Hawker Hector

The Hawker Hector was a British biplane army co-operation and liaison aircraft of the late 1930s, it served with the Royal Air Force and saw brief combat in the Battle of France in May 1940.

The Hector was intended as a replacement for the Hawker Audax army co-operation aircraft.

The design and the building of the prototype was done by Hawker, but production aircraft were built by Westland Aircraft in Yeovil, Somerset.

Because of the demand for Rolls-Royce Kestrel engines required for the Hawker Hind program, an alternative power plant was specified.

Consequently, the 24 cylinder 805 hp (600 kW) Napier Dagger III was used.

The prototype first flew on 14 February 1936 with George Bulman as pilot.

One prototype and 178 production aircraft were built.

Variants

Hector Mk I

Two-seat Air Observation Post (AOP), aircraft for the RAF.

Specifications

Crew

Two

Length

29 ft 9.75 in (9.0869 m)

Upper wingspan

36 ft 11.5 in (11.265 m)

Upper chord

72 in (1.83 m)

Upper wing sweep

0°

Lower wingspan

31 ft 4 in (9.55 m)

Lower chord

60 in (1.52 m)

Lower wing sweep

0°

Height

10 ft 5 in (3.18 m)

Wing area

346 sq ft (32.1 m2)

Empty weight

3,389 lb (1,537 kg)

Gross weight

4,910 lb (2,227 kg)

Undercarriage track

76 in (1.93 m)

Powerplant

1 × Napier Dagger III

24-cylinder air-cooled H-block engine,

805 hp (600 kW)

Propellers

2-bladed fixed pitch wooden propeller

Performance

Maximum speed

187 mph (301 km/h, 162 kn) at 6,600 ft (2,000 m)

Stall speed

50 mph (80 km/h, 44 kn)

Range

300 mi (480 km, 261 nmi)

Service ceiling

24,000 ft (7,300 m)

Time to altitude

5 minutes 40 seconds to 10,000 ft (3,000 m)

Wing loading

14.2 lb/sq ft (69 kg/m2)

Power/mass

0.17 hp/lb (0.28 kW/kg)

Armament

Guns

1 × forward-firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun Mk.V

1 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun in the rear cockpit on a Hawker mount

Bombs

Mountings for a camera, flares,

&

2 × 112 lb (51 kg) bombs (or containers).