Hawker Biplanes Question

hawker construction philosophy

Hawkers could certainly have used welded steel fueselage construction. The reason that they chose to use, what is viewed as today as an overly conplicated contrauction method, was to fascilitate easy maintenance. If a fueselage tube was damaged it was a relatively easy process to remove it and replace it. Not only that this could be accomplished almost anywhere with a very limited tool kit. The same can not be said for welded construction. Imagine operating in north africa in the middle of no where and needing to reapair an aircraft that required welding. It is easy to think of the contruction method when viewed from the luxary of a modern well equiped workshop.
The proof of the pudding as they say is in the eating. You only have to look at the record of the Hawker Hurricane. It operated in every theatre of operations during World War II with distinction. This was unmatched by any other allied aircraft due to it rugged contruction and its relative ease of maintenance. So i would hope you would agree there is method in Sir Sidneys madness!

I am sure it had a wooden wing rather than metal of the original.

Richard

Richard you are correct,yes the Hawker spar took some forming, the Bellamy Fury was wood! It had slipped my memory, put it down to age…..

It was the one concession they made.

I am sure it had a wooden wing rather than metal of the original.

Richard

Not just Hawker, you should see how any bits there are to bolt together to make a Tiger Moth Fuselage:eek:
Contemory aircraft, Stearman, Jungman all welded :rolleyes:

The Hawker Fury replica that was built at Lands End by Viv Bellamy in the 1980s had a welded fuselage, the complexity of a one off Hawker construction was too great. It was the one concession they made. It was marvellous to see it fly, what a machine, the greatest biplane ever.