Hawker FURY / SEA FURY G-CBEL "361"

	Wing span : 38 ft 5 in / 11.7 m Length : 34 ft 8 in / 10.57 m Max weight : 15,200 lb / 6645 kg Service ceiling : 35,800 ft Max speed : 435 kts / 740 kmh Engine : 2,550 hp Bristol Centaurus 18
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Designed in the 1940’s to a joint RAF/RN specification as a replacement to the RAF’s successful Tempest fighter bomber, the Hawker Fury was too late to take part in World War Two, the prototype not flying until September 1944. At the same time the Sea Fury was developed for the Royal Navy, with the prototype flying in February 1945. The type was to be the fastest propellor driven fighter produced.

Passed over by the RAF for the new breed of jet fighters such as the Meteor and Vampire, the Fury was ordered by a number of overseas air forces, including Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan. First to be delivered were an initial batch of thirty for Iraq from 1948, being known as the Baghdad Fury, followed by ninety eight for Pakistan, with production continuing into the 1950’s.

The Royal Navy were happy to continue post war operations with propellor aircraft from its carriers, ordering large numbers of the Sea Fury version, which were equipped with folding wings and a tail hook for carrier operations. Initial deliveries of the F.10 fighter version commenced in 1947, but these were soon followed by the FB.11 fighter-bomber variant. 665 Sea Furies were delivered to the Royal Navy, plus sixty two seat land based trainers.

The Sea Fury first saw action in the Korean War during the summer of 1950, where they encountered the Russian built Mig 15 jets. The ‘obsolete’ propellor fighters were just about able to hold their own again the newer jets, and on one occasion shot one down. By the mid 1950’s the Sea Fury began to be replaced by the Sea Hawk, being relegated to second line duties, including service with the RN Volunteer Reserve. The Australian, Canadian and Dutch Navies were export customer for the Sea Fury, and second hand ones later found their way to Burma and Cuba. Sea Furies operated from Bournemouth Airport between 1954 and 1962, serving with the Airwork Services Fleet Requirement Unit. This was tasked with providing fighters as ‘targets’ for Naval ships exercising in the English Channel, and their withdrawal in May 1962 marked the end of propellor fighter aircraft operations in this country.

G-CBEL was built by Hawkers at Langley as one of the Baghdad Furies delivered in 1953 with serial 315. It probably remained in service until the early 1960’s, when it was stored along with a number of other airframes. By the 1980’s a number of Sea Furies had found their way into the hands of racing pilots in the United States, due to their high speed. A number were discovered in Iraq, including 315, being shipped to the States for overhaul, where 315 emerged with smart Royal Navy colours and registration N36SF. Acquired by John Bradshaw in the summer of 1990, it was shipped by sea to Southampton, being flown again in September. Immaculately maintained, the fighter only undertook limited flying work over the next few years. Regulations meant that it could not remain on the American aircraft register, and so in August 2001 it was placed on the British civil register as G-CBEL. The colour scheme represents the various navies that operated Sea Furies - Britain, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands - but it remains a Fury, i.e. without wing folding actuation or a tail hook.