1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by
dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by
dizzyfugu, on Flickr
Some background:The Hawker Sea Hawk was a British single-seat jet fighter of the Royal Navy, built by Hawker Aircraft and its sister company, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. In the final years of the Second World War, Hawker's design team had become increasingly interested in developing a fighter aircraft that took advantage of the newly developed jet propulsion technology. On 1 September 1944, the first prototype of the company's latest piston engine fighter aircraft, the Hawker Fury/Sea Fury, conducted its maiden flight; it was this aircraft that would serve as the fundamental design basis for Hawker's first jet-powered aircraft, the P.1035, which was submitted for evaluation by the Air Ministry in November 1944.
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
The design was substantially modified in December 1944, leading to a new designation for the project, P.1040. The jet exhaust was moved from beneath the tail and re-designed as two short, split-lateral bifurcated exhausts, embedded in the trailing edge of the wing root. The tail plane was raised in order to clear the jet exhausts. The air intakes were moved to the wing root leading edge, similar to the contemporary de Havilland Vampire. The unusual bifurcated jet pipe reduced pressure losses in the jet pipe and had the additional advantage of freeing up space in the rear fuselage for fuel tanks, which gave the aircraft a longer range than many other early jets. The fuselage fuel tanks, being fore and aft of the engine, also provided for a stable center of gravity during flight. The absence of fuel tanks also meant that a thinner wing could be adopted without any loss of range. To ease manufacture, the elliptical wing form of the Fury was discarded in favor of a straight tapered wing design The P.1040 also featured a nose wheel undercarriage arrangement, the first for a Hawker-built aircraft, and the aircraft was armed with four 20mm Hispano-Suiza Mk. V cannons.
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
In October 1945, Sydney Camm, Hawker's chief designer, being satisfied with the results generated from engineering mock-ups and wind tunnel testing, authorized the raising of a production order for a single prototype. In light of the diminished RAF interest in the project in the post-WWII era, allegedly due to the aircraft offering insufficient advances over the jet fighters already in service, a navalized version of the P.1040 was offered in January 1946 to the Admiralty as a fleet support fighter.
However, the Admiralty were not initially encouraging to Hawker's approaches, in part due the presence of the in-development jet-powered Supermarine Attacker aircraft, but the service was intrigued by the type's long-range capability, as well as by the promise of increased power from the Nene engine. Thus, in May 1946, the Naval Staff authorized the manufacture of three prototypes and a further test specimen.
On 2 September 1947, the first prototype, VP401, now called “Sea Hawk” and sometimes referred to as the Hawker N.7/46 after the related naval specification, conducted its maiden flight from RAF Boscombe Down.
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
An initial order was received in November 1949, and shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War, an urgent operational demand for Britain's aircraft carriers, and thus their accompanying aircraft, had become apparent. The rate of production was substantially increased, and further orders for the Sea Hawk were soon placed. The first production Sea Hawk was the F 1, it first flew in 1951 and entered service two years later with 806 Squadron, first based at Brawdy, then transferred to the HMS Eagle. All Sea Hawks were in service by the mid-1950s and eventually over 500 were built in different versions, which soon became fighter bombers. Beyond these ever-improving variants, it was soon clear that a two seat variant would be necessary for naval operation transition training. Hawker responded to this request by the Admirality in 1952 with the T 20 variant.
The Sea Hawk T 20 was based on the FGA 3, the Sea Hawk’s first fighter bomber version which could, beyond its gun armament, also carry offensive ordnance under its wings. In order to accommodate a crew of two, this advanced trainer variant received a completely new front section with a side-by side cockpit, fitted with duplicated flight controls and instrumentation, and a bulbous canopy that allowed both passengers an excellent field of view for carrier landings. In order to allow a seamless transition from initial trainings, the cockpit layout and much of the operational equipment fittings was very similar to that of the Percival Provost. A key feature for the era amongst the fittings in the cockpit was the Centralized Warning Panel, which alerted the pilots in the event of a number of unfavorable or hazardous conditions being detected, such as icing conditions, fire or oxygen failure.
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
In order to compensate for a loss of directional stability due to the new cockpit section, the aircraft received a taller fin, which was also introduced to export versions of the Sea Hawk. As a weight saving measure and in order to keep the center of gravity within safe limits, the gun armament was reduced from four to two 20 mm Hispano cannon. The underwing hardpoints for bombs, unguided missiles and drop tanks were retained, so that the trainer could - with slight performance losses and a reduced ordnance load - fly the Sea Hawk’s complete mission envelope.
After the T20’s successful acceptance trials during late 1954 at 738 NAS at Lossiemouth, the FAA formally accepted the type in 1956. A total of 32 aircraft were produced and exclusively operated by the Royal Navy, where it quickly received the nickname “Puffin”, due to its bulbous nose section.
The Sea Hawk T20’s were distributed between 738 NAS (18 machines) for land-based conversion training and active, navel units, which received two or three trainers each for advanced training aboard of carriers.
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr
The Sea Hawks in Fleet Air Arm service began being phased out from first line service in 1958, the year in which the Supermarine Scimitar and de Havilland Sea Vixen entered service, both of which types would eventually replace the Sea Hawk in the fighter and attack role. The last front line Sea Hawk squadron, No. 806, disbanded at RNAS Brawdy on 15 December 1960, ending a very brief operational career for the Sea Hawk. Most Sea Hawks in second line service were withdrawn by the mid-1960s, the trainers were retired in 1967, but four of them were refurbished and sold to India, where they served until 1983, partly from the Indian aircraft carrier Vikrant.
General characteristics: Crew: One
Length: 40 ft 5 in (12.34 m)
Wingspan: 39 ft 0 in (11.89 m)
Height: 9 ft 8 in (2,95 m )
17 ft 8 in (5,39 m with folded wings)
Wing area: 278 ft² (25.83 m²)
Empty weight: 9,482 lb (4,305 kg)
Loaded weight: 13,220 lb (5,996 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 16,150 lb (7,325 kg)
Powerplant: 1× Rolls-Royce Nene 101 turbojet, rated at 5,000 lbf (22.24 kN) thrust
Performance: Maximum speed: 583 mph (940 km/h)
Range: 480 mi (770 km)
Service ceiling: 44,500 ft (13,564 m)
Rate of climb: 5,700 ft/min (29.0 m/s)
Wing loading: 48 lb/ft² (232 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.38
Armament: 2× 20 mm (0.79 in) Hispano Mk V cannons (200 RPG) in the lower front fuselage
Underwing hardpoints and provisions to carry combinations of:
16× 60 lb (27 kg) unguided 3" rockets or 8× 5” (127 mm) unguided HVAR rockets, and
2× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs, or
2 × 90 Imp gal (410 l) drop tanks
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by
dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by
dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by
dizzyfugu, on Flickr
1:72 Hawker Seahawk T 20; aircraft “A-256/XA454” of the Fleet Air Arm’s 809 Naval Air Squadron; based on board of HMS Albion (R 07); 1959 (Whif/Hobby Boss kit conversion) by
dizzyfugu, on Flickr
