Thunder & Lightnings

Hawker Sea Hawk - Walkaround Photos

Cockpit

A view inside the cockpit of F.2 WF259 at the Museum of Flight at East Fortune; my thanks to the staff there for opening up the canopy so I could get a clear shot inside. Colouring generally dirty black as you can see, with well-used surfaces having the paint rubbed off until the metal underneath shows. F.2 WF259 again, looking back at the ejector seat. FGA.6 WV797 at the Midland Air Museum. First, looking down into the cockpit from the starboard side... FGA.6 WV797 ...panning left to view the port console... FGA.6 WV797 ...back to see the seat (mostly unequipped on this example) and canopy... FGA.6 WV797 ...round the other side looking at the starboard console... FGA.6 WV797 ...and finally panning right to see the canopy again. FGA.6 WV838 port view. The yellow portion of the seat is a modern plastic PSP, not appropriate to this seat. FGA.6 WV838. FGA.6 WV838 starboard view. The item on top of the gyro gun sight is a tape recorder to record gunsight output.

Nose

WV856 at Yeovilton. She retains her original paint for the most part, so some items like the ejection seat triangle (applied as decals) have got discoloured backgrounds (originally clear). The forward nose gear door is locked up, it would normally hang down. WV856 at Yeovilton. She retains her original paint for the most part, so some items like the ejection seat triangle (applied as decals) have got discoloured backgrounds (originally clear). WV797 at Coventry. You can just about make out the cannon barrels from this angle. FB.5 WM969 at Duxford shows off the lines of the camouflage here. Also noteworthy are the intake at the tip of the nose, the lack of a frame along the bottom edge of the front part of the canopy and vanes within the main intakes.

Wings

The wing fold of Duxford's example (shown here in a composite picture) looks so clean and neat, it's like a model. View over the top of port wing of the Midland Air Museum's FGA.6 (WV797). The red bit by the trailing edge is a control lock; definitely a remove-before-flight item! Now this is more like it, up in Scotland and the Museum of Flight's F.2 (WF259) shows a wingfold with clear detail and a moderate amount of grime, much better than the unrealistic example at Duxford. Too clean for an operational Sea Hawk, but model yours on this and add some more grime, that's my advice! The underside of the same aircraft's starboard wing. It might like look it's Sky coloured, but it is really white - blame it on the scanner! Compare with... Back to Duxford for a closer view of the port intake. Not as detailed as the shot of WV795's starboard intake but you can see the vanes inside the intake more easily. These actually curve round; viewed from ahead they curve in towards the centre of the fuselage. The curve is very sharp, looks to be somewhere between 60 and 80 degrees, and starts quite quickly after the leading edge of the vane. WM969 wings in the later EDSG/Sky scheme. WV856 wings in the earlier EDSG/Sky scheme where the demarcation between the two colours is on the leading edge and does not wrap around. WV856 port wing. WV856 port wing fold. WV856 starboard wing. WV856 starboard wing fold. WV795 at Bruntingthorpe, starboard intake. WM913 starboard intake. Note the small intake scoop above is only on this side. WM913 starboard wing underside showing how the EDSG/Sky demarcation keeps clear of the roundel. WV797 rocket rails under the starboard wing. WV797 rocket rails under the starboard wing.

Undercarriage

WV856 nose gear. Unusually, the front nose gear door (with the red light on) is shut - it normally hangs down. WV856, starboard main gear from outboard. WV856, port main gear bay. Sadly it has been sprayed overall in sky after retirement but it gives an idea of interior detail. WV856 again. This picture is <em>not</em> at an angle; the mainwheels do indeed tilt inwards like this. General view underneath the Midland Air Museum's FGA.6 (WV797), showing all the undercarriage. A small door is missing from the main gear, see the next picture. The nose wheel leg castors as you can see! Leg colours on this example are all aluminium. Variety is the spice of life when it comes to Sea Hawk undercarriage, it would seem! The RNHF's example has blue grey legs with aluminium wheel hubs to further complicate matters.

Tail & Fuselage

WV856 port center fuselage. WV856 port engine exhaust. WV856 port tail. Serials and Royal Navy titling were often stencilled in earlier years. WV856 arrestor hook. WV856 starboard tail. Very typical Hawkers mixture of rivets and screw fasteners. WV856 starboard tail. WV856 starboard rear fuselage. WV856 starboard engine exhaust (blank has fallen over revealing interior - the jet pipe itself is missing). WV856 starboard center fuselage. WV865 at Gatow - starboard center fuselage. Very faded but shows off the various panels nicely.