BAE Systems Hawk T.1, Kemble 2011 ©Nigel Key
ROLE
Advanced Trainer.
FIRST FLIGHT
21st of August 1974.
The Royal Air Force required a replacement for the Folland Gnat as an advanced trainer aircraft with originally the Sepecat Jaguar intended for this role.
However, the Jaguar proved to be too complex an aircraft as a fast jet trainer and only a handful were ever produced for this role.
Hawker Siddeley Aviation began developing a simpler aircraft to fill this role and led by Ralph Hooper the HS.1182 was designed.
The Royal Air force placed a contract for the HS.1182 for 175 aircraft in March 1972 and work began developing the aircraft.
The HS.1182, now renamed 'Hawk', was a tandem two-seat aircraft powered by a non-augmented turbofan engine. The wing was a low-positioned cantilever allowing a wide angle landing gear track.
The wing was designed for low-speed performance by fitting double slotted trailing edge flaps and also had spoilers rather than ailerons for control of roll.
The fuselage was designed to give both the trainer and the trainee good visibility by having the front cockpit lower than the rear cockpit. Each cockpit was fitted with a Martin-Baker Mk 10B ejector seat.
The wing has a built in 184 gallon fuel tank and the centre fuselage has a 181 gallon flexible fuel tank.
The Hawk was powered by a Rolls Royce Turbomeca Adour turbofan engine with the two air intakes above the forward wing roots.
The Hawk was designed to withstand +9g and reach the speed of Mach 0.88 in level flight and Mach 1.15 in a dive. This enabled trainee pilots to experience transonic flight prior to flying supersonic.
PRODUCTION
The BAE Systems Hawk was produced from 1974, with over 1,000 built.
ENGINE
Rolls Royce Adour Mk. 951, producing 6,500 lbf.
ARMAMENT
1 x Aden 30mm cannon gun pod
2 x Sidewinder air-to-air missiles
The Hawk T1 entered service in April 1976 replacing the Folland Gnat and the Hawker Hunter as an advanced trainer.
The Hawk T1A was equipped with two air-to-air missiles and a 30mm cannon gun pod.
The Hawk T1 was flown by the Red Arrows aerobatic team from late 1979, based at RAF Scampton.
In 2009, the RAF was issued the Hawk T2 replacing the T1 with training operations beginning in April 2012.
Crew - 1 or 2 |
Length - 40ft 9in (12.43m) |
Wingspan - 32ft 7in (9.94m) |
Height - 13ft 1in (3.98m) |
Empty Weight - 9,880lb (4,480kg) |
Max. Weight - 20,000lb (9,100kg) |
Max. Speed - 638 mph (1,028 km/h) |
Range - 1,565miles (2,520 km) |