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Aero Vintage Hawker biplanes info direct from Guy Black

Posted by Guy Black on Fri May 09, 2003 06:58:27 AM

The Fury is not a replica. Confusion maybe with the ex-Patrick Lindsay/Lands End repro, owned now by the Robert Landuit estate and never by us.

Our Fury came from South Africa, and was the result of several expeditions searching for and acquiring Hawker biplane parts from farms and scrap yards. We had a container full in quantity, and this included the remains of three Furys, substantial remains of an Osprey and numerous Hartbees parts (there is a very good example of the Hartbees in the South African Military Museum). The Fury, which is the subject of a rebuild, should be completed by the summer of 2004; it is well advanced. Delay in announcing it was to ensure a) that we were able to achieve what we wanted (too many projects are mainly a mixture of hot air and wild imagination), and b) we wanted to establish the RAF identity. This was only partly successful as panels indicated it was aircraft ?74? ? we assume this to be K-5674, but do not know for sure. Anyone with further knowledge perhaps even tying up the Hawker ?41/H? serials with RAF serials, could perhaps advance our knowledge on this.

We have as also, as correctly identified, Hawker Audax K-5600, Hawker Hind L-7181, Nimrod II K-3661 and Swedish Hart B4A Build No. 3 (Hawker number 41H/428). They are all fairly advanced in the restoration queue, though the latter aircraft is not yet registered. We are waiting until we can be sure it is a practical proposition to rebuild the Hart, as there is no engine, though we know of a good one, but available only in a trade we cannot yet meet. The Osprey will not be rebuilt as there is not enough of the airframe ? perhaps more parts will come to light one day; however, we do not have limitless resources and it is unlikely to be rebuilt by us.

A full article will appear on our activities in a future edition of one of the UK historic aircraft journals.

Guy Black

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