The Hawker Sea Hawk was a British single-seat jet fighter 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 origins stemmed from earlier Hawker piston-engined fighters, the Sea Hawk became the company’s first jet aircraft.
Following the type’s acceptance by the RN, the Sea Hawk proved to be a reliable and sturdy workhorse. A considerable number were also produced for the export market, and were operated from aircraft carriers in both Dutch and Indian service. The last operational Sea Hawks, operated by the Indian Navy, were retired in 1983.
The first production Sea Hawk was the F 1, which first flew in 1951, entered service two years later with 806 Squadron, first based at Brawdy, then transferred to the HMS Eagle. Just over 30 were actually built by Hawker. At that time, Hawker was also producing the Hawker Hunter for the RAF and so production and further development of the Sea Hawk was switched to Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, part of the Hawker group.The F 1 was armed with four 20 mm (.79 in) Hispano Mk V cannons. It was powered by a single 5,000 lbf (22 kN) thrust Rolls-Royce Nene 101 turbojet. The F 1 had a maximum speed of 599 mph (964 km/h) at sea level and a range of 800 mi (1,287 km) on internal fuel. The second fighter variant was the F 2 which introduced power-boosted aileron controls as well as other modifications, including to its structure.
The next variant of the Sea Hawk was developed into a fighter-bomber, the FB 3 – Fighter-Bomber Mark 3 -(over 100 built) and differed only slightly from its predecessors. Its structure was strengthened to allow it to carry a wide array of equipment and weaponry. Its new armament consisted of two 500 lb (227 kg) bombs and 16 unguided rockets. The fourth Sea Hawk was a fighter ground-attack variant, the FGA 4, with increased weapons capability. The fifth Sea Hawk was a fighter-bomber variant, the FB 5, basically FB 3 and FGA 4s re-engined with the new Rolls-Royce Nene 103. The final Sea Hawk was a fighter ground-attack variant, FGA 6, and was exactly the same as its immediate predecessor, though they were new builds rather than re-engined, with just under 90 built. All Sea Hawks were in service by the mid-1950s and eventually over 500 were built.
Although Australia and Canada both initially expressed interest in the Sea Hawk, to the extent that examples were tested by each country’s naval forces, the first export version was the Sea Hawk Mk 50, a ground-attack variant for the Royal Netherlands Navy; 22 aircraft were in service between 1957 to 1964. The next export variant was the Sea Hawk Mk 100, a strike fighter variant for the German Bundesmarine, the Navy of West Germany. The final German export version was the Sea Hawk Mk 101, a night fighter, reconnaissance variant for the Bundesmarine. The Sea Hawk served into the mid-1960s, until its replacement by the F-104 Starfighter. The last export customer was India who ordered a mix of 24 new-build Sea Hawks and 12 refurbished ex-FAA Mk 6s in 1959, following up with 30 additional airframes reconstructed from West German stocks, among others.
The Sea Hawk, as part of the Fleet Air Arm, saw extensive service during the Suez Crisis, initiated by Egypt’s nationalisation of the Suez Canal. The United Kingdom, France and Israel conspired to provoke war, with the Anglo-French invasion being known as Operation Musketeer, beginning on 31 October 1956. Six Sea Hawk squadrons took part: two were aboard the fleet carrier HMS Eagle and two each aboard the light fleet carriers HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark. The Sea Hawks were used for ground-attack, causing damage to a variety of Egyptian targets. The military conduct of the Suez Campaign was successful, unlike the political disaster, and all invasion forces were withdrawn by 1957.
The Sea Hawk was a successful export aircraft. In the Royal Netherlands Navy, it served aboard the Dutch aircraft carrier HNLMS Karel Doorman, ex-HMS Venerable, including decolonization operations guarding against Indonesian threats in the area. From 1959 they were equipped with Sidewinder missiles significantly enhancing and extending their air-to-air combat capabilities. In 1961, the Sea Hawks that served on her were moved ashore when the NATO mission profile was changed to all ASW aircraft; by October 1964 they had been taken out of service.
In Indian Navy service (beginning in 1960), Sea Hawks were used aboard the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, ex-HMS Hercules and saw service during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The latter war saw Sea Hawks being used by the Indian Navy; these aircraft scored nearly a dozen “kills”, mainly of Pakistan Navy gunboats and Merchant navy ships and cargo ships in East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) without losing an aircraft in the war. Aided by Breguet Alize aircraft, the Sea Hawks emerged unscathed, achieving the highest kill ratio for any aircraft in the war. The Sea Hawk was withdrawn from Indian Navy service in 1983, being replaced by the far more capable BAE Sea Harrier.
The Red Devils were the Royal NAVY (Fleet Air Arm) aerobatic display team formed in June 1957 to participated at the Farnborough Air show in September 1957. The team flew five overall red painted Sea Hawk FB.3 airplanes with big white “ROYAL NAVY” signature at the under wings from No 738 Squadron based in Lossiemouth, Scotland. The Team’s trade mark was the all five aircraft formation take off and landing. All Red Devils planes produced smoke by modifying the fuel injection system. The team’s leader was A.J. Leahy, who led the team in 17 air shows, finishing at the end of the year at RNAS Abbotsinch (now Glasgow Airport). After that the Red Devils display team was disbanded.
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. 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 last operational Royal Navy Sea Hawks were FGA.6 flown by the Airwork Limited managed “black” Fleet Requirements Unit based at Bournemouth (Hurn) Airport which retired the type in 1969.
Fantastic New Model Sea Hawks available to order at Flying Tigers.
I have added the following Sea Hawk models to the website available to Pre-order.
Aviation 72 1/72nd scale Models
I have added a further 26 Aviation 72 1/72nd scale models to the Flying tigers website ! Please click here to take a close look at what is available to Pre-order.
I am showing just some of my favourites below to whet your appetite ! Please click on any of the images in this Newsletter and it will take you straight to the model and details you are looking for.
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That’s it for this week.
Thank you for taking time out to read this week’s Newsletter.
Richard.
Flying Tigers.