Tribal-class destroyers served effectively in the Pacific
Royal Navy deployments strengthened the Indian Ocean force, while Australian Tribal-class ships operated successfully in the Pacific.
From Pepsiships 47: Age of Sail ·
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Fuel, not battleship speed, limited pursuit after Midway
Adding fast battleships would not automatically let the U.S. carriers chase the Japanese fleet because the enlarged force also needed much more fuel.
From Pepsiships 47: Age of Sail ·
Radar development depended on how institutions handled rivalry
British inter-service competition tended to produce a lead organization and delegated programs, while Germany preserved more destructive institutional rivalry.
From Pepsiships 47: Age of Sail ·
Thin wings constrain cannon installation and heating
Thin wings can leave cannon exposed to cold even when machine guns can be kept warm enough to fire.
Hawker and Sopwith's industrial legacy at Kingston
Kingston University's Sopwith Building and Hawker Wing connect former aircraft-manufacturing sites with present-day engineering education.
How Hawker rebuilt Sopwith's aviation capability
The postwar collapse of Sopwith leads into Hawker's formation and the survival of an engineering team that remained important to British naval aviation.
Why Sopwith failed after the First World War
An excess-profits claim and the dispute over wartime subcontracting costs help explain Sopwith's postwar failure.
Tank builders' connections with naval industry
Tank manufacture drew on companies with existing naval connections.
The Duiker marks Hawker's first aircraft design
Before the successful Woodcock, Hawker produced the swept-wing Duiker for a high-speed reconnaissance requirement but failed to secure an order.
The Woodcock gives the new Hawker company breathing space
Hawker turned the troubled Woodcock prototype into an RAF night fighter whose production order helped the young company establish itself.
The Hedgehog as Hawker's first naval-aircraft attempt
Hawker's three-seat Hedgehog met a fleet reconnaissance requirement but offered too little improvement over aircraft already entering service.
How Sydney Camm rose inside Hawker
Camm's career shows how Hawker absorbed skilled people from failed competitors and promoted them into the leadership that shaped later British fighters.
Thomas Sopwith's career from pilot to Hawker chairman
Sopwith's early flying career preceded decades of leadership in the companies that succeeded his original aircraft business.
Why naval radio telegraphy needed another crew member
The Danecock's uncertain radio fit leads into the crew duties required by naval radio telegraphy.
The Danecock takes Hawker's Woodcock into Danish naval service
Denmark bought and licensed a Sydney Camm redesign of the Woodcock, equipping both an army squadron and a naval squadron with the long-serving Danecock fighter.
The Horsley and the land-based torpedo-bomber idea
The Horsley's changing bomber requirements produced a large torpedo aircraft, with limits to the RAF's claim that it could settle the battleship problem.
Denmark turns the Horsley into the Dantop seaplane torpedo bomber
The Danish Dantop adapted Hawker's large Horsley torpedo bomber to a floatplane configuration with a more powerful Armstrong Siddeley engine.
Why aircraft development rarely begins with one specification
The Swordfish's ancestry back to the Sopwith Cuckoo shows why a single specification date can understate an aircraft's real development time.
The first Hawker Harrier tests another torpedo-bomber route
Hawker's original Harrier was a two-seat experimental bomber that competed with the Horsley in the torpedo role.
The F.20/27 tests engines for later Hawker fighters
Hawker's F.20/27 remained experimental but contributed to the development of later fighters.
Who controlled British military-aircraft names
Manufacturers led much aircraft naming in the 1920s, while RAF involvement increased during the 1930s.
The Hoopoe's repeated redesigns pursue naval-fighter performance
Float trials, engine changes and revised wings improved the Hoopoe, but the Nimrod overtook it before it won a service order.
Why the Admiralty depended on Air Ministry advice
Naval fighter requirements depended on the technical options that the Air Ministry presented to the Admiralty.
Why Bristol was not the only integrated aircraft maker
Hawker's merger with Armstrong Siddeley combined airframe and engine interests within one industrial group.
The Hawker Hart becomes an international aircraft family
The Hart produced a family of bombers, fighters and naval derivatives used by Britain and numerous foreign air arms.
Hart-family aircraft in Second World War service
Some aircraft from the interwar Hart family remained in use during the Second World War.
Bristol's proposals for naval aircraft
Bristol's naval-aircraft proposals are acknowledged without identifying a production type.
A tentative identification of South African Audaxes in Ethiopia
South African Audax operations in Ethiopia are recalled tentatively.
The Hart competes for a demanding day-bomber requirement
A requirement for more than 160 miles per hour put competing British day-bomber designs under pressure.
From Hawker Hart to Osprey fleet air defence
A Hart-derived seaplane becomes the Osprey after successful naval trials and a slow procurement process divided between the Air Ministry and Admiralty.
What naval equipment cost the Osprey in performance
The heavier naval Osprey retained much of the Hart's performance, with maximum speeds measured at different altitudes.
Where the Iowa class sits on a battleship-battlecruiser spectrum
Iowa and Montana occupy different positions on a functional battleship-battlecruiser spectrum without changing their formal types.
How filtered technical advice limited naval procurement choices
An intermediary's assumptions could restrict the technical information available to naval decision-makers.
What 1930s exercises taught about speed and air defence
Fleet exercises exposed the need for ships to keep up with carriers and withstand air attack.
Osprey exercises expose fighter direction before radar
Royal Navy exercises used Ospreys, visual spotting, radio telegraphy, reconnaissance aircraft, and destroyer pickets to test whether fighters could break up air attacks before radar existed.
The Nimrod as the Osprey's carrier-fighter partner
The Hawker Nimrod entered carrier service alongside the Osprey and equipped several Royal Navy fighter squadrons during the interwar years.
CAM ships launch one-way Sea Hurricane interceptions
Battle of the Atlantic losses prompted Hurricane conversions for catapult aircraft merchantmen, giving otherwise unprotected convoys a fighter that could break up an incoming air attack.
An unverified recollection of a pom-pom-armed Sea Hurricane
A recalled archival photograph raises an uncertain example of Fleet Air Arm armament modifications.
Why CAM-ship Hurricanes retained landing gear
A nominally expendable catapult fighter retained the ability to land ashore.
Why the Hurricane accepted early 20 mm cannon more readily
The Hurricane's thicker wing made early cannon installations easier to accommodate.
MAC ships add a flight deck but no Arctic shelter
Merchant aircraft carriers could recover Sea Hurricanes and anti-submarine aircraft, but their lack of hangars made maintenance exceptionally difficult on Arctic convoys.
Sea Hurricanes defend the August 1942 Malta convoys
Sea Hurricanes joined Fulmars and Martlets aboard HMS Indomitable, Eagle, and Victorious during the August 1942 Malta convoy battles.
When cannon reached the Sea Hurricane
Cannon armament provides a clearer milestone than Sea Hurricane mark labels, which do not capture every field or depot modification.
Were CAM Hurricanes already worn out?
CAM conversion often used ageing Hurricanes, but the condition and usefulness of individual aircraft varied.
Hawker develops the Hurricane's successor around two engines
A 1937 requirement for a twelve-gun interceptor led to parallel designs around the Rolls-Royce Vulture and Napier Sabre.
Sea Fury orders sustain Hawker after the war
The lightened Tempest concept evolved into the Sea Fury, whose large Fleet Air Arm order helped sustain Hawker after the war.
Sea Furies strike from British and Australian carriers in Korea
Sea Furies flew ground-attack missions from Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy carriers in Korea and also fought MiG-15 jet fighters.
The gap in accessible propeller histories
A comparison of wartime propellers needs technical explanation that readers can follow without specialist training.