Hawker Hart | The Bomber That No Fighter Could Catch (in 1930)

[@RexsHangar]

F.A.Q Section Q: Do you take aircraft requests? A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:) Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others? A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both. Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos? A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :) Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators? A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.

[@BrattWuuurst]

Would be cool to see some swedish aircafts.

[@stephenremington8448]

Does a hovercraft count? I've actually been on one of them massive passenger ones from England to France, across the Channel.

[@brianedwards7142]

I'm curious about how the new federal legislation about Nazi symbols will affect you, if at all.

[@stephenremington8448]

@@brianedwards7142 Should be no effect on historical education. Concern how it affects real swastikas, the good luck symbol around the world, Celtic, Hindu, Roman, Navajo, Jain, Thai etc.? Should absolutely target current specific nazism.

[@hfl7393]

Would be nice to see the Fiat Cr.42! :)

[@richardpentelow5111]

One can see the Hurricane shape in Hawkers work.

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[@Packless1]

...never change a running system...! 😉

[@exF3-86]

Which then evolved into the Typhoon, Tempest and a candidate for the greatest in performance piston fighter the Sea Fury

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

The Hurricane started out as the Fury Monoplane.

[@richardpentelow5111]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 true. The Hind at Shuttleworth goes the other way, still Hawker and even more Hurricanesqe.

[@rolanddutton]

One of the prettiest aircraft ever made in my opinion. Camm was a real genius, consistently designing world-class aircraft for nearly 4 decades.

[@vanguard9067]

Me too. Looks very sleek for a biplane. If only retractable landing gear was feasible/desired in the design.

[@2ndfloorsongs]

​@@vanguard9067 That aircraft was handsome enough already, but without that undercarriage It would definitely be a sleek beauty. And a bit faster to boot.

[@vanguard9067]

@@2ndfloorsongs agrred. A beauty to start, even with fixed gear.

[@robertmcmanus636]

@@vanguard9067 Yeah, I'm even a little surprised how beautiful I find this aircraft to be...

[@vanguard9067]

@@robertmcmanus636 now that you say it, yes, me too.

[@charlesseymour1482]

I love the photo format allowing for better detail.

[@bigblue6917]

I read an autobiography of an RAF pilot who served between the wars. He mentioned flying a number of aircraft including the Hart. But he mentioned something I had not come across before. He called it the Siskin face. Apparently the Siskin was tricky to land and it could result in the pilots face making contact with the instrument panel which left its mark on the pilots face. Having a Siskin face was regarded as a sign of a pilot had not mastered the aircraft.

[@WarblesOnALot]

G'day, That sounds like a Second generation Iteration of the famous "Camel Face"... Owing to the 2 Vickers Guns' (boxy Steel) Recievers protruding into the Cockpit, at the 10 & 2 "O'-Clock" positions of the Instrument Panel..., the better for being able to use a 2-pound "Coal Hammer" (mounted in the Cockpit as part of the regular fittment !) to belt the Cocking-Handle to clear any Gun-Jams... The flat rectangular But-plates had 1-inch of Kapok Padding under Leather Upholstery...; so Sudden Decelerations - Especially before the 4-Point Sutton Harness was invented, specifically after one Camel almost threw Mr Sutton out of the Cockpit when the Elastic-sided Lap-Strap Expanded and let him slip through..., after Negative-G resulted from application of full Forward Stick...; sudden decelerations -like breaking the Undercarraige or nosing over, or hitting anything solid, while moving at significant speed..., tended to throw the Pilot's Face onto the Guns' Butplates hard enough to break both Cheekbones, leaving the Rectangular imprint of two Air-Cooled Vickers-Maxim Guns on their visage, forevermore... The secret was to Not crash one's Camel... Such is life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !

[@bigblue6917]

@@WarblesOnALot Thanks WarblesOnAlot. I had totally forgotten about the Camel Face. Safety during this period did leave something to be desired. Towards the end of WW1 the Germans started introducing the first parachutes which resulted in the deaths of a number of their pilots. Fills you with confidence. And the 2-pound coal hammer. Not much call for them these days as hitting your heating with one is not recommended. Here in the UK summer has now finally arrived. Which has left us all startled at what that bright object in the sky is. Have fun and remember to take you 2-pound coal hammer next time you fly. Though I'm not sure how airport security will react. Especially when you explain about the machineguns. Happy trail. 😀

[@martinwarner1178]

You are doing aircraft history a great service. Thank you for the super video. Peace be unto you.

[@Dr_Jebus]

Hart too fast for contempory fighters. Gets taken down by a bird of prey. Love it XD

[@majorbloodnok6659]

A beautiful aeroplane and one of my favourites; thanks for this video.

[@RaderizDorret]

The only prettier biplane is the Fury which takes the Hart's layout and refines it further.

[@majorbloodnok6659]

@@RaderizDorret Fair comment, the Fury's a stunner.

[@andrewhotston983]

One of the loveliest looking aeroplanes. Great video. Thanks.

[@Rincypoopoo]

Wonderful. I have a nice illustration of Harts in action in the tribal areas of the empire in a copy of "The Modern Boy's Book Of Aircraft...

[@gregbolitho9775]

Harry Hawker and Sydney Camm were a bludy good team Eh! Thanks m8!

[@andysvehiclehistorychannel]

I believe there is one at the Pakistani Airforce museum close to the former RAF Drigh Road airbase

[@AgentTasmania]

Seem to be a lot of bombers that were very briefly faster than extant fighters

[@OscarReyes-ud4vz]

Rarely I have seen a more enjoyable video, or such a beautiful aircraft.

[@jon-paulfilkins7820]

Ah, the start of your coverage of the Hawker Hart family. I thank you and look forward to more. I hope you can get round to the Fairey Fox some time which enjoyed some over seas success.

[@robertguttman1487]

Interesting note on the Hawker Hart: The British Air Ministry created the specification which led to the Hawker Hart in reaction to the appearance of the revolutionary Fairey Fox light bomber, which out-preformed all of the RAF's current single-seat fighters. However, the RAF rejected the Fox because it was powered by a license-built American engine, the Curtiss Conqueror. Nevertheless, even after Fairey redesigned the Fox with a Rolls-Royce engine, the RAF preferred the Hart. However, since the RAF did not buy the Fox, Fairey were at liberty to sell them to foreign customers. The largest user of the Fairey Fox was Belgium, in which country Fairey set up a factory to manufacture them for the Royal Belgian Air Force, which was still flying some of them when Germany invaded in 1940.

[@edstoro3883]

Absolutely love the history portion in the beginning of the video. Funny how desk jockies ,who can recognize an aeroplane 4 out of 5 times become experts in the field. As if you would need another subject to cover, the methods of construction and joining would be a great video (although appreciated by a very small group ). Can not wait for the continuation of the Hawker family. Once again, love the background histories !!!!

[@2ndfloorsongs]

I too, love manufacturing details. I bet Rex could make almost anything dealing with airplanes interesting to a much larger audience than either of us could imagine.

[@mrrolandlawrence]

i have seen the hawker demon at the shuttleworth collection. Lovely sound from that kestrel engine :)

[@parrotraiser6541]

A very handsome machine. No doubt the experience with it contributed to the structure of the Hurricane.

[@jus10reed]

The Kite taking down a Hart must bring ancestral PTSD to all the Aussies, at least this one wasn't an Emu

[@garyhooper1820]

Yet another well done video. I've found these inter war years aircraft to be most interesting , gives perspective on how the advancement occurred. Many of the subjects I had no knowledge of . Thanks .

[@danielallenbutler1782]

I want to tell you how much I appreciate your videos. Between Rex's Hangar, Ed Nash's Military Matters, and IHYLS, I'm filling in huge gaps in my knowledge of interwar and WW2 aircraft. Thank you very much for you meticulous work!

[@zippy5131]

Fantastic, my grandad was posted to RAF Holton in 1930 and when I passed out in the 1990's he said there wre Hawker Harts there. And later on in my military A/C career at RAF VAlley on 208 Sqd when we sadly were disbanded and the squadron history/photgraphs were going in the skip. As ground crew we were allowed to take our pick of what was to go. I picked up a picture of a Hawker either Audax or Demon out in the middle east, sadley some of the stuff from the cold war which I put my name on and labeled not to be removed ended up torn up in the skip, as this was supposed to go the cold war aviation museum. Even the Pilots bless 'em ended up skip diving saving stuff they could not believe was binned, including a rather nice wooden tea caddy. So it makes me wonder as working on an even keel of Hawker Aircraft to other shite (Tornado and Typhool(Sorry Typhoon)) Hawker in my mind are the best A/C I have ever worked on and I have the most fondest memories of. Roll on my good Sir for a Hawker extravaganzer.

[@ralphe5842]

Do you suppose the bird painted a British roundel on its side

[@Geekman333]

Nice documentaries Rex. Top notch. Thank you.

[@hamish9917]

It never ceases to amaze me that my Father (an Aeronautical Structural Engineer in the UK) was only 8-14 years old during these years.

[@sergeychmelev5270]

8:44 the Soviet R-5 that had the same exact purpose as Hart, and even commissioned in the same year was built in quantity of almost 7000 units.

[@OrpheoTreshula]

Could hardly be better. Amazing.

[@stephenremington8448]

Hawker Hart, oh deer! nice plane, and you know you've improved an engine when you've knocked 60 pounds off the weight!

[@jerribee1]

I saw what you did there.

[@crabby7668]

The more of these videos I see, the more it is apparent how short was the reign of the piston powered monoplane in general military service. So many biplanes were in use right up to and into ww2 and the jet (Inc turboprop) was pretty much ubiquitous by the end of the Korean conflict. Really only very specialised and transport piston monoplane lasted beyond that time. Remarkable how fast progress was back then.

[@Bones_Jr.]

I would be interested in seeing some of the various Canadian “bush” planes: Noorduyn Norseman, DHC Beaver, Otter, Twin Otter, etc.

[@davidnoseworthy4540]

Also the DeHaviland Canada DHC 1 Chipmunk

[@simong9067]

I remember a display a few years ago at Old Warden where the Demon flew with a Hind that was also resident there - a lovely sight and sound. We got an air test of one of them before the display proper started too, which was carried out at a distinctly more sporting velocity.

[@Lord.Kiltridge]

The Hawker Hart and it's contemporaries, are perfect examples of the kind of airplane I would really like to fly in a computer game using the Gaijin Dagor engine.

[@FFND16N]

I cannot thank you enough for doing this vid--absolutely

[@forthwithtx5852]

Beautiful aircraft.

[@patjohnson3100]

Very informative as usual. The Hart's production numbers are very high for a single type built in the 1930s by any country. Thankfully, some survive. I note traces of Hurrican design in the Hart.

[@basilreid257]

I never knew of the spectacular lineage of the hawker hart. Thank you.

[@PeterPan-iz1kk]

Excellent work, as usual! Many thanks! 🙂

[@colvinator1611]

Thanks very much for another very important piece of British aviation history.

[@DC.409]

Fascinating video, the South African Air Force used the Hartbeestes particularly when the East Africa war commenced for army cooperation and interdiction at which they were quite successful. If memory serves they have one in their museum. Interestingly No 11 Squadron SAAF collected Fairey Battle replacements in June 1940, which proved to be very successful against the Regia Aeronautica. They also used the Fury early in the conflict until the Hurricanes Gladiators and Mohawks arrival.

[@hazchemel]

SAAF were operating against the RA in East Africa? Very interesting.

[@davidgaine4697]

My family is quite tight lipped about the South African contribution to World War II. Not sure why but there was a suggestion that for the Afrikaaners they felt more in alignment with the Axis Powers having quite a few racial purity beliefs themselves. Rivalry with the English speakers resulted in statues like Jan Smuts giving a Nazi salute. The only thing I could get out of my older relatives was that for South Africans the war was over by 1944. I presume that this was when the troops were withdrawn after the victory in North Africa over Rommel’s Afrika Korp and returned to the campaign against German East Africa.

[@DC.409]

@@davidgaine4697 I believe you may have combined WW1 and WW2 activities. The South African forces contributed significantly to WW2 first victories East Africa Iraq Iran and Syria then obviously the Desert War onto Italy. The East African campaign in World War I was a series of battles and guerrilla actions, which started in German East Africa and spread to portions of Mozambique, Rhodesia, British East Africa, the Uganda, and the Belgian Congo. German East Africa was transferred to the Britain Belgium and Portugal under the treaty of Versailles in 1920. General Smuts was a remarkable character.

[@hazchemel]

@@davidgaine4697 Right well, a factor in common with USA and Australa the war was far away, unlike Belgians and Poles whose knowledge is ww2 in my street.

[@dougerrohmer]

@@davidgaine4697 My grandfather served in Italy as well after North Africa. And it's not quite fair to load Apartheid only on the Afrikaners, if you asked Cecil Rhodes about his feelings you might you might see it was a total colonial attitude.

[@johncunningham4820]

The Bird take-down is hilarious . That was one ANGRY Raptor . A Hawk(er) taken down by a Kite . A GREAT Plane , from the Legendary Hawker Corporation . De Havilland did much the same during the Second War .

[@philsharp758]

An elegant design for the era. Another plane to add to the gallery "If it looks right, it will fly right".

[@ClausB252]

A handsome airframe!

[@peterdavy6110]

One of the most elegant aeroplanes ever put in the air by the RAF. If you look, you can see the Hurricane in her.

[@nocount7517]

The fact that a bird roughly the size of a raven took down an aircraft by _attacking_ it is certainly something. It also brings new meaning to the term "bird strike".

[@tedmustard2798]

No 33 Sqn's badge features a hart's head following its successful introduction of the Hawker Hart into service. The Sqn introduced the Puma into service in the early 1970s. I served on 33 from 1973 to 1978. Happy days!

[@markrunnalls7215]

A very distinctive looking aircraft in that beautiful pointed nose and the recognisable tail plane that Hawker adopted ..

[@landak136]

Hands down, the prettiest biplane.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video, Rex.

[@DC.409]

Rex not sure have you covered, moraine MS 406 and Dewoitine D. 520 both took part early in the war in the Battle for France and the Lebanon Syria campaigns, where the DUKE forces comprising of Australian Indian divisions supported by RAAF, RAF and RN with Blenheims, Tomahawks Hurricanes Sea Hurricanes Gladiators with the odd Swordfish involved for good measure successfully fought against the Vichy Government forces particularly a large number of D 520 and M406 modern aircraft. The famous Captain Brown was somewhat dismissive of the D 520, not sure if he tested the Moraine.

[@robertclare8496]

The Falcon engine is not inline. It is a V12

[@benjaminbarrera214]

I suppose that distinguishes it from a radial engine, but it is definitely annoying, especially when there were plenty of actual inline aircraft engines around at the time.

[@mrains100]

Thank you.

[@billestew7535]

Looking forward to anything to do with inter-war military aviation , my favorite era for outlandish airplanes

[@johnforsyth7987]

Thank you for another very informative video.

[@lewiswestfall2687]

Thanks Rex

[@tmutant]

Great video.

[@maryclarafjare]

Most excellent, thank you!

[@makschorney2514]

Great one! Thanks

[@reikawahara770]

Great informative video. Thanks to your work, I've developed an interest in planes I never thought I'd have... I even named my flock of chickens after planes from WW2 !

[@greenseaships]

It's easy to see how Camm evolved this into the legendary Hurricane.

[@mikesweet2554]

Surprised you didn't mention the Hind,Hector and Nimrod or even Hartbeeste among the family of this beautiful aircraft, enjoyed your post as usual though!

[@johnphillips519]

Have you thought about doing a story on Harry Hawker?

[@Brian-om2hh]

The Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden in Bedfordshire, England, has a fully airworthy original Hawker Hind.... I have seen it fly.

[@1960alftupper]

I seem to remember reading that Fairy, had produced the Fairy Fox earlier, but with a US inline engine, with a higher speed than contemporary RAF aircraft, and this forced the RAF to go for the more advanced design

[@kennedysingh3916]

Watched from Jamaica.

[@808bigisland]

Almost 100 years ago. Time flies🎉

[@SoloRenegade]

Hawker Hart De Havilland Mosquito Lockheed A-12/SR-71 "If we go fast enough, they can't shoot us down"

[@wbertie2604]

Can you have heightened apathy? You can't really work so hard at apathy.

[@vanguard9067]

Vigorously apathetic. Calmly anxious.

[@skyislands8887]

Great video, thank you. Definitely a fascinating and beautiful plane, now much over shadowed by many of its contemporary service fellows like the Tigermoth and swordfish. Potential of a follow up developing the story of the hearts WWII service and service in commonwealth countries????

[@jasons44]

Lots of plane builders in such a small area😮

[@brianedwards7142]

Now THAT's what I call bird strike!

[@lambastepirate]

He would have had to have hit and broke the prop to take it down or that is what I suspect.

[@TheObnoxiousMrPug]

@@lambastepirate Ripping up the wings or control surfaces, which were both fabric covered, would have resulted in less than satisfactory flight performance as well.

[@jeffkeith637]

At a top speed of - what - 150 mph - that bird would have had only one go at the aircraft. I can't imagine what it did. Maybe the pilot had been stunting?

[@pistonar]

Which aircraft carrier is that at 12:39? It's tiny.

[@sadams12345678]

HMS Eagle en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Eagle_%281918%29

[@roelantverhoeven371]

beautiful planes

[@robertharris7027]

So interesting, when you see this plane, developed new in the beginning of the 1930ties and then you have planes like the Messerschmidt BF109 just 5 years later.

[@167curly]

I have always thought that the Hawker Hurricane bore a definiate family similarity to the Hart generation of ancestors.

[@mytube001]

Very clearly so. The Hurricane looks like a Hart with an enclosed cockpit and the upper wing removed, pretty much.

[@GrahamWKidd]

Where did the opening illustration come from, Rex? Looks like a model box cover!

[@mikepette4422]

500 lbs of bombs was pretty good for a single engine plane in the 1920's. A highly respected design

[@guntotingleftist8004]

Seems like they should have gone with the kites. Nature's ultimate air force.

[@alexandremarcelino7360]

Muito interessante! 🌟

[@WelBike1967]

Hi Rex, I read somewhere that a number of Harts were modified during WW2 in India as an emergency stop gap one seat fighter. The RAF emptied the rear seat are and covered it over resulting in a 20mph increase in speed. As you can guess the pilots were not too keen in tangling with any Japanese aircraft that might come there way. I need to find the book and extract and let you know.

[@XXfea]

Kites FTW!

[@brettcoster4781]

Looking forward to another video that includes the Hawker Demon. Which, BTW, was Australia's *_only_* available dedicated fighter immediately after the Japanese attack on Malaya/Pearl Harbour.

[@SoloRenegade]

the irony is that the Hart changed air warfare for decades to come as well. it was the aircraft that forced fighters from prioritizing Maneuverability, to prioritizing Speed. (Japan missed the memo though)

[@davidfoster5906]

How much damage could a single .303 do? Did they aim at the enemies pilot?

[@jalexvd7037]

Idk a fuck abt airplanes and I never cared abt it but this guy made me love it

[@LostCauseRT]

Man I love aero engines.

[@jimdavis8391]

All that experience of licence building of aircraft would later become very, very important.

[@robbierobinson8819]

Very good coverage of this great looking and performing biplane. I do wonder, though, if its superiority at the time didn't contribute to reducing the interest in developing monoplane light bombers. [I think the attack, leading to destruction of the aircraft, by a Kite is questionable as I include in my comment on @Justin Kipper' comments below.]

[@wbertie2604]

The RAF issued the specification for what would become the Battle in 1932, two years after the Hart entered service which is slightly slower than typical, which was the year or year after it entered service. E.g., for Spitfire replacement it was issued in 1939.

[@jonsouth1545]

You really can see the similarities between the Hart and the Hurricane

[@yes_head]

Thanks for this. I've always been interested in the Hawker 30's biplanes, and for whatever reason there's very little information available on YT. Those production stats are interesting. It looks like the Hart pretty much kept the British aircraft industry alive during the depression years.

[@SoloRenegade]

the Hart changed air warfare for decades to come as well. it was the aircraft that forced fighters from prioritizing Maneuverability, to prioritizing Speed. (Japan missed the memo though)

[@lewismartinez5130]

amazing, really that radar was invented around the same time fighters became fast enough to catch bombers, and air defense became a real possibility right before WW2.

[@raypurchase801]

Amazing how quickly technology moved forward during the 30s.

[@MartinG8199991]

I thought the Hart was the trainer, the hind being the bomber?

[@lupodimontenero661]

A few years before specification 12/26 was issued, another light reconnaissance bomber had proved to be virtually unreachable by the British fighters in service at the time; the Fairey Fox Mk I , another interesting and little known aircraft . The Fox prototype first flew at RAF Hendon on 3 January 1925

[@johnstirling6597]

Odd to think that just 10 years after its mid 30s service life the RAF was starting to use jets, quite a leap. Also the Hawker Hurricane was essentially a slightly modified Hart fuselage , up engined and a monoplane.

[@jkorshak]

Hi Rex - I subscribed some time back - you have a great channel and I wanted to compliment you on how interesting and well presented these looks at obscure and not so obscure aircraft very much are. Cheers and thanks!

[@TheSuperZOS]

The fact that a *Hawker* was brought down by a kite is quite hilarious. Also I believe that makes for the only plane brought down by a direct bird attack rather than an accidental bird collision. What an achievement, really. Feel free to correct me, obviously.

[@janlindtner305]

👍👍👍

[@EdAtoZ]

Wouldn't the B-10 be operational at this time ?

[@chpet1655]

If this video came out in 1928/29 we’d all be saying….best plane of all time

[@benjaminbarrera214]

The proponents of monoplanes and radial engines would have disagreed!

[@internet_kaiser]

Tbf I couldn't catch that, and I have BIG hands and run FAST