AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 61 / 115

Plate 61 of 115 · Early jet age · Carrier fighter-bomber

Hawker Sea Fury

Sea Fury FB.11, painted as WJ231, a Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 single-seat carrier fighter-bomber of the Royal Navy, powered by a Bristol Centaurus 18 sleeve-valve radial driving a five-blade Rotol propeller, kept by the Fleet Air Arm Museum and painted as it is shown at Yeovilton in the Korean War colours of ‘115/O’ of HMS Ocean’s air group: Extra Dark Sea Grey upper surfaces, spine, upper cowling and spinner over Sky sides and undersides, the fin and rudder Sky all over with a black ‘O’, five white and black identification stripes round the rear fuselage and under the outer wings, a black ‘115’ edged in white across the fuselage stripes, Type D roundels, ‘ROYAL NAVY’ over ‘WJ 231’ on the rear fuselage and a black ‘WJ231’ under the wings, a black propeller with yellow tips and a black arrester hook with a yellow tip, four 20 mm Hispano cannon in the wings; the museum displays it with the starboard wing folded, but it is shown with both wings spread, the upper-surface markings follow the standard Korean-period scheme as no display photograph shows them, and the main-gear track is measured from photographs.

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as WJ231, a Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 single-seat carrier fighter-bomber of the Royal Navy, powered by a Bristol Centaurus 18 sleeve-valve radial driving a five-blade Rotol propeller, kept by the Fleet Air Arm Museum and painted as it is shown at Yeovilton in the Korean War colours of ‘115/O’ of HMS Ocean’s air group: Extra Dark Sea Grey upper surfaces, spine, upper cowling and spinner over Sky sides and undersides, the fin and rudder Sky all over with a black ‘O’, five white and black identification stripes round the rear fuselage and under the outer wings, a black ‘115’ edged in white across the fuselage stripes, Type D roundels, ‘ROYAL NAVY’ over ‘WJ 231’ on the rear fuselage and a black ‘WJ231’ under the wings, a black propeller with yellow tips and a black arrester hook with a yellow tip, four 20 mm Hispano cannon in the wings; the museum displays it with the starboard wing folded, but it is shown with both wings spread, the upper-surface markings follow the standard Korean-period scheme as no display photograph shows them, and the main-gear track is measured from photographs. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (964 KB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (); engine, crew and dimensions are for the Sea Fury FB.11 modelled here.

History

The Sea Fury

The Fury began in 1942 as Sydney Camm’s plan for a lighter, smaller Tempest. The two outer wing panels were joined directly at the centre line, doing away with the Tempest’s centre section, and the fuselage was made a stressed-skin monocoque. Specification F.2/43 covered an RAF version and N.7/43 a naval one, and Hawker built both. The land-based Fury first flew in September 1944, but the RAF dropped it when the war in Europe ended. The Admiralty kept its order, and the first Sea Fury, SR661, flew on 21 February 1945. Production aircraft had folding outer wings, an arrester hook, the 18-cylinder Bristol Centaurus with a five-blade propeller, and four 20 mm Hispano cannon.

The FB.11 fighter-bomber, which could carry bombs or rockets under the wings, became the main version. Sea Furies reached front-line squadrons in 1947, and about 615 FB.11s were built for the Fleet Air Arm out of some 860 Sea Furies and Furies in all, including two-seat T.20 trainers and aircraft for Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, Burma and Cuba. In Korea the Sea Fury was the Royal Navy’s main strike aircraft, flying from HMS Theseus, Glory and Ocean and from HMAS Sydney against bridges, railways and troops. On 9 August 1952 a flight from 802 Squadron, flying from Ocean and led by Lieutenant Peter Carmichael, was credited with shooting down a MiG-15 jet.

Jets took over in the front line from 1953, and the last Sea Furies left the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve squadrons in 1957, though target-towing and trials units flew them for some years more. Cuban Sea Furies fought at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. With a top speed of about 460 mph, the Sea Fury was among the fastest piston-engined fighters ever built, and modified examples have raced with success at Reno. The Royal Navy Historic Flight has flown Sea Furies at air displays, and the Fleet Air Arm Museum and IWM Duxford keep examples in the gazetteer.

This airframe

Sea Fury FB.11 WJ231 “115/O”

WJ231The airframe modelled

WJ231 was built at Kingston in 1951 and served with the Fleet Air Arm aboard HMS Ocean and HMS Unicorn in 1952, during the Korean War. It went into storage in 1957, flew again with the Fleet Requirements Unit at Hurn and the Yeovilton Station Flight from 1962, and was retired for preservation in 1965. The Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton shows it in Korean War colours as “115/O”, the O being HMS Ocean’s deck letter. The model shows it in that scheme: Extra Dark Sea Grey upper surfaces over Sky sides and undersides, the fin and rudder Sky with a black “O”, five white and black identification stripes round the rear fuselage and under the outer wings, a black “115” across the fuselage stripes, Type D roundels, and a black propeller with yellow tips. The museum displays the aircraft with its starboard wing folded, but the model has both wings spread. No display photograph shows the upper surfaces of the wings and tailplane, so they follow the standard Korean-period scheme.

See it at Fleet Air Arm Museum

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the Sea Fury in 2 UK collections. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 115 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.