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Sopwith Camel
The Sopwith Camel was a single seater biplane that was the most succesful plane in world war 1, shooting down 1,294 enemy aircraft. The Sopwith Camel had many strengths, one of these was the two machine guns in front of the cockpit which were synchronised with the propeller, these were the first machine guns to be synchronised with a propeller in Britain. The plane had evolved from the Sopwith pup, the improvements made were in the engine, machine guns and overall design of the aircraft. -
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Construction of aircraft in Kingston
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Sopwith Snipe
The Sopwith snipe was first flown in October 1917 and introduced to the RAF in 1918, it was succesful in France for the last months of the war. The Snipe was not a very quick aircraft however it was very manoeuverable so it matched the other planes -
Sopwith develop many prototypes
Sopwith develop many different prototype planes but most of them aren't put into mass production as the demand for planes at this time is low. -
Sopwith atlantic
The Sopwith Atlantic took off from Newfoundland flown by Harry Hawker in an attempt to be the first people to fly a plane over the Atlantic in one flight. The plane was tested at Brooklands and everyone thought the plane would be the first to do it. However the engine overheated and they had to abandon the plane. Nobody was hurt. -
H.G Hawker Engineering Company
In 1920 Harry Hawker, the pilot of the Sopwith atlantic took over Tommy Sopwiths company. The name was changed to H.G. Hawker Engineering Company. -
Harry Hawker dies
Sadly in 1921 Harry Hawker died in a plane crash in Goshawk. -
Hawker Woodcock
The Hawker Woodcock was the first succesful plane produced by Hawker. It was a night fighter so was kitted out with night flying equipment. However the planes design was faulty, the plane suffered from wing flutter. Despite this it was the RAFs main night fighter between 1924 and 1926 with around 60 in RAF service. -
Hawker Horsley
The Hawker Horsley was a bomber plane that was first flown in 1925, but it was introduced in 1927. The reason for this was the planes designer, Sydney Camm, was tasked with making this plane the first metal plane produced by Hawker. He first built the plane out of wood (1925) and slowly changed the plane to make it metal. The plane was in RAF service from 1927 to 1935. There was three different types of the Horsley: Mark I, Mark II & Mark III. -
Hawker Tomtit
The RAF needed a new training plane as the current planes, the Avro 504, was old. They gave two specifications for what the plane had to be like: a metal frame & the engine type. The plane was, however, too good for a training plane, it was too quick and robust. This meant the RAF only purchased 24 because of the cost. -
Hawker Hart
The Hawker Hart was designed after a request from the RAF for a two seater high performance light bomber plane with a minimum spped of 160mph. Camm delivered this with the Hawker Heart which was the most succesful Hawker plane made yet with 960 being ordered, 264 of these made in Kingston. The plane had a top speed of 185mph and was first designed in 1928. The planes success led to many variations on the design. -
Hawker Fury
The Hawker Fury had developed from the Hawker Hart, it was the RAFs first ever plane to exceed 200mph. It was a fighter aircraft with top speeds of 223mph and 2 vickers machine gns it was a fearsome fighter. -
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane was the main plane used by the RAF in World war 2. 14,533 planes were built which was the most produced a plane had ever been. It was designed by Sydney Camm and it was a step up from the Hawker Fury. It had developed into a far quicker (top speed of 340mph), move easily manouvarable plane which was better equipped (4 Hispano Mk II cannons & 2 500lb bombs). Compared to the Spitfire this plane did not perform as well however the spitfire was more expensive and was hard to fix -
Hawker Tempest
The Hawker Tempest was the most succesful low altitude flyer of the second world war, it had evolved from the Hawker Typhoon. The wings were thinner and it was still controllable when at speeds of 545mph. This plane didn't shoot down many enemy aircraft but it was used to shoot down v1 flying bombs (aka doodlebugs). Its 4 20mm cannons helped it to do this. -
Hawker Sea Hawk
The Hawker sea Hawk was the first production jet fighter built by Hawker. Jet fighters were better as it meant speeds as high as 600mph could be reached. Underwing guns were another development. Despite these features the RAF weren't interested in the plane. -
Hawker Hunter
The Hawker Hunter broke the world air speed record with a speed of 727.63mph. This speed was possible due to evolutions in technology such as jet engines. This plane was so good that it is still in use today in the Lebanese air force. 1,972 Hawker Hunters were prduced. -
Hawker P.1127
The Hawker P.1127 was very similair to the Hawker Hunter, just not as fast. However it had a new way of taking off and landing. This way was that it could rise up vertically using two exhaust nozzles that could be rotated meaning the plane could rise vertically. This new way was designed by Ralph Hooper who was Sydney Camm's young project engineer. -
Hawker Harrier
The Hawker Harrier was very similair to the Hawker P.1127 however it was a more refined, better aircraft. It had four rotatable nozzles as opposed to the previous two, it also had a higher top speed of 730mph and better weapons.
