Aircraft Archives - Page 34 of 48 - Destination's Journey

Hawker Sea Fury in Iraqi Service

Hawker Sea Fury in Iraqi Service

Iraq acquired 30 Hawker Fury F.1 fighters and two T.52 trainers in 1946. Used to equip two squadrons, they saw little action during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, mostly undertaking armed reconnaissance flights.

An additional 25 Sea Furies FB.11 fighters were purchased in 1951 (15 new built and 10 ex-Royal Navy aircraft that had their naval gear removed), equipping a third squadron. Three ex-Royal Navy T.20s were also acquired at this time. These, along with the original aircraft saw significant use against Kurdish uprisings in the north of the country throughout the 1960s until their replacement from 1967 by Sukhoi Su-7s.

Four Hawker Fury F.1 fighters prepare for delivery to Iraq

Hawker Sea Fury in West German Service

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Hawker Sea Fury in West German Service

Between 1959 and 1960, WestGermany purchased ten Hawker Sea Fury T.20 aircraft for conversion target tugs. Operated by DLB (Deutscher Luftwaffen Beartungsdienst) they were converted to their new role in Germany and designated Sea Fury T.20S. An additional six were purchased in 1962 with a further one acquired from the Netherlands. They were retired in 1970.

Vickers Type 253

The Vickers Type 253 was built to Air Ministry specification G.4/31 for a general purpose aircraft capable of carrying out level bombing, army co-operation, dive bombing, reconnaissance, casualty evacuation and torpedo bombing. The design is often also known as the Vickers G.4/31.

Although a conventional biplane design, the internal fuselage construction, designed by Vickers’ Chief Structural Engineer Barnes Wallis was a pre-cursor to the geodesic structure used on the later Wellington bomber.

The Type 253 won the competition for G.4/31 and Vickers was awarded a contract for 150 aircraft. However, Vickers had undertaken a private venture monoplane derivative, the Type 287. The monoplane was significantly superior to the biplane, resulting in the contract being cancelled and moved to the Type 287 instead. The Type 287 became the prototype for the Vickers Wellesley.