The Hawker Sea Hawk is a British single-seat jet day fighter formerly 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 design originated from earlier Hawker piston-engined fighters, the Sea Hawk became the company's first jet aircraft. Following acceptance in 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 Dutch and Indian service. The last operational Sea Hawks, operated by the Indian Navy, were retired in 1983. Towards the end of the Second World War, Hawker's design team had become increasingly interested in developing a fighter aircraft that took advantage of the newly developed jet propulsion technology. Prior to this, Hawker had been committed until late 1944 to the production and further development of its piston-powered aircraft, such as the Hurricane, Tempest and Typhoon, to meet the wartime demands for these aircraft. On 1 September 1944, the first prototype of the company's latest fighter aircraft, the Hawker Fury/Sea Fury, conducted its maiden flight; it was this aircraft that would serve as the basis for Hawker's first jet-powered aircraft. 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 HMS Eagle. All Sea Hawks were in service by the mid-1950s and eventually over 500 were built. During service evaluations of the Sea Hawk, Australian and Canadian naval pilots flew the aircraft leading to official suggestions that the aircraft would be chosen by the two countries. Both nations were also interested in new American-built naval aircraft; only a handful of Sea Hawks were transferred to either nation, some operating from the flight deck of the Australian Majestic-class aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney, though these did not enter full squadron service. For more details of design and development, production, operational history and combat record, and 10 variants, click here.
