Power of the Fury - Hawker Fury II/ISS Bristol Centaurus engine run & walk around

Fighter Aviation Engineering's Hawker Fury II/ISS having its Bristol Centaurus Mk.18 engine run up by the team from Air Leasing, who operate her, at the Imperial War Museum airfield and museum at Duxford on 9th November 2023. The film also includes a brief walk around of the aircraft and the team putting her back into the hangar.
Although outwardly appearing to be a Sea Fury this is an ex Iraqi Air Force Hawker Fury II/ISS (Iraqi Single Seat), on the UK Civil Register as G-CBEL, and in the markings of the third Hawker Fury II prototype to fly SR661, which was also the first Sea Fury prototype. The original SR661 first flew at Langley, Berkshire, on 21 February 1945, powered by a Centaurus XII engine, had a "stinger"-type tailhook for arrested carrier landings but lacked folding wings for storage.
This is one of the few surviving airworthy Sea Fury/Fury's that still retains an original Bristol Centaurus engine, and is currently the only one in the UK to do so.

This Fury, construction number 37539 was produced by Hawker’s in 1953 as a Fury ISS – Iraqi Single Seat, for the Iraqi Air Force, as part of contract number 53/1/012 for 60 aircraft, and was numbered 315 within this production batch. Although 10 of the single seat aircraft for this contract were actually former Royal Navy Sea Fury FB.10 or FB.11s that were converted, this airframe was built by Hawkers as a new production model, without any of the navalised features of the Sea Fury. Amongst other things both the tail hook and folding wings were deleted.
The aircraft was bought to Orlando, Florida, USA from Iraq in 1979 by Ed Jurist and David Tallichet.
In 1989 it passed to Laws/Coleman Warbird Museum, Coleman, Texas where it was rebuilt to airworthy condition, before flying again in April 1991, registered as N36SF. It was then shipped to the UK in September 1991, passing into the ownership of John Bradshaw at Wroughton until 2009.
During this time the aircraft flew in the markings of a Dutch Navy and latterly Royal Australian Navy aircraft marked as 361 and it was then also on the UK Civil Register as G-CBEL.
It was then exported to Australia where it was registered as VH-SFW. In June 2016 it was imported back into the UK by its new owners, Anglia Aircraft Restorations Ltd and re-registered again as G-CBEL.
The aircraft was refurbished and repainted, by Air Leasing Ltd, in the colours of SR661.

The aircraft is powered by a Bristol Centaurus 18 engine as originally fitted to production aircraft. These engines are no longer produced, very few survive and they are increasingly rare.


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