Modelling > 1920s/1930s GB or Between the Wars GB

Halfway House Hawkers

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apophenia:
Hawker Harrier - The Interim Interceptor Monoplane

The Air Ministry had ordered Sydney Camm's Hawker Interceptor Monoplane in late 1934. In just over a year, the Hurricane prototype K5083 had flown from Brooklands with George Bulman at the controls. Although not structurally advanced, K5083 was amongst the best fighter airplanes in the world when it first flew. However, getting production Hurricanes into RAF squadron service would be another matter. Reluctantly, Hawkers (if not Camm, himself) accepted that the RAF was going to require an interim monoplane fighter.

Since the story of the Hawker Harrier is quite well-known, I won't recount it in detail here. Like the Hawker Harbingers, the Harrier conversions were performed by Gloster at Hucclecote. However, the Harrier was rather less closely related to the Hurricane fighter. Unlike, the Harbinger series, the Harrier employed a completely new main undercarriage design. This Dowty design retracted outward into the wings in contrast with the inward-retracting units shared by the Harbinger and Hurricane. [1]

Such was the urgency of getting the Harrier into active service that minimal changes were made to the fuselage. The lower frame was modified to accept a new stub wing. To this stub was attached both the outer wing panels and the main gear leg pivot points. Initially, a second pair of guns was considered for the stub wing but it was later decided to install an auxiliary fuel tank there instead. In late conversions, tailwheels were substituted for skids.

To help cope with higher speeds, the pilot was better protected from the slipstream. An enlarged windscreen was fitted which faired into 'side screens' - Perspex panels running along either side of the cockpit. [2] To the rear was installed the 'doghouse' - a raised wooden fairing behind a new headrest. Few other changes were made.

Bottom The prototype Hawker Harrier Mk.I conversion. Retaining the K2066 serial of its Fury I donor airframe, this aircraft also, initially, kept its original 525 hp Rolls-Royce Kestrel II V-12. This engine was later replaced by a 745 hp Kestrel XVI. [3]

The prototype Hawker Harrier is finished in the RAF Temperature Camouflage scheme with Type B fuselage and wing top roundels. Underwing roundels were Type As. This was standard RAF finish for the times, with individual aircraft letter codes applied to squadron aircraft in Medium Sea Grey.

Top Hawker Harrier Mk.IIb in service with No.25 Squadron RAF at Kenley, September 1938. The 'donor' airframe had been Fury II K8298. Based just outside London, No.25 acted as a dedicated air-defence squadron for the capital. At the beginning of 1939, No.25 surrendered its single-seat Harriers for twin-engined Bristol Blenheim IF heavy fighters.

Flt Lt F.P.R. Dunworth piloted this aircraft. Felix Dunworth had flown Furys with No.25 [4] before leaving the service to work as a test pilot. Recalled to active service during Munich Crisis, Dunworth was a supernumerary until sufficient Harrier IIs were diverted to the squadron. Note that there have been two changes to the earlier marking scheme. The fuselage-side Type B roundels have been overpainted as Type A1s. Restrictions on unit markings have been eased somewhat, with No.25 Squadron receiving permission to apply 'XXV' to the fins of its fighters. With the War, such fin markings were covered by the new style of tail stripes.

______________________________________________

[1] The Harrier wheels and their Dunlop tires had a greater diameter but were narrower than those of the Hurricane.

[2] The reduced buffeting ensured by these panels was appreciated but, when the entry hatch was down, the Perspex extensions made clambering into the cockpit quite awkward.

[3] It was hoped that the Harrier conversions could standardize on the 745 hp Rolls-Royce Kestrel XVI. However, that proved impractically expensive. Some Harrier Mk.IIIs with Kestrel XVIs were produced. But, by the Summer of 1938, most active service Harriers had 640 hp Kestrel VI engines. (Harriers with Kestrel IIs were the first to be transferred to training units as the first Hurricanes arrived.)

[4] While practicing formation flying on 17 Sep 1932, two No.25 Squadron Furys collided in mid-air. F/O A.E. Clouston was able to land a crippled K2055. F/O Dunworth's K2057 began to break up as it fell. Dunworth had been able to steer the disintegrating Fury away from the village of Newington, Kent, before bailing out.

Buzzbomb:
Again, these look just so natural.

Volkodav:
So did they develop an evolved version with the RR Peregrine?

apophenia:

--- Quote from: Volkodav on June 24, 2021, 06:47:39 PM ---So did they develop an evolved version with the RR Peregrine?

--- End quote ---

Alas, no. In this AltHist, there was no Peregrine. A Kestrel follow-on was planned but, by 1936, the Air Ministry had concluded that 1,300 cid was now too small a displacement for future monoplane powerplants. [1] Rolls-Royce focused on development of three engine types during in the mid-'30s -  two V-12s and one X-24. The first was a private venture - the 1,650 cid PV-12/Merlin - which formed the basis for the other two engines.

The other V-12 was the 2,190 cid Griffon of late 1937. Originally known as the 'Super Buzzard', the Griffon V-12 was effectively a 110% scale Merlin.

The third engine was the 3,300 cid X-24 Vulture of mid-1938. Initially, this X-24 was based upon Kestrel stroke and bore but this was later amended to Merlin sizes. This resulted in a physically-larger engine but also increased power output (2,045 hp was achieved in tests but reliability was improved by running at 1,850 hp).

A second Kestrel follow-on was schemed in 1938. This was the PV-8 'Short Merlin' V-8 intended for new twin-engined fighter designs. Work on the PV-8 was halted at a fairly early stage to allow Rolls-Royce to focus on perfecting the rather challenging Vulture X-24 engine.

___________________________________

[1] The Kestrel did live on in another form. Knowing that Napiers was adapting its Lion W-12 for marine use, Rolls-Royce governed the Kestrel to rival the coming Napier Sea Lion. The challenge was finding factory floor space to handle production.

Having failed to interest Leylands in this project, Rolls-Royce's 'Rm' Robotham turned to Nuffield Mechanizations (a recent spin-off from Morris Garage). Lord Nuffield was more receptive to license-producing the Kestrel for non-aviation applications. Although the Kestrel derivative never did rival Napier's Sea Lion in the water, the Nuffield Nubian would give sterling service as a tank engine during WW2.

apophenia:
Slightly to one side of the Halfway House Hawkers storyline but closely related ...

Folland's Final Fighters - Part One: The Gloster Glente Monoplane

By 1937, Gloster's chief designer, H.P. Folland, was becoming increasingly frustrated. First, RAF orders for his Gauntlet evolution  - the single-bay Gladiator - were cancelled. Then, the Air Ministry ordered all work stopped on another of Folland's Gauntlet-based fighters - a low-winged monoplane to AM Specification F.5/34. This was to free up Folland's design office to focus on monoplane conversions for Hawker biplanes. That may have been an Air Ministry call, but post-merger Hawker Siddeley Aircraft did seem to be tightening its grip on Glosters. And Henry Folland had no intention of overseeing 'Hawkers of Hucclecote'. [1]

A brief respite came from Denmark. The Danes had initially ordered 18 x Gloster Gauntlet Mk.I fighters to replace the Hærens Flyvetropper's Bristol Bulldogs. The Flyvetroppernes værksteder at Kløvermarken began delivering Gauntlets in 1936 but conversion to metric measures had slowed progress. Only eight Gauntlets had been completed when production was halted in the Summer of 1937. The Krigsministeriet had become alarmed by these 'new' Danish fighters already being left behind by the rapid pace of advances in aviation.

The Kløvermarken workshops had been quicker at delivering Fokker types with their more familiar production techniques. As a result, the new Fokker D.XXI monoplane was initially favoured as Denmark's next fighter aircraft. However, there were concerns about the D.XXI's fixed and spatted undercarriage. Spats experimentally fitted to Danish Gauntlet J-21 had shown these wheel fairings could quickly fill with grass and mud - potentially leading to wheels locked with debris. That concern over spats led to investigation of the retractable undercarriages being seen on the very latest fighter types. On behalf of the Hærens Flyvetropper, inquiries were made at Glosters: Could the Gauntlet airframe be modified into a monoplane using the same approach as that firm's Harrier conversions?

The needed modifications to transform the Gauntlet were designed under Folland. [2] It was agreed that Denmark would perform similar modifications to airframes components already produced at Kløvermarken while Glosters supplied wing panels (and arranged delivery of Dowty undercarriages). A converted Danish Gauntlet would serve as prototype for what Gloster Aircraft referred to as a S.S.19MD Gauntlet Monoplane. Prototype J-57 first flew - with kapt. H.L.V. Bjarkov at the controls - in late January 1938. In Denmark, the revised type was dubbed Gloster Glente - after the predatory Kite (Elanus caeruleus). Officially the Glente was the IIIJ (Type tre Jagerfly). [3]

The prototype Glente was powered by the Gauntlets' 640 hp Bristol Mercury VI S2 radial driving a two-bladed Heine wooden propeller. That engine was later replaced with the 830 hp Mercury IX and 3-bladed Fairey-Reed metal propeller as intended for production Glentes. To speed development, the Glente also retained the Gauntlet IIJs' fixed armament of twin, synchronized 8 mm Madsen M/35 machine guns. The Glente IIIJ centre section was also reinforced to accept a belly bomb rack - although such a rack was never produced by the Danes who were responsible for its development. Delivery of the Hærens Flyvetropper's first production Glente IIIJ - J-58 - occurred in early November 1938.

Over the course of 1939, camouflage paint was applied to the Glente fleet. Upper surfaces were patterned in light shades of olivensrønt og khaki (olive and khaki) with bleg-blå (pale-blue) underside. The red and white dansk rundel was applied to six position with the dansk splitflag on the tail. By April 1940, the Hærens Flyvetropper had taken delivery of all ten Glente IIIJ fighters - although three of these still had midlertidige motorer in the form of lower-powered Mercury VI S2s. Despite the wartime difficulties procuring more modern powerplants, serious consideration was being given to building a second series of improved Glente at Kløvermarken. [4] However, Denmark was to be overtaken by events.

On 09 April 1940, the Luftwaffe seems to have particularly targeted the Hærens Flyvetropper's gathered fleet of Glente IIIJs. On that morning, six of 1'eskadrille's monoplane fighters were lined up for practice flights from Værløse airfield. Two were destroyed outright by strafing, the other four Glente being damaged. In a following bombing run, a direct hit was made on the tent hangar containing the other four Glentes. Ironically, the only Hærens Flyvetropper able to get aloft on 09 April were Gauntlet IIJs. The remains and remenants of Glente IIIJ airframes were stored at Værløse until their seizure by the Wehrmacht in 1943 ... but their ultimate fate is not recorded. [5]

________________________

[1] Gloster Aircraft had been bought by Hawker Aircraft in 1934. Control over Hucclecote tightened after the 1935 merger which formed a new Gloster parent firm - Hawker Siddeley Aircraft, Ltd.

[2] This was to be the last major design task overseen by Henry Folland before he resigned from Glosters. Folland was replaced at Gloster Aircraft by George Carter.

[3] This alliterative naming style was to be continued. It had been hoped that wing components prepared for cancelled
Gauntlets could be incorporated into a new advanced trainer - the Gøg (Cuckoo) III-O 2-seat biplane (the designation being for Overgangsfly or Overgangstræner (transitional trainer). Equally unrealized was a Mercury-engined Harbinger development as the Gråkrage (Carrion Crow) IA (for Angrebsfly or assault aircraft).

[4] At the time of the German invasion, details of this proposed Glente IVJ were still be worked out. Requests for stocks of Swedish Nohab-built Mercury had not born fruit. Both German and Italian engines were considered - the German 880 hp BMW 132Dc 9-cylinder radial being favoured for the Glente IVJ.

[5] Also seized were aircraft formerly belonging to the Dansk Marineflyvning - naval air arm of the
Søværnet. Orlogsværftet, the naval workshops at Holmen, had begun investigating a replacement for the ageing Nimrødderne biplane fighters. A Glente-style monoplane conversion - as the 'Glosrødderne' - was considered but no firm decision had been arrived at by 09 April 1940.

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