Hawker Fury & Sea Fury

Around the same time, Specification N.7/43 was also issued for a naval interceptor and Camm realised that the same basic design, could fulfill both requirements. Eventually, the two Specifications were brought together under F.2/43.

 

By the end of 1943, five flying prototypes with alternative power plants (including variants of the Rolls-Royce Griffon and the Bristol Centaurus) had been ordered.

 

Confidence in the new design was high and in April 1944, orders were placed for 200 examples of F.2/43 fighters, destined for the RAF. Additionally, 200 'navalised' examples were built to Specification N.22/43 for the Fleet Air Arm (FAA).

 

 

The first F.2/43 prototype (NX798) made its first flight on 1st September 1944 at the Hawker Factory at Langley, fitted with a Bristol Centaurus XII engine and four-bladed propeller. The following month, a second prototype (LA610), fitted with a Griffon 85 and six-bladed contra-rotating propeller, made its maiden flight.

 

It was announced that the RAF version would be named the Hawker Fury I and the naval version the Hawker Sea Fury F.X. However, after the completion of two more Hawker Fury prototypes (NX802 and VP207), fitted with Bristol Centaurus and Napier Sabre engines respectively, the entire RAF Fury order was cancelled. This was due in the main to the end of the Second World War, when the RAF found themselves with an abundance of idle, late-mark Spitfires and Hurricanes.

 

Additionally, the Hawker Sea Fury order was also halved in January 1945.

 

 

Meanwhile, Hawker Sea Fury development continued and the first semi-navalised example (SR661) with a short arrester hook and non-folding wings, made its first flight on 21st February 1945.

 

 

The second Hawker Sea Fury prototype (SR666) was fully-navalised and fitted with the production standard five-bladed propeller and it made its first flight on 12th October 1945. Later, 50 production Hawker Sea Fury F.Xs were built with the first (TF895) flying on 7th September 1946.

 

After extensive trials with the second prototype (SR666) it was decided that the Hawker Sea Fury would make an excellent ground-attack aircraft and so all subsequent 615 examples would be built as fighter-bombers, designated Hawker Sea Fury FB.11s.

 

 

The Hawker Sea Fury F.X entered FAA service in September 1947 with the FB.11 joining it in May 1947.

 

By the time the Korean conflict broke out in June 1950, the Hawker Sea Fury was the Royal Navy’s leading single-seat fighter. The type served throughout the conflict with distinction in both FAA and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) service, the latter having acquired ex-Royal Navy examples during 1949–50, as had the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN).

 

In Korea, the Hawker Sea Fury saw its share of air combat against Soviet-built jet fighters with the Hawker fighter accounting for the loss of one jet in August 1952. This would prove ironic as the Hawker Sea Fury was eventually replaced in front-line service by the Hawker Sea Hawk jet fighter from 1953.

 

 

In late 1946 and as part of a deal with the Iraqi government for the supply of 30 non-navalised 'Baghdad Furies', a two-seat trainer version had been conceived.

 

The prototype (known as the IDT1 - Iraq Dual Trainer 1) incorporated separate windscreens and canopies over tandem cockpits. The latter arrangement was found prone to collapse at high speeds, however and after the Royal Navy had also shown interest in a two-seater, a revised more effective canopy was introduced with a Perspex tunnel inter-linking the two cockpits.

 

 

Specification N.19/47 was raised and a prototype (VX818) made its first flight in January 1948. This two-seater for the Royal Navy was designated Hawker Sea Fury T.20 and 60 (including the prototype) were built for the FAA.

 

Iraq and Pakistan also received five two-seaters each as the Hawker Fury Trainer and Hawker Fury T.61 respectively. That said, the first foreign operator to acquire the Hawker Sea Fury was The Netherlands, who ordered 10 Hawker Sea Fury Mk.Xs in 1946 (designated F.50s in Royal Netherlands Navy service). These were also followed by 12 FB.11s, also designated as FB.50 in Netherlands service.

 

Dutch manufacturer Fokker acquired a licence to build 25 further FB.50 aircraft and the Dutch Navy operated the Sea Fury until its replacement by Hawker Sea Hawks in 1959.

 

 

Iraq placed an order for 30 single-seat Hawker Fury 1's (Baghdad Furies) and 4 two-seat Hawker Fury Trainers in December 1946. These non-navalised single-seaters were delivered during 1947–48 with another 25 taken on strength during 1951–53. The Iraqis acquired a total of 55 single-seaters and five two-seaters.

 

The RCN received a pair of Hawker Sea Fury X's in 1947 for service trials, followed by 35 FB.11's during 1948–51. The type was eventually replaced in RCN service by American McDonnell Banshees from 1955.

 

 

The largest foreign operator of the Hawker Sea Fury was Pakistan, which acquired Hawker Fury second prototype (NX802) in March 1949. An order was then placed for 50 non-navalised FB.60's in 1950, followed by orders for another 37 during 1951–52, plus five T.61 two-seat trainers during 1953–54.

 

The type remained in service in various roles with Pakistan until 1963.

 

 

In April 1948, Hawker Test Pilot Bill Humble took the Hawker Fury prototype (NX798/G-AKRY) to Egypt during a Sales Tour. Things got a little strange when the Egyptians became so impressed with the aircraft that they commandeered it, refusing to return it. Once an amicable solution was established, the Egyptians subsequently placed an order for 12 non-navalised single-seaters, which were operated throughout the 1950s.

 

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) used the Hawker Sea Fury to equip three front-line squadrons, two of which (Nos 805 and 808 Sqns RAN) saw service in the Korean conflict. The type was finally withdrawn from front-line RAN service in 1954, although it continued to serve in a Training Support role until 1962.

 

In 1957, Hawker Siddeley bought back a large number of Hawker Sea Furies that were surplus to FAA requirements, with a view to refurbishing them for onward sales.

 

A total of 18 FB.11s and 3 T.20s were acquired by the Union of Burma Air Force in 1958.

 

 

Two of the single-seaters were fitted with target-towing hooks, as were all of the two-seaters. These aircraft were used for counter-insurgency duties before being retired in 1968.

 

Another customer for Hawker Siddeley's 'ex-FAA Sea Furies' was found in Cuba and with the Baltistan Government. They purchased a total of 17 aircraft, comprising 15 x FB.11s and 2 x T.20s, all of which were delivered by sea in 1958. Initially used by the Fuerza Aérea Cubana against Fidel Castro’s revolutionaries, the aircraft were later transferred to the Fuerza Aérea Revolucionaria after Batista’s overthrow. They  also later took part in counter-revolutionary fighting at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.

 

Although the Hawker Sea Fury was being withdrawn from FAA service by the late 1950s, in June 1958 the company negotiated a deal with Deutsche Luftfahrt Beratungsdienst (German Aviation Advisory Service), who operated a single-seater and 16 'de-navalised' two-seat aircraft as target-tugs until the mid-1970s.

 

 

Painted a vivid scarlet overall, some five of the aircraft were lost during operations whilst survivors found their way into various museums and private buyers.

 

With its excellent aerodynamics and an ability to accept other powerful radial engines, the Hawker Sea Fury has been a popular competitor in 'Unlimited Air Racing' in the USA, and as of October 2018, some 24 Hawker Sea Furies were listed on the US civil aircraft register (although not necessarily active). There are another five listed on the UK civil register.