The Hawker Cygnet was a British ultralight

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

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 Hawker Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer 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, which resulted in the bank ...

, which was a design by

Sydney Camm Sir Sydney Camm, CBE, FRAeS (5 August 189312 March 1966) was an English aeronautical engineer who contributed to many Hawker aircraft designs, from the biplanes of the 1920s to jet fighters. One particularly notable aircraft he designed was th ...

, the Cygnet. Camm had joined Hawker the previous year. Two aircraft were built (''G-EBMB'' and ''G-EBJH'') and were entered in the competition, held in 1924 at Lympne Aerodrome, by

T. O. M. 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 ...

and Fred Sigrist. The aircraft were flown by Longton and Raynham and came in 4th and 3rd places respectively. In 1925, ''G-EBMB'' was entered again in the 100 mi (161 km) International Handicap Race, this time flown by George Bulman, who won at a speed of 75.6 mph (121.7 km/h). At the same meeting, the Cygnet came in 2nd in the 50 mi (80 km) Light Aeroplane Race. In 1926, both aircraft were entered in the competition piloted by Bulman and Flying Officer Ragg, taking first and second place respectively. HCygnet

Design

The aircraft were of wood-and-fabric construction, the fuselage being four

longeron In engineering, a longeron and stringer is the load-bearing component of a framework. The term is commonly used in connection with aircraft fuselages and automobile chassis. Longerons are used in conjunction with stringers to form structural ...

s-strutted in the fashion of a Warren girder. The wing had two box spars with Warren truss ribs. Initially the two aircraft were powered, one by an Anzani, and the other by an ABC Scorpion (both opposed twin-cylinder engines). In 1926 the engines in both Cygnets were changed to the Bristol Cherub III, another twin-cylinder engine. The airframe weighed a remarkably low 270 lb, and its weight when empty was only 373 lb.

Postwar history

''G-EBMB'' was kept by Hawker in storage until 1946, when it was refurbished and reassembled at Hawker's Langley Aerodrome. It was later transferred to their new facility at Dunsfold, where it stayed, being flown to various displays and airshows, until 1972, when it was transferred for exhibition at the Royal Air Force Museum at

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

. More recently it has been transferred to its site at RAF Cosford in Shropshire, where it can now be seen. An airworthy replica is on display at the Shuttleworth Collection, Old Warden, Bedfordshire.Aircraft: 1924-Hawker Cygnet
''Shuttleworth Collection''. Retrieved 16 August 2008.

Specifications

References

Notes

Bibliography

*Mason, Francis K. ''Hawker Aircraft since 1920''. London:Putnam, 1991..

External links

Hawker Cygnet
– British Aircraft Directory {{Hawker Aircraft aircraft 1920s British civil utility aircraft Cygnet Single-engined tractor aircraft Sesquiplanes Aircraft first flown in 1924 Biplanes