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History

This Exact Sea Fury left the production plant in 1947 as a Sea Fury T.20 and was delivered to the Al Quwwa al Jawwiya al Iraqiya (Iraqi Air Force) as a de-navalized Sea Fury Mk.60 with a serial number 249.

It was recovered from Iraq in 1979 by David Tallichet and restored to an airworthy condition with a civil registration N54SF.

On the 25th of December 1981, the Sea Fury was sold to Vintage Aircraft International and later to a private operator in Australia where it received a civil registration VH-ISS.

In 2010 the Sea Fury was sold to famous Belgian collector/restorer Eric Vormezeele and was transported to Antwerp International Airport where it was restored back to an airworthy condition by FAST Aero company.

On the 18th of June 2019, the Sea Fury performed its first post-restoration flight in the Iraqi Air Force Force colours in the hands of its owner Kris Van den Berg from Antwerp Airport. Later that day the aircraft departed Antwerp for its new home base at Limburg Regional Airport where it remains to this day.

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The Aircraft

Hawker Sea Fury Mk.60

The Hawker Sea Fury is a British fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. It was the last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, and one of the fastest production single reciprocating engine aircraft ever built. Developed during the Second World War, the Sea Fury entered service two years after the war ended. It proved to be a popular aircraft with a number of overseas militaries and was used during the Korean War in the early 1950s, and by the Cuban air force during the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion.

The Sea Fury's development was formally initiated in 1943 in response to a wartime requirement of the Royal Air Force (RAF), with the aircraft initially named Fury. As the Second World War drew to a close, the RAF cancelled their order for the aircraft; however, the Royal Navy saw the type as a suitable carrier aircraft to replace a range of increasingly obsolete or poorly suited aircraft being operated by the Fleet Air Arm. Development of the Sea Fury proceeded, and the type began entering operational service in 1947.

The Sea Fury has many design similarities to Hawker's preceding Tempest fighter, having originated from a requirement for a "Light Tempest Fighter"; both the Sea Fury's wings and fuselage originate from the Tempest but were significantly modified. Production Sea Furies were fitted with the powerful Bristol Centaurus engine and armed with four wing-mounted Hispano V cannons. While originally developed as a pure aerial fighter aircraft, the definitive Sea Fury FB.11 was a fighter-bomber, the design having been found suitable for this mission as well.

The Sea Fury attracted international orders as both a carrier and land-based aircraft. It was operated by countries including Australia, Burma, Canada, Cuba, Egypt, West Germany, Iraq, and Pakistan. The type acquitted itself well in the Korean War, fighting effectively even against the MiG-15 jet fighter. Although the Sea Fury was retired by the majority of its military operators in the late 1950s in favour of jet-propelled aircraft, a considerable number of aircraft saw subsequent use in the civil sector, and several remain airworthy in the 21st century as heritage and racing aircraft.

The Sea Fury is a navalised aircraft, capable of operating from the aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy. It was heavily based on preceding Hawker fighter aircraft, particularly the Tempest; features such as the semi-elliptical wing and fuselage were derived directly from the Tempest but featured significant refinements, including significant strengthening to withstand the stresses of carrier landings. While the Sea Fury was lighter and smaller than the Tempest, advanced aspects of the Sea Fury's design such as its Centaurus engine meant it was also considerably more powerful and faster, making it one of the fastest production reciprocating engine fighters ever produced; it was the final and fastest of Hawker's reciprocating engine aircraft.

The Sea Fury Mk X was capable of attaining a maximum speed of 460 mph and climb to a height of 20,000 feet in under five minutes. The Sea Fury was reportedly a highly aerobatic aircraft with favourable flying behaviour at all heights and speeds, although intentional spinning of the aircraft was banned during the type's military service. During flight displays, the Sea Fury could demonstrate its ability to perform rapid rolls at a rate of 100 degrees per second, attributed to the spring tab equipped ailerons. For extra thrust on takeoff, Jet Assisted Take-Off (JATO) could be used.

The Sea Fury was powered by the newly developed Bristol Centaurus reciprocating engine, which drove a five-bladed propeller. Many of the engine's subsystems, such as the fully automated cooling system, cockpit gauges, and fuel booster pump were electrical, powered by an engine-driven generator supplemented by two independent batteries. The hydraulic system, necessary to operate the retractable undercarriage, tail hook, and flaps, was pressurised to 1,800 psi by an engine-driven pump. If this failed, a hand pump in the cockpit could also power these systems. A pneumatic pump was driven by the engine for the brakes. Internal fuel was stored in a total of five self-sealing fuel tanks, two within the fuselage directly in front of the cockpit and three housed within the wings.

Various avionics systems were used on Sea Furies; in this respect, it was unusually well equipped for an aircraft of the era. Many aircraft were equipped with onboard radar, often the ARI 5307 ZBX, which could be directly integrated with a four-channel VHF radio system. Several of the navigational aids, such as the altimeter and G2F compass, were also advanced; many of these subsystems were used on subsequent jet aircraft with little or no alteration. Other aspects of the Sea Fury, such as the majority of the flight controls, were conventional. Some controls were electrically powered, such as the weapons controls, onboard cameras, and the gyro gunsight.

Although the Sea Fury had been originally developed as a pure air superiority fighter, the Royal Navy viewed the solid construction and payload capabilities of the airframe as positive attributes for ground attack as well; accordingly, Hawker tested and cleared the type to use a wide range of armaments and support equipment. Each aircraft had four wing-mounted 20 mm Hispano V cannons and could carry up to 16 rockets, or a combination of 500 lb or 1000 lb bombs. Other loads included 1000 lb incendiary bombs, mines, type 2 smoke floats or 90-gallon fuel tanks. For photo reconnaissance missions the Sea Fury could be fitted with both vertical and oblique cameras, with a dedicated control box in the cockpit. Other ancillary equipment included chaff to evade hostile attack using radar, and flares.

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