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Hawker FB.11 Sea Fury |
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Name: Sea Fury FB.11
Sea Fury BackgroundHawker Sea Fury FB.11Written by: Greg Goebel The first Sea Fury prototype (SR661) flew on 21 February 1945. It was fitted with a Centaurus XII engine, a four-blade propeller, an arresting hook, but lacked folding wings. The second prototype (SR666) flew on 12 October 1945, and featured a Centaurus XV engine with 1,900 kW (2,550 HP) on improved shock mountings, a distinctive five-blade Rotol propeller, an arresting hook, and wings that folded hydraulically. A third prototype with a similar level of equipment fit was partially completed by Boulton-Paul and finished by Hawker. The first production Sea Fury, designated ""F.X"" (for ""Fighter Mark X""), flew on 7 September 1946, and featured small changes from the first prototype, such as a longer arresting hook. 50 Sea Fury F.Xs were built, with introduction to Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA) service with Number 802 squadron in May 1948. The Sea Fury F.X retained the standard four 20 millimeter cannon armament of its ancestors. The cannon could be fired in pairs or all together. It is unclear what provisions the F.X had for external stores, but since the future piston engine fighters in the air superiority role was becoming increasingly dim, the design was tweaked for the fighter-bomber role, becoming the Sea Fury ""Fighter-Bomber Mark XI (FB.XI)"", later redesignated ""FB.11"". The FB.11 featured additional armor and other protection, and could carry external stores such as two 450 kilogram (1,000 pound) bombs, napalm tanks, sonobuoys, or twelve RPs, as well as rocket-assisted takeoff boosters. The Sea Fury was an outstanding aircraft, a tough customer in the attack role, but with light and responsive controls and excellent performance. A Sea Fury ferried by pilot Neville Duke from London to Karachi, Pakistan, in 1949, set a speed record during the London to Rome leg of the trip, covering 1,448 kilometers (880 miles) in 2 hours 31 minutes 51 seconds, with an average speed 574.3 KPH (356.9 MPH). Time for the entire trip of 4,827 kilometers (3,000 miles) was 15 hours 20.5 minutes, with an average speed of 412.1 KPH (256.1 MPH). This Sea Fury was in entirely stock configuration. A total of 615 FB.11s were built. Some of the FB.11s were supplied to Australia and Canada. The Sea Fury was roughly comparable to the US Navy Grumman F8F Bearcat. The Sea Fury is regarded to have been inferior in terms of maneuverability and rate of climb, but superior in terms of accurate weapons delivery and operations under instrument flying conditions. The FB.11 proved itself a capable warrior in Korea, with the type arriving in Korean waters with Number 807 Squadron on board the carrier HMS THESEUS in October 1950. They were later joined by more Sea Furies on the Royal Navy carriers HMS THESEUS, OCEAN, and GLORY, and the Royal Australian Navy carrier HMAS SYDNEY. The Sea Fury performed air strikes with any ordnance it could carry, including sea mines. It operated from the Weapons delivery was extremely accurate for the days of unguided weapons, and one Sea Fury even shot down a MiG-15. On 9 August 1952, a flight of four FB.11s from the HMS OCEAN was on a ""train busting"" mission when they were jumped by eight MiG-15s. The MiG pilots foolishly decided to get into a ""turning contest"" with the agile Sea Furies, and a Sea Fury piloted by Lieutenant Peter ""Hoagy"" Carmichael managed to get on the tail of a MiG and smash it up with his four 20 millimeter cannon. Two other MiGs were damaged while the Sea Furies returned safely. This was apparently the only air to air victory by a British pilot in a British aircraft in the Korean War, which is not too surprising since the FAA was focused on the close-support role. Some sources claim that a Sea Fury shot down a second MiG. Whatever the case, several Sea Furies were lost to enemy fighters in return. The Sea Fury remained the foremost FAA single-seat fighter until it began to be replaced by the Hawker Sea Hawk in 1953. Although most of the Sea Furies were FB.11s, smaller quantities of other variants were built as well. 60 ""T.20"" trainers were built, featuring tandem cockpits connected by a Perspex tunnel, and a periscope in the rear cockpit for the flight instructor. The initial prototype for the trainer actually had separate canopies, but airflow around the front canopy damaged the rear canopy in tests, and so the tunnel was added. Armament was reduced to twin 20 millimeter cannon. A reconnaissance version was considered, but was abandoned when nobody could figure out a clean way to fit the cameras. The Royal Netherlands Navy also flew the Sea Fury. Hawker built ten ""Mark 50s"" for the Dutch, followed by 12 ""Mark 51s"", and then Fokker built 210 Mark 51s under license. Although the RAF never flew the Fury operationally, in yet another tangled branch of the story, the Sea Fury was modified slightly for land-based operation, and then sold to Iraq and Pakistan as, of course, the ""Fury"". Iraq obtained 30 Furies and Pakistan obtained 93, with five of the Pakistani order being converted Royal Navy FB.11s. The two countries also obtained Fury trainers, generally equivalent to the Sea Fury T.20, with Iraq purchasing two and Pakistan obtaining five. Work on the Fury trainer had actually been initiated by the Iraqi request, with the Admiralty expressing interest after the project had been set in motion. Standard production FB.11s and T.20s were also exported to other countries. Egypt bought 12 new FB.11s; Burma bought 18 used FB.11s and 3 new T.20s; and Cuba bought 15 new FB.11s and two new T.20s. West Germany bought ten used T.20s that had been rebuilt as target tugs. The fact that the Sea Fury's service took place after 1945 meant that it was missed by the mad scramble to scrap that destroyed so many combat aircraft at the end of World War II, and so many Sea Furies still survive. They have become a preferred mount for air racing. For example, the 1999 Reno air races in Nevada featured eight Sea Fury contenders. Interestingly, although some of these aircraft were painted in military colors and markings, seven of the eight aircraft were powered by the Wright R-3350 radial driving a four-blade propeller, and the other was powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-4360. DimensionsWing Span: 38.39 ft. / 11.70 M
Power & PerformancePowerplant(s): 1x Bristol Centarus XVIII 18 cylinder radial
Armament4 x 20 mm cannon, 907kg (2000 lb.) external ordinance UsersAustrailia, Burma, Canada, Cuba, Germany, Iraq, Netherlands, Pakistan, UK |
