Another Iraqi Sea Fury?

I did the railway station – airfield walk in July 1969 and then walked from Carnoustie to East Haven where my BB company were on summer camp.

Thats an interesting photo. I only have a small contact print taken from the other side, negative long gone. That day I walked from the Railway Station to the airfield.

Quite a trek Robert : at that time I’d moved from motorbikes to a Heinkel Three Wheeler (in my opinion the best side-by-side seater of the type) , so getting out to ‘Condor’ was no problem…on reflection nowadays it’s a toss-up as to which one I would like to have today..the Sea Fury or the Heinkel……297cc or 2480 Horses?..Nah! No contest.:diablo:

Rumoured to be somewhere in the UK, but has become somewhat political!

Bruce

AHHH, I see, Another Member of Parlaiment’s Pension ,;):D:diablo:

When presumably, in happier times,in the late 1940’s, we had a dialogue with Iraq, Hawker was requested by them to develop the trainer version for the single seat fighters that were to be ordered: the Admiralty purchased that prototype , even before its completion, but the Iraqis were to be allowed to have the resultant test data gathered during flight trials. (Very generous of their Lordships! Methinks.)

VX818 had the separate canopies at that time but the rear canopy collapsed during testing at Boscombe which then led to the addition of the tunnel arrangement which continued in later aircraft. Whether that canopy collapse was caused by severe buffeting , as a result of excessively turbulent airflow, I cannot say, but the Centaurus-powered Fury/Sea Fury was what might be called a ‘hot ship’ in certain circles, and no doubt today computers would predict such stresses as a wind tunnel might have done back then, if that aspect of performance was ever considered for this twin canopy arrangement.

At the risk of being chucked out of this thread, here’s ‘my’ Sea Fury, TF947, Instructional numbers A2348 (airframe) and E3302 (engine) : first photo 6th July 1963 on the display line, HMS Condor, R.N.A.S Arbroath : second photo (wings folded) taken the following day on the scrap dump (concrete base of a hangar that was bombed in 1940) just before being sold and disposed of, ultimately to the scrap merchants ( although I believe she languished at Lasham for another three more years). 🙁

Thats an interesting photo. I only have a small contact print taken from the other side, negative long gone. That day I walked from the Railway Station to the airfield.

As I understand it, the Fury Trainer made for Iraq, did have the perspex tunnel type canopy. However, Iraq did also had two T61 type trainers.

Was the Fury Trainer not just a de-navalised Sea fury FB Mk.10, rebuild to fit two?

This picture shows the canopy arrangement better.

Problems showing image…

It doesn’t look like it has a separate windscreen for the rear cockpit. Did the Iraqis modify their twoseaters to “T20-ish” configuration?

Christer

The one in the photo certainly looks T20-ish, with the perpex ‘tunnel’ linking the two cockpits, but those designated T61 for export to Iraq did appear to have individual cockpits,and without the periscope forward of the rear canopy. IMHO, always considered the two individual canopies more of an untidy afterthought than the better-streamlined linking tunnel.

It doesn’t look like it has a separate windscreen for the rear cockpit. Did the Iraqis modify their twoseaters to “T20-ish” configuration?

Christer

Its a historic aviation forum, if we didn’t use the right names and numbers for aircraft, then who should?

Your Sea Fury story made me cry………:(

At the risk of being chucked out of this thread, here’s ‘my’ Sea Fury, TF947, Instructional numbers A2348 (airframe) and E3302 (engine) : first photo 6th July 1963 on the display line, HMS Condor, R.N.A.S Arbroath : second photo (wings folded) taken the following day on the scrap dump (concrete base of a hangar that was bombed in 1940) just before being sold and disposed of, ultimately to the scrap merchants ( although I believe she languished at Lasham for another three more years). 🙁

No worries Mondariz…but yes, I also used to shout at the box when the commentary states it’s a ‘Stringbag’ as an ‘Applecore’ (etc.etc.,) chugs into view in a grainy extract from a black and white film!…….Sad or what? 😉

By the way, could have picked up an F.10 Sea Fury, entire and complete, for £15.00 (yes, 15 quid not £15K or £150K!). It went for scrap in 1963, after a Naval Open Day. It could have been mine, if A) as a youngster, I knew how to go about it, and B) there were no objections from mother…where you going to keep it? in the back garden?
In view of what goes on nowadays in various gardens in the UK vis-a-vis cockpits, entire airframes etc. that outlandish idea didn’t seem so daft, did it?

Its a historic aviation forum, if we didn’t use the right names and numbers for aircraft, then who should?

Your Sea Fury story made me cry………:(

Duly noted bms44.

I took the ID from the Flickr page. Looked like a Fury and never bothered to check if it was Sea or not.

No worries Mondariz…but yes, I also used to shout at the box when the commentary states it’s a ‘Stringbag’ as an ‘Applecore’ (etc.etc.,) chugs into view in a grainy extract from a black and white film!…….Sad or what? 😉

By the way, could have picked up an F.10 Sea Fury, entire and complete, for £15.00 (yes, 15 quid not £15K or £150K!). It went for scrap in 1963, after a Naval Open Day. It could have been mine, if A) as a youngster, I knew how to go about it, and B) there were no objections from mother…where you going to keep it? in the back garden?
In view of what goes on nowadays in various gardens in the UK vis-a-vis cockpits, entire airframes etc. that outlandish idea didn’t seem so daft, did it?

Rumoured to be somewhere in the UK, but has become somewhat political!

Bruce

I bet they just went: “Hey, a Fury…..I’ll have that!”

Lifting other peoples aircraft can quickly become political.

At the risk of being pedantic/ or an anorak, whatever…Fury might be more accurate than Sea Fury. The Iraqi air Force took delivery of five two seat and some 55 single-seat aircraft in the late 1940-s, early 1950’s, and not an arrestor hook to be seen on any of ’em! :confused:

AFAIK they didn’t have folding wings either.

No point of paying for maintenance of hook and folder, if you ain’t going to use it.

Rumoured to be somewhere in the UK, but has become somewhat political!

Bruce

Duly noted bms44.

I took the ID from the Flickr page. Looked like a Fury and never bothered to check if it was Sea or not.

Another Iraqi Sea Fury?

At the risk of being pedantic/ or an anorak, whatever…Fury might be more accurate than Sea Fury. The Iraqi air Force took delivery of five two seat and some 55 single-seat aircraft in the late 1940-s, early 1950’s, and not an arrestor hook to be seen on any of ’em! :confused:

It appears that there is a tail from another Sea Fury at the same location.