Hawker Woodcock
Hawker · United Kingdom · first flew 1923 · fighter
The Hawker Woodcock was a British single-seat fighter and the first fighter produced by Hawker Engineering. The Royal Air Force used it as a night fighter in the 1920s.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | Mid-mounted, straight |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 1 × piston, nose-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | Two Vickers machine guns mounted externally on the sides of the fuselage below the cockpit edge |
| T — Tail | Conventional |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Single-bay biplane in its production Mk II form
- Single Bristol Jupiter IV radial engine
- Two Vickers machine guns mounted externally on the sides of the fuselage below the cockpit edge
Look for a compact single-seat biplane with a radial engine and a two-gun armament mounted on the sides of the fuselage.
Specifications
- The Hawker Woodcock has a length of 7.98 m (26 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 9.91 m (33 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 227 km/h (141 mph).
- Typical crew: 1.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
It was designed in 1922 to Specification 25/22. The two-bay prototype J6987 first flew in March 1923 with an Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar II, and was rejected for poor manoeuvrability and wing flutter.
Variants
George Carter took over the design, cut the span by 2 ft, made it single-bay and fitted a Bristol Jupiter IV. This Woodcock Mk II first flew in August 1923, and the Hawker Danecock was developed from it.
Where you'll see it
It entered service with 3 Squadron in May 1925, and 17 Squadron was the only other operational squadron. Early accidents were traced to wing spar failures and undercarriage collapse, cured by the end of 1925, and the RAF ordered 62 before replacing it with the Gloster Gamecock in 1928.
Related aircraft
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