The Hawker Hoopoe was a British prototype naval

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

designed and built in 1927 by

Hawker Aircraft Hawker Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer that was responsible for some of the most famous products in British aviation history. History Hawker had its roots in the aftermath of the First World War, which resulted in the ban ...

. Service trials found the aircraft to be unsatisfactory, and it was superseded by the same company's

Nimrod Nimrod is a Hebrew Bible, biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles, the Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush (Bible), Cush and therefore the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of Sh ...

design.

Design and development

Named after the

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

of the same name, the Hoopoe was a private venture design proposal to meet Specification N.21/26, although the aircraft did not follow the specification closely. The Hoopoe was a single-seater biplane with an open cockpit and fixed undercarriage. Floats were also later tested.Mason 1991, p.187. The wings' redesign changed the layout from a two-bay biplane to a single-bay configuration. Three engine types were fitted during the short trial period. Two variants of the

Bristol Mercury The Bristol Mercury is a British nine-cylinder, air-cooled, single-row, piston radial engine. Designed by Roy Fedden of the Bristol Aeroplane Company it was used to power both civil and military aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. Developed from ...

were later replaced by an

Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar The Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar is an aircraft engine developed by Armstrong Siddeley. The Jaguar was a petrol-fuelled air-cooled 14-cylinder two-row radial engine design. The Jaguar III was first used in 1923, followed in 1925 by the Jaguar IV ...

and Panther, which increased performance. Trials at

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, containe ...

in 1929 with floats fitted showed that the Mercury powerplant severely underpowered the aircraft, requiring the change to the Jaguar engine. Service interest in the type had waned by autumn 1930, although the single prototype continued in development, flying with

Armstrong Siddeley Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury vehicles and aircraft engines. The company was created following t ...

and the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

until 1932, when the Hoopoe was scrapped. Hawker Hoopoe side

Specifications (Hoopoe - Single bay wings, Panther III)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Mason, Francis K. ''Hawker Aircraft since 1920.'' London: Putnam, 1991.

External links

Flightglobal archive - Hawker Hoopoe, 1931
{{Hawker Aircraft aircraft 1920s British fighter aircraft

Hoopoe Hoopoes () are colourful birds found across Africa, Asia, and Europe, notable for their distinctive "Crest (feathers), crown" of feathers which can be raised or lowered at will. Two living and one extinct species are recognized, though for many y ...