HAWKER AUDAX
- Variant of Hawker Hart equipped
for army co-operation role with a message pick-up hook under fuselage,
initially to Specification 7/31 and first flown on December 29, 1931.
Of total production of 653 for the RAF (later batches to Specifications
19/34 and
34/34) - shared between Hawker, Avro, Bristol and Gloster - about 400
still serviceable in September 1939. Operational in East Africa with No
237 (Rhodesia) Sqn alongside SAAF units on the Kenya- Abyssinia border,
and with No 4 FTS at RAF Habbaniyah during Iraqi uprising in May 1941.
Wartime use in the UK contin- j ued for training, glider-towing (Hotspurs)
and 'hack' duties until 1944. Production included Hawker Audax (India) for service
there; Hawker Audax (Singapore) for supply to the Straits Settlements Volunteer
Air Force, and 20 completed or converted as Hawker Hart (Special); examples
of all variants were among the wartime survivors. Post-1939 transfers
comprised 78 to the SAAF, four to South Rhodesian AF, five to RCAF (as
instructional airframes) and a quantity to the Indian Air Force from 1941,
used for training and coastal defence duties. Basic Hawker Audax engine
was 530 hp R-R Kestrel IB; derated 520 hp Kestrel X used later. Thirty-four
Hawker Audax built for Iraqi AF in 1936 had 620 hp Bristol Pegasus IIM radial
engines and, known locally as the Nisr, were available for, but saw little
action in, the Iraqi revolt of 1941.
Max speed, 170 mph (273.5
kmlh) at 2,400ft (732 m). Time to 10,000 ft (3,050 m), 8.65 min. Service
ceiling, 21,500 ft (6,553 m). Empty weight, 2,938 Ib (1,333 kg). Gross
weight, 4,386 Ib (1,990 kg). Span, 37 ft 3 in (11.35 m). Length, 29ft
7 in (8.70 m). Wing area, 348 sq ft (32.33 m2).
