Hawker Fury F Mk.1 - RAF Cosford Airshow 2018

The Historic Aircraft Collection's Hawker Fury F Mk.1, displaying at the RAF Cosford Airshow 2018.

Owned and operated by the Historic Aircraft Collection Ltd, based at the Imperial War Museum airfield at Duxford in Cambridgeshire, this sole surviving Hawker Fury is powered by a 525hp Rolls Royce Kestrel IIS V-12 supercharged, water-cooled engine. It was acquired by the Historic Aircraft Collection from South Africa in 1994 after a tip-off from the RAF Museum.

The aircraft was delivered to 2 ASU on 20 November 1935 and then to 43 Sqn at RAF Tangmere on 2 June 1936. F/O F.E. Rosier, later to become Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Rosier GCB, CBE, DSO, recorded in his log that the aircraft was his aircraft whilst he was Officer Commanding 'B' Flight between December 1936 and January 1939. It was called ‘Queen of North and South’. He first flew it on 9th December, 1936 and his last flight was on 22nd February, 1939 when the comment in his log was ‘Last fling in Queen of North and South. Perfect’. After periods at 5 MU and 47 MU the aircraft is recorded ‘to South Africa 5 August 1940’.

The aircraft arrived in Durban on 'Clan Mathieso' on 20 October 1940. On 15th March, 1941 the aircraft, now with the serial number 215, was taken on charge by 13 Squadron (soon to be renumbered 43) based at Swartkop. On 31st March, 1941 it ran out of fuel and force landed near Pitsani whilst being flown by 2nd Lt. Peter M. Hedley. The pilot suffered no injuries but the aircraft suffered Category 2 damage. Records show the aircraft being stored before being delivered to No.2 Air Depot, Kimberley, where it was scrapped.

Restoration was started in earnest in 1992, with the first challenge being to re-manufacture the spars, which are a complex roll-formed item manufactured from high tensile steel strip. Without this extremely difficult part being successfully re-made there would have been no point in going further forward, as Retrotec (the restoration arm of Aero Vintage and Historic Aircraft Collection Ltd. (HAC) were only prepared to restore the aircraft if it could be 100% authentic down to the smallest detail. Over the next 15 years all the engineering challenges were overcome as the restoration progressed.

It was fortunate that a period photograph of the aircraft was available from David Rosier (ACM Sir F Rosier's son), which helped in restoring the paint scheme exactly as it was in 1937.

The Fury made its first post restoration flight from Goodwood (as close as possible Tangmere) on the 30th July 2012.

In the late 1920s, Hawker Aircraft’s chief designer, Sydney Camm, developed a biplane fighter known as the Hornet as a counterpart to the successful Hart light bomber. Following evaluation, an initial order for 21 aircraft was placed in 1930 with a change of designation to the Fury (to comply with the Air Ministry’s policy of naming fighters with words beginning with “F”). The first production machine took to the air on 25th March 1931 and two months later the Fury Mk.1 entered RAF service with No 43 Squadron at RAF Tangier.
The Fury was the first RAF fighter capable of exceeding 200 mph in level flight. It was light on the controls which gave it an outstanding aerobatic performance and was immensely popular with those who flew it. Armament comprised 2 x .303 inch Vickers machine guns with 600 rounds per gun.

The Fury Mk.2 incorporated various aerodynamic improvements and was powered by a 690 horse power Rolls Royce Kestrel engine. It entered service in 1936.

Owing to the financial constraints of the 1930s, only six RAF squadrons were equipped with Furies (three with the Mk.1 and three with the Mk.2) until superseded by Gladiators and Hurricanes in 1938/39. Furies also saw service with the air forces of seven other countries. Three machines delivered to Spain took part in the Spanish Civil War, a squadron of the Yugoslav Air Force took on the might of the invading Luftwaffe in April 1941 and Furies were used by the South African Air Force against Italian forces in East Africa. A total of 275 aircraft were built.

No 1 Squadron, RAF Tangmere was re-equipped with the Fury in 1932, a year after 43 Squadron. Over the next six years, these two squadrons took part in the annual Hendon Air Pageant with great credit and won a good many air defence and gunnery competitions. Of particular note was No 1 Squadron’s success in winning the formation aerobatics competition at the International Aviation Meeting held at Zurich in July1937 – the first time the Air Ministry had authorised participation at such an event by an RAF unit.

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