Hawker Aircraft Books - History, Types and Construction

Hawker Siddeley Aviation and Dynamics 1960-77

Hawker Siddeley's history can be traced back to 1912 and the formation of the Sopwith Aviation Company by Tom Sopwith which metamorphosed into Hawker Aircraft after World War One.
In 1934-35, Gloster, Avro, Armstrong Siddeley, Armstrong Whitworth and others were taken over to create the Hawker Siddeley Group.

The Group built some of the most important aircraft and missiles of the 1960s, 1970s and beyond; its best-known products included the Harrier, Buccaneer, Nimrod and Hawk warplanes, Sea Dart missile and HS748 airliner. Its collaborative projects included the European Airbus and various satellite programmes.

Hawker Siddeley was subsumed into British Aerospace in 1977, but some of its products still remain in service to this day. This is their story.

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Hawker's Secret Cold War Airfield : Dunsfold - Home of the Hunter and Harrier

In 1948, Hawker Aircraft, faced with new jet projects that could not use their existing airfield at Langley, began the process of searching for alternative accommodation for their flight-testing requirements. It would, however, take three hard years before Dunsfold Aerodrome would be made available by a reluctant Air Ministry and the company was able to launch its first jet aircraft design - the Sea Hawk - into series production for the Royal Navy, closely followed by the superlative Hunter. Hawker Aircraft would go on to produce nearly 2,000 Hunters before other projects came to the fore.

As Hunter production continued in the late 1950s, the company looked to its successor - the Mach 2 capable air superiority fighter designated P.1121, though this would stall before flight in the wake of serious national financial short-falls. With the loss of its premier project, the company came upon a radical new engine proposal and schemed an aircraft around it capable of vertical take-off and landing. While many decried the proposal, claiming it would never amount to anything, the Harrier would go on to prove the nay-sayers wrong as it came into its own during the Falklands War.

Following the Harrier, Hawker Siddeley stepped into the competitive trainer aircraft market with the Hawk for the RAF. After completion of the RAF requirement, Hawk was sold into air arms across the world, including the US Navy, an incredible achievement for a UK design. British Aerospace then brought forth the Harrier GR.5, the UK version of the US AV-8B, a completely upgraded and improved Harrier.

One might expect that this prolific output was the result of some massive industrial plant in the Midlands rather than an isolated aerodrome tucked in the rural hinterland of south Surrey. Surrounded for most of its existence by secrecy, due to the nature of its work, Dunsfold has largely escaped the notice of the general public. This work shines a light on the remarkable work carried out there.

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125: The Jet Dragon that Roared

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The 125, with its various prefixes, was first conceived in the 1960s. Initially the response was lukewarm, but as the benefits of individual jet travel began to become apparent, particularly in North America, the orders began to arrive.
This mid-cabin size business jet had a huge appeal to the corporate business market, and its list of operators read like something out of the Forbes 500.
It was also sold widely to the military market and was the first western aircraft ever to achieve full certification in the former Soviet Union.

This fully illustrated book looks at the development and history of this hugely popular jet.

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