18-608: 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 Royal Air Force (RAF) as a night fighter in the 1920s. The Hawker Woodcock was designed as a night fighter in 1922 to meet specification 25/22 . The chief designer was Captain Thomson, and
36-827: A total of 1,814 were produced for the RAF, ending in July 1943. During the war, Armstrong Whitworth also produced 1,328 Avro Lancasters and designed the Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle reconnaissance bomber which was then made by A. W. Hawksley Ltd, part of the Hawker Siddeley group. Armstrong Whitworth built 281 Avro Lincolns at Baginton from 1945 to 1951. Then, during the 1950s Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft built many Gloster Meteor , Hawker Seahawk , Hawker Hunter and Gloster Javelin jet fighters at their Bitteswell and Baginton factories for delivery to
54-605: The Great Depression and a strong financial position to purchase the Gloster Aircraft Company in 1934. The next year, it merged with the engine and automotive company Armstrong Siddeley and its subsidiary, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft , 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
72-544: The Royal Air Force , the Royal Navy and the Royal Belgian Air Force . The Armstrong Whitworth Apollo airliner was unsuccessful and the company was eventually merged with another Hawker Siddeley company, Gloster Aircraft Company , to form Whitworth Gloster Aircraft in 1961. In 1963 Hawker Siddeley dropped the names of the component companies from its products, the last Armstrong Whitworth product,
90-722: The interwar years , Hawker produced a successful line of bombers and fighters for the Royal Air Force , the product of Sydney Camm (later Sir Sydney) and his team. These included the Hawker Hind and the Hawker Hart , 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
108-483: The "Hawker" name. This was the result of purchasing British Aerospace 's product line in 1993. The name was also used by Hawker Beechcraft after Raytheon's business jet interests (Hawker and Beechcraft ) were acquired by investors and merged. The first Hawker design was the unbuilt Hawker Humpback of December 1920. This was soon followed by the Hawker Duiker , the first prototype, which flew in July 1923. In
126-631: The RAF entered service with 3 Squadron in May 1925 at RAF Upavon . 17 Squadron was the only other operational squadron, with first deliveries being made in March 1926. Once the type's early structural problems were solved, the Woodcock proved popular with its pilots. It was replaced by the Gloster Gamecock in 1928. Some Woodcocks were still flying in 1936. In June 1927 a Woodcock II of 17 Squadron
144-528: The RAF was for ten Woodcock IIs, with the first six being completed without any night flying equipment. The service eventually ordered a total of 62 aircraft. One of the first batch of aircraft was given a civil registration to allow it to be demonstrated in Scandinavia. On return to the United Kingdom, the demonstrator was entered into the 1925 King's Cup Air Race but it crashed during the race in bad weather near Luton. The first aircraft to be delivered to
162-539: The aircraft interests as the Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company. When Vickers and Armstrong Whitworth merged in 1927 to form Vickers-Armstrongs , Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft and Armstrong Siddeley were bought out by J. D. Siddeley and did not join the new grouping. This left two aircraft companies with Armstrong in the name – Vickers-Armstrongs (usually known as just "Vickers") and "Armstrong-Whitworth". The most successful aircraft made by Armstrong-Whitworth in
180-517: The design, reducing the wingspan by 2 ft (0.61 m) and making it a single-bay structure. The powerplant was changed to a 380 hp (283 kW) Bristol Jupiter IV engine. The modified design was called the Woodcock Mk II and first flew in August 1923, and after further modifications, was accepted for service with initial orders placed late in 1924. A number of accidents occurred in
198-425: The early part of service, with the aircraft being prone to wing spar failures and collapse of the undercarriage but these structural weakness were cured by the end of 1925. The Woodcock was armed with two .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns , synchronised to fire through the propeller arc. The guns were mounted externally on each side of the fuselage, just below the edge of the cockpit. The first order for
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#1732772570013216-598: The famous Hawker Hurricane fighter plane that, along with the Supermarine Spitfire , was instrumental in winning the Battle of Britain . During the battle, Hawker Hurricanes in service outnumbered all other British fighters combined, and were responsible for shooting down 55 per cent of all enemy aircraft destroyed. Source: Hannah (1982) Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company , or Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft ,
234-522: The inter-war period was the Siskin which first flew in 1919 and remained in RAF service until 1932, with 485 produced. In 1935, J. D. Siddeley retired and Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was purchased by Hawker Aircraft , the new group becoming Hawker Siddeley Aircraft . The component companies of Hawker Siddeley co-operated, but operated as individual entities. In March 1936, the first Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bomber aircraft made its maiden flight and
252-455: The prototype, serial number J6987 , was first flown with a 358 hp (267 kW) Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar II engine in March 1923 with F. P. Raynham at the controls. It had a two-bay wing. The prototype was rejected because of lack of manoeuvrability as well as suffering from serious wing flutter and ineffective rudder control, with spinning prohibited. Following the first flight George Carter took over as chief designer and changed
270-761: Was a British aircraft manufacturer . Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was established as the Aerial Department of the Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth & Company engineering group in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1912, and from c. 1914 to 1917 employed the Dutch aircraft designer Frederick Koolhoven (hence the "F.K." models). In 1920, Armstrong Whitworth acquired the engine and automobile manufacturer Siddeley-Deasy . The engine and automotive businesses of both companies were spun off as Armstrong Siddeley and
288-508: 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 , which produced business jets (including some derived from the 125 , whose original design dated back to de Havilland days) under
306-455: Was borrowed by the notable aviator Charles Lindbergh . He used the aircraft to fly back to Paris from London soon after his transatlantic flight in the Spirit of St. Louis . Data from The British Fighter since 1912 General characteristics Performance Armament Related lists Hawker Aircraft Hawker Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer that
324-653: Was responsible for some of the most famous products in British aviation history. Hawker had its roots in the aftermath of the First World War , which resulted in the bankruptcy of the Sopwith Aviation Company . Sopwith test pilot Harry Hawker and three others, including Thomas Sopwith , 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
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