Hawker Tornado

1939

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Hawker Tornado

Sydney Camm and his team responded to Specification F.18/37 which called for a single-seat interceptor, with two tenders. One was referred to as the "R-type" and the other as the "N-type". These were to use fundamentally similar airframes and differ essentially in the type of engine installed. The former, which was to be named Tornado, initially appeared the most promising and was powered by a 24-cylinder X-type Rolls-Royce Vulture - basically two 12-cylinder Peregrine V engines driving a common crankshaft. The first of two prototypes was flown on 6 October 1939 with a 1760hp Vulture II, provision being made for an armament of 12 7.7mm machine guns. The similarly-powered second prototype, flown on 5 December 1940, had provision for a four 20mm cannon armament. A Tornado assembly line was laid down by Avro, the production model being intended to receive the Vulture V of 1980hp, with which both prototypes were reengined. The Vulture, meanwhile, was suffering various problems, such as connecting rod bolt failures, and as the Merlin possessed absolute priority, Rolls- Royce .was forced to abandon the production of this X-type engine. This led to cancellation of the initial production batch of 201 Tornados, only one production example being completed and flown on 29 August 1941. Approval was also given for completion of a third Tornado prototype with a 2210hp Bristol Centaurus CE.4S 18-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, this flying on 23 October 1941.

Hawker Tornado

Specification 
 WEIGHTS
  Take-off weight4839 kg10668 lb
  Empty weight3800 kg8378 lb
 DIMENSIONS
  Wingspan12.77 m42 ft 11 in
  Length10.00 m33 ft 10 in
  Height4.47 m15 ft 8 in
  Wing area26.29 m2282.98 sq ft
 PERFORMANCE
  Max. speed640 km/h398 mph

3-View 
Hawker TornadoA three-view drawing (1288 x 1146)

Comments
Klaatu83, e-mail, 14.10.2015 05:02

Fighter prototype that was hampered by an unsatisfactory engine, the R-R "Vulture". The same engine ruined the Avro Manchester bomber. The Manchester became a success when its' Vulture engines were replaced by Merlins and, in a similar fashion, this fighter became a success after its' Vulture engine was replaced by a Napier Saber, and it became the Hawker "Typhoon".

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GreySpitfire, e-mail, 16.07.2014 03:43

what about range?

reply

Jorge, e-mail, 05.10.2009 20:30

I wish I could get my hands on one of these engines ?

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