Hawker Aircraft Limited was a British

aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry. ...

that was responsible for some of the most famous products in British aviation history.

History

Hawker had its roots in the aftermath of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, which resulted in the bankruptcy of the

Sopwith Aviation Company The Sopwith Aviation Company was a British aircraft company that designed and manufactured aeroplanes mainly for the British Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps and later the Royal Air Force during the First World War, most famously ...

. Sopwith test pilot

Harry Hawker Harry George Hawker, MBE, AFC (22 January 1889 – 12 July 1921) was an Australian aviation pioneer. He was the chief test pilot for Sopwith and was also involved in the design of many of their aircraft. After the First World War, he co-fou ...

and three others, including

Thomas Sopwith Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS (18 January 1888 – 27 January 1989) was an English aviation pioneer, businessman and yachtsman. Early life Sopwith was born in Kensington, London, on 18 January 1888. He was the eig ...

, bought the assets of Sopwith and formed H.G. Hawker Engineering in 1920. In 1933, the company was renamed Hawker Aircraft Limited, and it took advantage of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and a strong financial position to purchase the

Gloster Aircraft Company The Gloster Aircraft Company was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1917 to 1963. Founded as the Gloucestershire Aircraft Company Limited during the First World War, with the aircraft construction activities of H H Martyn & Co Ltd of Chelte ...

in 1934. The next year, it merged with the

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

and automotive company

Armstrong Siddeley Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury vehicles and aircraft engines. The company was created following ...

and its subsidiary,

Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company, or Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, was a British aircraft manufacturer. History Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was established as the Aerial Department of the Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth & Company e ...

, to form Hawker Siddeley Aircraft. This group also encompassed A. V. Roe and Company (Avro). The company continued to produce designs under the "Hawker" name as part of Hawker Siddeley Aircraft, which from 1955 was a division of Hawker Siddeley Group. In 1963, the "Hawker" brand name was dropped, along with those of the sister companies; the Hawker P.1127 was the last aircraft to carry the brand name. The Hawker legacy was maintained by the American company

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitaliza ...

, which produced

business jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pub ...

s (including some derived from the 125, whose original design dated back to de Havilland days) under the "Hawker" name. This was the result of purchasing

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

's product line in 1993. The name was also used by

Hawker Beechcraft Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) was an American aerospace manufacturing company that built the Beechcraft and Hawker business jet lines of aircraft between 2006 and 2013. The company headquarters was in Wichita, Kansas, United States, with ...

after Raytheon's business jet interests (Hawker and

Beechcraft Beechcraft is an American brand of civil aviation and military aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of Beech Aircraft Corporation, an American manufacturer of general aviati ...

) were acquired by investors and merged.

Products

The first Hawker design was the unbuilt Hawker Humpback of December 1920. This was soon followed by the

Hawker Duiker The Hawker Duiker was an unusual and unsuccessful aircraft. It was the first design at Hawker Aircraft, Hawker under a new chief designer, Captain Thomson, in 1922. Much of the equipment and parts were proprietary and made by another aircraft com ...

, the first prototype, which flew in July 1923. In the

interwar years In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

, Hawker produced a successful line of bombers and fighters for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, the product of Sydney Camm (later Sir Sydney) and his team. These included the

Hawker Hind The Hawker Hind was a British light bomber of the inter-war years produced by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force. It was developed from the Hawker Hart day bomber introduced in 1931. Design and development An improved Hawker Hart bomber d ...

and the

Hawker Hart The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircraf ...

, which became the most produced UK aeroplane in the years before the Second World War. During the Second World War, the Hawker Siddeley company was one of the United Kingdom's most important aviation concerns, producing numerous designs including the famous

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

fighter plane that, along with the

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

, was instrumental in winning the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

. During the battle, Hawker Hurricanes in service outnumbered all other British fighters combined, and were responsible for shooting down 55 percent of all enemy aircraft destroyed.

List

1923 ''prototype'' – first original design by Hawker, 1 aircraft built, J6918 *

Hawker Woodcock The Hawker Woodcock was a British single-seat fighter built by the Hawker Engineering Company as the first fighter to be produced by Hawker Engineering (the successor to Sopwith Aviation). It was used by the RAF as a night fighter in the 1920 ...

1923 *

Hawker Cygnet The Hawker Cygnet was a British ultralight biplane aircraft of the 1920s. Background In 1924, the Royal Aero Club organized a Light Aircraft Competition. £3000 was offered in prizes. An entry was made by Hawker Aircraft, which was a design ...

1924 *

Hawker Hedgehog The Hawker Hedgehog was a three-seat reconnaissance biplane, to be used for naval scouting, produced to meet List of Air Ministry specifications, Air Ministry Specification 37/22. It was designed in 1923, and had its first flight the next year, ...

1924 ''prototype'' *

Hawker Horsley The Hawker Horsley was a British single-engined biplane bomber of the 1920s. It was the last all-wooden aircraft built by Hawker Aircraft, and served as a medium day bomber and torpedo bomber with Britain's Royal Air Force between 1926 and 1935 ...

1925 * Hawker Heron 1925 *

Hawker Hornbill The Hawker Hornbill was the last Hawker military aircraft designed under the direction of W. G. Carter. The design was started in 1925 and the first flight took place in July 1925. The Hornbill did not achieve service in the Royal Air Force due ...

1925 * Hawker Danecock 1925 *

Hawker Harrier The Hawker Harrier was an experimental biplane torpedo bomber aircraft built by Hawker Aircraft to a specification issued in the 1920s for the RAF. Development In 1925, the British Air Ministry laid down specifications for a high altitude ...

1927 ''prototype'' *

Hawker Hawfinch The Hawker Hawfinch was a British single-engined biplane fighter of the 1920s. It was unsuccessful, with the Bristol Bulldog being selected instead. Development The Hawker Hawfinch fighter aircraft was designed in 1925 as a replacement for both ...

1927 *

1928 ** Operators of Hawker Hart and variants * Hawker F.20/27 1928 ''prototype'' *

Hawker Hoopoe The Hawker Hoopoe was a British prototype naval fighter aircraft designed and built in 1927 by Hawker Aircraft. Service trials found the aircraft to be unsatisfactory, and it was superseded by the same company's Nimrod design. Design and deve ...

1928 *

Hawker Tomtit The Hawker Tomtit is a British training biplane from the late 1920s. Design and development The Royal Air Force in 1927 required a replacement for their current elementary trainers, the elderly Avro 504Ns. They specified that the power plant sh ...

1928 * Hawker Hornet 1929 *

Hawker Osprey The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircra ...

1929 *

Hawker Nimrod The Hawker Nimrod is a British carrier-based single-engine, single-seat biplane fighter aircraft built in the early 1930s by Hawker Aircraft. Design and development In 1926 the Air Ministry specification N.21/26 was intended to produce a suc ...

1930 *

Hawker Fury The Hawker Fury is a British biplane fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s. It was a fast, agile aircraft, and the first interceptor in RAF service capable of speed higher than 200 mph (321 kmh). It was the fighter cou ...

1931 **Hawker Fury variants *

Hawker Audax The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircra ...

1931 *

Hawker Dantorp The Hawker Dantorp H.B. III was a Danish single-engined biplane bomber of the 1930s. The aircraft was a development of the British Hawker Horsley designed for the Danish Navy, but differed in being powered by a radial engine and having a third c ...

1932 *

Hawker Demon The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircra ...

1933 * Hawker P.V.3 1934 ''prototype'' *

1934 *

1934 **Hawker Hind variants * Hawker P.V.4 1934 ''prototype'' * Hawker Hartbeest 1935 *

1935 **

Hawker Sea Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seat fighter aircraft designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. Some versions were built in Canada by the Canada Car and Foundry Co Ltd British variants Hurricane Mk I ; Hurricane Mk I ( ...

Hawker Hurricane variants The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seat fighter aircraft designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. Some versions were built in Canada by the Canada Car and Foundry Co Ltd British variants Hurricane Mk I ; Hurricane Mk I ...

** List of Hawker Hurricane operators ** List of surviving Hawker Hurricanes *

Hawker Hector The Hawker Hector was a British biplane army co-operation and liaison aircraft of the late 1930s; it served with the Royal Air Force and saw brief combat in the Battle of France in May 1940. Some Hectors were later sold to Ireland. It was name ...

1936 *

Hawker Henley The Hawker Henley was a British two-seat target tug derived from the Hawker Hurricane that was operated by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Design and development In 1934 Air Ministry Specification P.4/34 was issued which calle ...

1937 *

Hawker Hotspur The Hawker Hotspur was a Hawker Henley redesigned to take a Boulton-Paul semi-powered four gun turret. It was designed in response to Air Ministry List of Air Ministry specifications, Specification F.9/35, which required a powered turret as the ...

1938 *

Hawker Tornado The Hawker Tornado was a British single-seat fighter aircraft design of the Second World War for the Royal Air Force as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane. The planned production of Tornados was cancelled after the engine it was designed to ...

1939 *

Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and i ...

1940 ** List of Hawker Typhoon operators *

Hawker Tempest The Hawker Tempest is a British fighter aircraft that was primarily used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the Second World War. The Tempest, originally known as the ''Typhoon II'', was an improved derivative of the Hawker Typhoon, intended to ...

1942 ** List of Hawker Tempest operators *Hawker F.2/43 Fury 1943 ''prototype'' *

Hawker Sea Fury The Hawker Sea Fury is a British fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. It was the last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, and one of the fastest production single reciprocating engine aircraft e ...

1944 ** List of Hawker Sea Fury operators * Hawker P.1040 1947 ''prototype'' *

Hawker Sea Hawk The Hawker Sea Hawk is a British single-seat jet day fighter formerly of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), the air branch of the Royal Navy (RN), built by Hawker Aircraft and its sister company, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Although its design origina ...

1947 ** List of Hawker Sea Hawk operators *

Hawker P.1052 The Hawker P.1052 was a British experimental aircraft built by Hawker Aircraft, Hawker Aircraft Limited for trials with swept wings. Design and development The origins of the P.1052 were in a 1945 design study by the Hawker design team for a ...

1948 ''prototype'' * Hawker P.1072 1950 ''prototype'' *Hawker P.1078 ''prototype'' *

Hawker P.1081 The Hawker P.1081, also known as the "Australian Fighter" was a prototype United Kingdom, British jet aircraft from the mid-twentieth century. The single example built was destroyed in a crash in 1951. Design and development In 1949, the Roya ...

1950 ''prototype'' *

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls-R ...

1951 ** Hawker Hunter variants ** List of Hawker Hunter operators ** Hawker Hunter in service with Swiss Air Force * Hawker P.1127 1960 ''prototype''

Projects

''Source: Hannah (1982)''Donald Hannah, Flypast Reference Library - Hawker, Key Publishing 1982 *Hawker P.1000 *Hawker P.1004 *Hawker P.1005 *Hawker P.1007 *Hawker P.1008 *Hawker P.1014 *Hawker P.1017 *Hawker P.1021 *Hawker P.1025 *Hawker P.1027 *Hawker P.1028 *Hawker P.1029 *Hawker P.1030 *Hawker P.1031 *Hawker P.1037 *Hawker P.1041 *Hawker P.1044 *Hawker P.1048 *Hawker P.1049 *Hawker P.1050 *Hawker P.1051 *Hawker P.1053 *Hawker P.1054 *Hawker P.1055 *Hawker P.1056 *Hawker P.1057 *Hawker P.1058 *Hawker P.1063 *Hawker P.1064 *Hawker P.1065 *Hawker P.1069 *Hawker P.1070 *Hawker P.1071 *Hawker P.1073 *Hawker P.1077 *Hawker P.1079 *Hawker P.1082 *Hawker P.1084 *Hawker P.1085 *Hawker P.1088 *Hawker P.1089 *Hawker P.1092 *Hawker P.1093 *Hawker P.1096 *Hawker P.1098 * Hawker P.1103 1950s interceptor project *Hawker P.1104 *Hawker P.1106 *Hawker P.1107 *Hawker P.1108 * Hawker P.1121 late 1950s fighter project *Hawker P.1124 *Hawker P.1125 *Hawker P.1126 *Hawker P.1128 *Hawker P.1129 *Hawker P.1131 *Hawker P.1132 *Hawker P.1134 *Hawker P.1136 *Hawker P.1137 *Hawker P.1139 *Hawker P.1141 *Hawker P.1143 *Hawker P.1149 *Hawker P.1152 *Hawker P.1214

Key people

Aircraft designers and engineers

* Sydney Camm *

Roy Chaplin Roland Henry Chaplin, (16 May 1899 – 13 December 1988), known as Roy Chaplin, was an aeronautical engineer who worked with Sydney Camm at Hawker Aircraft Limited from 1927 to 1962. He helped design the Hawker Fury biplane, the Hurricane mono ...

* Robert Lickley *

Richard Walker Richard Walker, Rick, Ricky, or Dick Walker may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Walker (baritone) (1897–1989), English singer and actor Law and politics * Richard Walker (MP) (1784–1855), British Member of Parliament for Bury, 1832 ...

Chief Test Pilots

* George Bulman *

Bill Humble William Humble MBE (14 April 1911 – 1 March 1992) was a well-known pre- Second World War aviator, known as an air racer and for his aerobatic displays. He was also an officer in the Royal Air Force Special Reserve, and the Auxiliary Air Force ...

* Wimpy Wade *

Neville Duke Neville Frederick Duke, (11 January 1922 – 7 April 2007) was a British test pilot and fighter ace of the Second World War. He was credited with the destruction of 27 enemy aircraft. After the war, Duke was acknowledged as one of the world's fo ...

* Alfred William (Bill) Bedford

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *. * *.

External links

Hawker
– British Aircraft Directory {{Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom Hawker Siddeley Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1920 Manufacturing companies based in London History of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames 1920 establishments in England Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1963 1963 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1963 British companies established in 1920