Hawker Woodcock

The original Hawker Woodcock was a twin bay biplane fighter designed for night operations with the Royal Air Force. Testing indicated that it was insufficiently manoeuvrable and suffered severe wing flutter. As a result it was redisigned with a shorter wing span, resulting in one bay wings. This was accepted into service as the Woodcock Mk. II.

When first delivered in May 1925 to No. 3 Squadron, they suffered from a series of accidents due to wing spar and undercarriage failure. These flaws were rectified by the end of 1925. The only other squadron to operate the type was No. 17 which began operations in March 1926.

Woodcocks began being replaced by Gloster Gamecocks in 1928.

Photos of scale models of the Hawker Woodcock can be found here.