company
concentrated on fighters, and the first production Hurricane,
a monoplane development of the Fury, first entered
service in late 1937. This fighter achieved significant success
in the Battle
"Typhoon"
of Britain. The Typhoon, initially none too
successful, proved effective as a fighter-bomber and saw
the peak of its development in the Tempest, Fury and Sea
Fury which
Fury / Sea Fury
served with RAF and Fleet Air Arm during late
1940s and early 1950s, and with foreign air arms well into the 1960s. In early postwar period
"Sea Hawk"
Hawker developed
the Sea Hawk shipboard fighter, progressing to the Hunter,
the single Mk 3 version of which, produced by modification
of the original prototype, gained the world
"Hunter"
speed record
at 1,170.96km/h in 1953. Such was the success
of the Hunter that refurbished aircraft were later
exported. Hawker's greatest innovation was in the field of
VTOL fighters, first with the experimental P.1127 Kestrel,
which led to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier (see Hawker Siddeley).
