HAWKER FURY
- The single-seat Hawker Fury biplane fighter designed by Sydney Camm
in 1927 had passed out of front-line service with the RAF by mid-1939,
and those still in use as trainers were grounded by 1940. The SAAF received
at least 22, ex-RAF, in 1940. With 640 hp R-R Kestrel V engines and two
fixed forward-firing Vickers 0.303 in (7.7 mm) guns, SAAF Furies operated
against Italian forces in East Africa and flew as trainers in South Africa
until 1942. In Yugoslavia, Ikarus and Zmaj built 40 Furies to supple-ment
16 bought from Hawker for the Jugoslovensko Kraljevsko Ratno Vazduhoplovstvo.
With 745 hp Kestrel XVI engines and four forward-firing 0.303 in (7.7
mm) guns - two in the fuselage and two under wing - the JKRV Furies operat-ed
against Luftwaffe forces briefly in March/April 1941, several captured
exam-ples subsequently being tested by Regia Aeronautica at Guidonia in
Italy.
Data for Hawker Fury 1: Max.
speed, 207 mph (333 km/h) at 14,000ft (4,267 m). Time to 10,000 ft (3,050
m), 4 min 25 sec. Service ceiling, 28,000 ft (8,534 m). Range, 270 mis
(435 km). Gross weight, 3,490 Ib (1,583 kg). Span, 30 ft 0 in (9.15 '"m).
Length, 26 ft 8.75 in (8.13 m). Wing area, 252 sqft (23.41 m2).
