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The Mark I was possibly the most beautiful fighter ever created. K2048 was No, 1 Squadron Commander's aircra{t. 'A'flight leaderhad a red fin, 'B'flaght leaderhad a yellow lin. Long nice tor scalerubber props. The HAWKER PARIOT{E By PETERWESTBURG

. Whenevermen gathcrto talk aboul .The HawkerHart, a two- old airplancs,the nameFury comesup. seatday bomberpowcrcd by thc Kcstrel It wasan airplanc,that onceseen, be it and designedby Camm,was the fastest in photographsor actuality,was forcver airplanein thc skiesovcr England, faster rcmembered.lt had the Iong, lean, by 10 mph than thc , hungtl look of a grcvhound,out it standardRAF fighter. ftfe carncdits repulationon more than just The Air lvlinistryhad trappcditsclf, good looks.Undcr the highly polished but out of the embarrassmentcamc two aluminumand skin tight fabric was a airplanesthat couldcatch the Haft.Onc touShstructure of steeland aluminum, was a Hart srripped oi all bombing anda reliable,powcrful cngine. equipment,thc Hawker Demon, first SydneyCamm, whose name is legend, two'seatBritish fightef since the famous c[catcdthe Fury.A stubbornproponent BristolFighter of WWl. ol the liquid coolcd,in-line engine, he The other airplanewas the Hornet. heldout for the Rolls-Roycc12 cylindcr In acluality,a singlcscat version of the Kestrelagainst the wishesof the British Hart, it was smaller,faster, and more

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Fury Mk I's of No. 25 Squadron over the cloudy skiesof England. K1927, the 2rd Fury produc€d. Note similarity of fuselage prolile 'A'tlight leaderin center of {ormation with dark r€d fin. to the ,which came along soon alter the Fury. i

Kl926 was the first of 117 production Mk I's. lt was tested ex_tensivelyat Martleham Heath, the Wright Field ol the RAF. Incidencewires were rspfacadby'N'cabaneson later production modsls. l- ,'j',t. 1 -,',I. maneuverable.Flying for the first time controls.lt was truly a pilot'sairplane. from Brooklandsin N4archof 1929, it The first twenty-one Furies were was an immediatesensation. lt was the completedin the short spaceof three first Fury, and but for a regulationthat weeks,the fist, K1926, flying on the all landbasedfighters carry namesbegin- 25th of l\4arch,1931. In all, 117 Fury ningwith 'F', it would haveremained a \4ark l'< wereproduced, but goodas ir Hornet. was,theFuryl\4ark ll hadan evenbetter Testing at lvlartleshamHeath, the performance. RAF version of Wright Field, proved The accompanyingdrawings are based that the Fury had everything.lt was on prlntsobtained through Bob Coles of the first fighter in the RAF to iop 200 Hawker'SiddeleyAviation. l\4ostwere mph, doing 207 at 14,000feet. lt could signed by none other than Sydney climb to 10,000feet in four and one- Camm,which should be proof enoughof half minutes,and it wasextremely man" their official status, euverable,with a fast roll rate and light Concludednext month.

Furiesof No. 25 Squadronin step formation. Som€aircraft havecamera guns mountecl on right lower wing.

The Hawk€rHart, faster than any Bratishfigh- ter at the time, wasthe airplanethe Fury was designedto antercept.Many partswer€ comm- on to the two aircraft. - 4 0 00,6J 6r^.{ r vNtrr

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