Hawker Fury - 1930s interceptor/fighter takes to the air.
The first RAF aircraft to be able to exceed 200mph in level flight, the Hawker Fury entered service in 1931.
Sydney Camm, the redoubtable chief designer at Hawker, developed the Fury into a monoplane, which fitted with the then new Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, was named the Hawker Hurricane. That type, together with the already obsolete Gloster Gladiator, had replaced the Fury in RAF service by the outbreak of WW2 in 1939.
A number of Furys were exported around the world. Some saw combat service with the Yugoslav Air Force, where they were shot out of the sky in droves by the far more capable Messerschmitt Bf 109.
The picture is of the only airworthy Hawker Fury remaining. It served in the RAF between 1935 and 1939, is based at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, and is seen here taking flight at nearby Old Warden aerodrome in May of 2024.
Hawker Fury - 1930s interceptor/fighter takes to the air.
The first RAF aircraft to be able to exceed 200mph in level flight, the Hawker Fury entered service in 1931.
Sydney Camm, the redoubtable chief designer at Hawker, developed the Fury into a monoplane, which fitted with the then new Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, was named the Hawker Hurricane. That type, together with the already obsolete Gloster Gladiator, had replaced the Fury in RAF service by the outbreak of WW2 in 1939.
A number of Furys were exported around the world. Some saw combat service with the Yugoslav Air Force, where they were shot out of the sky in droves by the far more capable Messerschmitt Bf 109.
The picture is of the only airworthy Hawker Fury remaining. It served in the RAF between 1935 and 1939, is based at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, and is seen here taking flight at nearby Old Warden aerodrome in May of 2024.