Hawker P.1081

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

P.1081
Type	Fighter
Manufacturer	Hawker Siddeley
Maiden flight	19 June 1950
Status	Experimental
Primary user	Royal Aircraft Establishment
Number built	1
Developed from	Hawker P.1052

The Hawker P.1081, known as the Australian Fighter was a British jet aircraft from the mid-twentieth century.

The British aircraft company, Hawker Aircraft submitted a proposal to meet a specification put out by the Australian government. It was for a swept-wing & tail fighter using a Rolls-Royce Tay engine. Work was started to modify the second prototype of the Hawker P.1052 (later to become the Hawker Sea Hawk, VX279, however as the Tay was not available, Rolls-Royce's Nene engine would be used for the prototype aircraft. The rear fuselage of the P.1052 was completely replaced with one having a straight-through jet pipe & swept tail surfaces. The first flight of the P.1081 took place on 19 June 1950, but in November of that year, the Australian project was discontinued. The aircraft was handed over to the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) and was destroyed in an accident which took the life of the pilot, Squadron Leader T. S. "Wimpy" Wade on 3 April 1951[1]

[edit] Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: one
• Length: 37 ft 4 in (11.38 m)
• Wingspan: 31 ft 6 in (9.6 m)
• Height: 13 ft 3 in (4.04 m)
• Empty weight: 11,200 lb (5,080 kg)
• Loaded weight: 14,480 lb (6,570 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Rolls-Royce Nene RN2 turbojet, 5,000 lbf (22.2 kN)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 604 knots (1,119 km/h)
• Service ceiling: 45,600 ft (13,900 m)

[edit] References

• Hawker Aircraft since 1920 by Francis K Mason - pub Putnam - ISBN 0-85177-839-9

• British Aircraft Directory 24 January 2007

[edit] See also

 

 

Designation sequence

Sea Fury - P.1040 - P.1052 - P.1081 - P.1072 - Hunter - P.1127