilot, managed by an observer/gunner who could use a defensively aimed machine gun on a trainable base. The empennage is a conventional single-tail rudder, the landing gear is conventional, there is a wheeled support unit under the front mass, and a simple fin under the tail.

Wood is used in most of Duiker's buildings.

When completed, the aircraft will measure 31.4 feet in length, with a wingspan of 48.4 feet and a height of 10.6 feet. The kerb weight is 4,000 pounds, and the maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) is close to 4,700 pounds.

The Duiker was equipped with the standard Armstrong Siddeley 'Jaguar' engine in its earliest form, but was later replaced by the Bristol 'Jupiter IV' model, an air-cooled 9-cylinder radial engine rated at 3.89 hp a Two-bladed propeller on the nose.

On its maiden flight in July 1923, the aircraft achieved a top speed of 125 miles per hour, a cruising speed of 99 miles per hour, a range of up to 340 miles and a service ceiling of up to 14,500 feet. Endurance has been rated for up to 3.75 hours.

The climb rate is approximately 495 feet per minute.

The new design was plagued by instability and its monoplane wing shape failed to impress. The project was eventually abandoned with only one prototype and did not meet the specs as Hawke Design was the only contender.