Hawker Fury

The Hawker Fury was a single seat, British biplane-fighter aircraft, from the year 1931.

History

The Fury was first flown on 25th March 1943. During its service entry at the No.43 Squadron of the Royal Air Force in May 1931, it was the first British fighter able to reach speeds of over 322 km/h. The aircraft itself was a fabric covered all-metal construction.

Variants

Fury Mk I

The first variant was the Fury Mk I, of which 160 have been built. It was powered by a Rolls-Royce Kestrel IIS engine with a power of 525 horsepower (390 kW).

Fury Mk II

The Fury Mk II was equipped with a more powerful engine than the Mk I (power of 640 horsepower, 477 kW), which was a Rolls-Royce-Kestrel-VI-engine. The maximum speed of the Mk II was about 10 per-cents higher than the Mk I’s, however causing higher fuel consumption. Even though it had bigger fuel tanks, its range was lower than on its predecessor.

All in all 98 aircraft were built, which were used by six RAF squadrons. The first of them entered service with the No.25 squadron in the year 1937. Two years later, it was replaced by the Hawker Hurricane. After the beginning of World War II, some of them were still used as trainer aircraft.

The South African Air Force operated them at the beginning of World War II over East Africa. Yugoslavian Mk II Furies saw combat during the German invasion of the year 1941.