Warplanes of the UK: Hawker Fury FB.11

Hawker Fury

(RAF Photo)

Hawker Fury (Serial No. LA610) with Napier Sabre engine and wing-root radiators. Top speed 484 mph and a rate of climb of 5,420ft/min. Hawkers fastest Fury.

The Hawker Fury is a British fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by Hawker. Its Sea Fury version was the last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, and one of the fastest production single piston-engined aircraft ever built. Developed during the Second World War, the Fury entered service two years after the war ended. The Fury proved to be a popular aircraft with a number of overseas militaries, and was used during the Korean War in the early 1950s, as well as against the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba.

The Hawker Fury was an evolutionary successor to the successful Hawker Typhoon and Tempest fighters and fighter-bombers of the Second World War. Six prototypes were ordered; two were to be powered by Rolls-Royce Griffon engines, two with Centaurus XXIIs, one with a Centaurus XII and one as a test structure. Hawker used the internal designations P.1019 and P.1020 respectively for the Griffon and Centaurus versions, while P.1018 was also used for a Fury prototype which was to use a Napier Sabre IV.[9] The first Fury to fly, on 1 September 1944, was NX798 with a Centaurus XII with rigid engine mounts, powering a Rotol four-blade propeller. Second on 27 November 1944 was LA610, which had a Griffon 85 and Rotol six-blade contra-rotating propeller. By now, development of the Fury and Sea Fury was closely interlinked so that the next prototype to fly was a Sea Fury, SR661, described under "Naval version." NX802 (25 July 1945) was the last Fury prototype, powered by a Centaurus XV.[10] LA610 was eventually fitted with a Napier Sabre VII, which was capable of developing 3,400 to 4,000 hp (2,535–2,983 kW); this aircraft became possibly the fastest reciprocating-engine Hawker aircraft after reaching a speed of around 485 mph (780 km/h).

With the end of the Second World War in Europe in sight, the RAF began cancelling many aircraft orders; the RAF's order for the Fury was cancelled before any production aircraft were built because the RAF already had large numbers of late Mark Spitfires and Tempests and viewed the Fury as an unnecessary overlap with these aircraft. Although the RAF had pulled out of the programme, development of the type continued as the Sea Fury. While the RAF contract had been cancelled, the Fury prototypes were completed and used for work in developing the Sea Fury as well as for the export market. (Wikipedia)

(SDASM Archives Photo)

Hawker Fury third prototype (Serial No. NX802).

(Pakistan Air Force Photo)

Hawker Fury FB.60 formation over Miranshah in December 1957. Serial Nos L974 in lead, L991 right wing, L965 Left Wing and L958 boxed.

(Alan Wilson Photos)

Hawker Fury Mk. II ISS (Serial No. SR661), ex-Iraqi Air Force (Serial No. 315), painted in the markings of the Sea Fury prototype, Reg. No. G-CBEL, John Bradshaw, Bournemouth, Dorset.  Airworthy.

Hawker Fury Mk. II ISS (Serial No. unknown), ex-Iraqi Air Force (Serial No. unknown), British Army War Trophy, 2003, location and data to be determined.

(Ultimate Warbirds Flights Photo)

Hawker Fury FB.11.