Hawker P.1127 – Vectored thrust pioneer
Welcome to this latest edition of our Workbench blog and all the news, updates, and modelling exclusives from the fascinating world of Airfix.
As the summer finally appears to have arrived, we thought we’d celebrate with our latest dual blog posting of the year and details of two impending new kit additions to the current Airfix range. In this second blog post, the focus of our attention is on a true aviation classic, an aeroplane which thrust the capabilities of Britain’s aviation industry into the world spotlight, the incredible Hawker P.1127. An aircraft which was a true pioneer in aviation terms, we will be looking at how this experimental aircraft not only held the nation captivated as it hovered on a column of hot air, but how its groundbreaking development led to the introduction of the famous Hawker Siddeley Harrier.
In a second, separately posted blog for the week, we prepare for the impending release of a classic British helicopter kit, and only the third release from a new tooling project which joined the Airfix range back in 2015 – it was actually one of the first new tooling projects the Workbench blog informed our fledgling readership about. Our subject in this blog is our tribute to a rugged and hard working utility helicopter which earned a reputation for toughness during its 36 year service career, and as far as the HC.4 Commando is concerned, you most certainly knew that if one of these beasts were in town, it would be full of troops who love nothing more than sorting out a bit of trouble.
So, we have two impending kit updates to bring you this weekend, one classic, and one contemporary, but both unquestionably 100 percent Airfix. Please make sure to head for the main Workbench hub page on the Airfix website and check out the Westland Sea King HC.4 post as well.
A bumper ‘dual’ edition of Workbench is awaiting your inspection this weekend.
An exciting time to be alive
The sun setting on the legacy of the famous Harrier, but during the 1950s, this incredible story was just beginning.
For people alive and able to remember the years following the end of the Second World War, this must have been an incredible time to be alive. Certainly, the world would have wanted to put the horrors of a second devastating world war behind them, but because of man’s ingenuity and desire to achieve, they would be presented with plenty of distractions. As Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay stood at the peak of Mount Everest, the highest altitude humans had ever attained, the space race was also just beginning, with America and the USSR vying for a lead in this technological race. The first microchip was developed in the US and America’s USS Enterprise became the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier in the world.
In the world of aviation, the jet engine was powering aircraft to ever greater speeds, with the British Comet and American Boeing 707 now carrying paying passengers at speeds approaching 500 mph and with missile technology appearing on the latest breed of capable, supersonic jet aircraft. In Britain, the nation was very much at the forefront of aviation technology, at a time when it really did seem that no idea was considered a bad idea, however, one project was proving to be of more interest than most, an aviation project which was literally being carried on a column of vectored thrust air, the Hawker P.1127 experimental aircraft.
The post war emergence of the helicopter as arguably the most useful aircraft type for many military and civilian roles must have had aircraft designers asking some challenging questions during the 1950s. What if they could develop a fixed wing aircraft that could take off and land like a helicopter, but also transition to high-speed forward flight like a traditional aircraft?
The potential of such an aircraft would result in significant development work taking place across the post WWII aviation world, with various teams pushing technological barriers as far as they could, to see if this concept was indeed a possibility or simply an aviation pipe dream.
Over a 25 year period, around sixty different projects would all have the aim of testing the viability of V/STOL flight concepts with, it has to be said, varying degrees of success, but with all providing valuable research data in support of this same aeronautical cause. Unfortunately, many of these international projects were advancing autonomously and in relative secrecy, with each one jealously guarding the research data they obtained and as a consequence, the possibility of developing a viable military aircraft was still some way off.
One of the most iconic sights in aviation – can any other aircraft claim to be as instantly recognisable as the unique Harrier?
The Vintage Classics range is about to include the famous Hawker P.1127 kit within its ranks, an Airfix kit which will be familiar to thousands of Workbench readers.
In Britain, the ungainly 'Flying Bedstead', or to give it its correct title, the 'Rolls Royce Thrust Measurement Rig', was a machine which may have had a somewhat comical appearance, but was a genuine attempt to secure valuable data towards the advancement of the V/STOL concept. Exploring the challenges of control whilst in hovering flight mode, this aircraft may have started the world on a V/STOL journey, but there was still a long way to go.
Internationally, research into the V/STOL concept continued apace with the same varying degrees of success, but did manage to produce several aircraft designs which certainly looked impressive, if unfortunately lacking the potential to be developed into a fully functioning operational combat aircraft, with one notable exception. In Britain, all the years of V/STOL research toil looked as if it was finally about to bear fruit and with the first flight of the Hawker P.1127, the prospect of a workable design appeared to be within their grasp.
Using all the research data currently available to them and incorporating the huge potential offered by a new type of Bristol jet engine, one which could direct the thrust of a single unit by utilising four rotating nozzles for thrust vectoring, their P.1127 prototype aircraft was ready for static engine testing by the summer of 1960.
The Hawker P.1127 – An aviation pioneer
A kit many of us will remember building in our youth, the Hawker P.1127 was an aviation classic which demanded its inclusion in the Airfix kit range and therefore in our display cabinets.
Following the recent cancellation of a major project, the design team at Hawker Aircraft found themselves in need of a new project to get behind and it didn’t take long for an opportunity to present itself. Having been made aware of a Bristol Engine Company project to produce a powerful new jet engine with a directable fan jet, the team embarked on a project to design a new aircraft which could harness the potential of this new propulsion technology, a project which would become quite closely aligned to a NATO requirement for a new light tactical support fighter to replace the Italian Fiat G.91.
A steadfast collaboration between Hawker and Bristol throughout the project ensured this unusual venture was destined to succeed, despite any number of financial concerns, technical challenges and political setbacks. At that time, it really did seem like the UK government was looking for ways not to spend money, as opposed to supporting projects with potential.
Once the theory had been proven and accepted, it was all about designing a suitable airframe to harness the power of the Bristol Pegasus engine and as it was completely financed by Hawker, the project advanced apace. Incredibly, Hawker’s Chief Designer instructed his project team that despite the ground-breaking nature of the technology incorporated in the new aircraft, how they should ensure everything about the new aircraft should be as simple as possible. In his view, over-complication leads to delays, cost overruns and eventual cancellation, something he wanted to avoid at all cost. I’m not sure you could describe the Hawker Siddeley Harrier as a simple aeroplane, but it appears that Sydney Camm thought so.
During late 1958, the project started to make significant progress, with one major problem remaining to be solved, directional stability at low and high speed. It even became apparent that when the aircraft was at optimum weight and with the engine generating full power, the aircraft would be capable of performing vertical take-off and landings.
This kit allows one of the first two prototype P.1127 aircraft to be modelled, including the one which famously suffered a prang at the Paris Airshow.
Continued support from NATO nations and after the project team had been allowed access to NASA’s world leading wind tunnel technology, Hawkers were encouraged to push the project to the next level, taking the brave decision to self-fund the production of two P.1127 prototype aircraft in early 1959. Although the UK Air Staff were still sceptical about the project, specifically the subsonic speeds the aircraft was being designed to attain, the rest of the world stood transfixed and awaited further developments with bated breath.
Delivery of the first prototype aircraft XP831 to Dunsfold took place on 15th July 1960, allowing static engine testing to begin in earnest. On 31st August, a Pegasus engine ran in the P.1127 airframe for the first time and began a period of concerted testing until a flight power capable variant of the engine could be delivered – that unit arrived at Dunsfold in the middle of October that same year.
With the fully rated Pegasus now installed, an important phase of testing could begin, starting with the first tethered flight for XP831 on 21st October 1960 and the technological search for an understanding of controllability of this very new technology and the ability to achieve this without placing too much strain on the average military pilot. As the programme advanced and confidence grew, so the length of these tethers increased, to a point where the test pilot insisted that if they were to advance any further, the aircraft must be allowed free flight. The first tethered, non-auto stabilised flight took place on 4th November and by the middle of the month, free taxying trials were well underway and preparation for a historic first untethered flight were being made.
With each test flight completed, this unique aircraft was charting new aviation territory, a true pioneer of an aeroplane which broke new technological ground every time it took to the air. It has to be said that all this was a huge risk for the Hawker Company, as they were funding this costly research without guaranteed support from any potential purchaser at that stage and with no certainty that they could get the technology to work effectively enough for it to form the basis of a new military aircraft project.
Full scheme details of this latest Vintage Classic kit range inclusion.
Another view of a built sample of this kit which has real stature within Airfix heritage.
Finally, on 19th November 1960, Hawker P.1127 XP831 performed its first, untethered flight and from that date, publicity pictures and news reel bulletins began to circulate details of the project’s progress to a world which had become transfixed by this little hovering jet. February 13th,1961 saw XP831 performing its first conventional flight, which saw the aircraft in the air for a little over 23 minutes and on landing, it was to receive an even more powerful example of the Pegasus engine.
The following June saw this historic aircraft and the project it was leading achieve yet another milestone, as she performed the first transition from vertical hover to conventional forward flight, with the team breaking more barriers and understanding more about the flight parameters of their aircraft with every test sortie. The first prototype was joined at Dunsfold by a second aircraft (XP836) on 7th July 1961 and from that date, the two aircraft worked in tandem to perfect the aircraft’s effective transition from vertical take off to conventional forward flight, the real raison d’être of this incredible aircraft.
In total, six P.1127 development aircraft were constructed, however, in a situation which illustrated the ground-breaking nature of this new aviation technology, and the perils faced by the test pilots flying them, three of these aircraft would be lost during the punishing test and evaluation program. With the world already enthralled by this incredible new aeroplane, the final day of the 1963 Paris Airshow appeared to bring this exciting project right back down to earth, quite literally.
Displaying alongside a French V/STOL rival, the P.1127 prototype XP831 was coming towards the end of a thrilling display which had held the massive crowd completely spellbound, when something went badly wrong. As the aircraft neared the runway at Le Bourget, it appeared to lose power and came crashing down in a very heavy landing, sending shattered undercarriage components flying in all directions. Not the most auspicious of international debuts for Britain's new hovering jet, but this was only a setback and there would be no stopping the Hawker team now!
XP831 would be repaired and would resume its test flying programme and the Hawker P.1127 fleet would slowly give way to a new variant of the aircraft, the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel. The Kestrel was effectively a fully developed military variant of the P.1127 and an aircraft which was intended to be the forerunner of production aircraft destined for Royal Air Force service, hopefully also capturing wider international sales interest.
Underlining both the success of the previous P.1127 programme and the undeniable potential the new aircraft possessed, a tripartite agreement between Britain, the US and West Germany was signed in 1961, with the intention of establishing a joint squadron of aircraft to fully evaluate the operational potential of the aircraft in as near to service conditions as could be achieved. Nine aircraft were ordered and would go by the name of Kestrel FGA Mk.I, the first of which commenced test flying in March 1964. The original P.1127 Prototype XP831 had effectively opened the aviation door for an incredible aircraft type which still flies to this day, almost 84 years after the first flight of that prototype aircraft.
With the impending introduction of this P.1127 kit to the current Airfix range, the Vintage Classics range is about to welcome the arrival of a true modelling kit classic, a model everybody wanted to get their hands on following its original release. Produced in 1963, at that time, the world was still watching Britain’s hovering jet project with amazement and with the P.1127 representing yet another incredible achievement for Britain’s aviation industry, this was a kit every young modeller simply had to have. Even more than this, the aircraft was such a phenomenon at the time, that we all probably had several goes at completing this kit, so determined were we to create an appealing representation of this famous aeroplane.
As we all know, the artistic influence of Roy Cross would virtually guarantee the success of any model release his artwork was associated with, so with this groundbreaking aircraft and Roy’s stunning artwork, this model was an unbeatable combination and consequently sold by the truckload.
A heady mix – Airfix and Roy Cross ensured that our scale kit tribute to this groundbreaking aircraft was a resounding hobby success. This image shows Roy’s original Hawker P.1127 concept sketch.
The beautiful original artwork Roy created in support of this new tooling release back in 1963.
Ready to ride again, this final image show’s Roy’s classic artwork in full Vintage Classics presentation.
The aircraft modelled features the hardworking prototype P.1127 XP831, the first aircraft to arrive at Dunsfold in July 1960 and the one which performed all the early test flights for this programme, a heritage which surely marks this as one of the most significant British aircraft of all time. She also happens to be the aircraft which crashed so publicly at the Paris Airshow in June 1963, although she was later repaired and the pilot emerged uninjured from this widely documented incident.
This aircraft is currently on display as part of the Science Museum collection and interestingly, of the six P.1127 test and evaluation aircraft built, four of them can still be viewed in museums around Europe, three here in the UK and one in Germany.
We are delighted to be welcoming this beautiful little kit to the Vintage Classics range, particularly as it will be familiar to so many of our readers and occupies such an important position in our own brand heritage. A classic amongst Vintage Classics kits, many of us will be wanting to add a couple of these beauties to our stash even if just for sentimental reasons, despite the fact that the P.1127 story definitely makes for an engaging build project in its own right. It will be nice to just know that they’re there, for when we feel like we need a little Airfix culture about our workstations.
We’re expecting the Hawker P.1127 to be in our warehouse by the end of next month, but as we don’t envisage it being around for long, we suggest you reserve your example well before the kits actually arrive, just in case.
We are afraid that's all we have for you in this latest edition, but we will be back next Friday with more project development updates and the very latest Airfix kit exclusives. In the meantime, we are always keen to hear your views on all things Airfix and in particular, any thoughts and opinions you may have regarding our Workbench blog. If you would like to drop us a quick line, could we please ask that you use our workbench@airfix.com email for all correspondence.
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