Reflections – Hawker Sea Fury

The Centaurus was fitted with an interlinked throttle and pitch control system which automatically selected the correct RPM to match the boost selected. This was a great asset in a fighter where rapid power changes are required in combat. The only snag for someone who was conditioned to the principle of ‘throttle before pitch’ when reducing power, was that before the throttle was retarded after takeoff, the pitch lever had to be moved to the full coarse pitch position to bring the matched boost/RPM system into operation. No drop in RPM occurred until the throttle was reduced.

Like the Griffon in the Firefly, the Centaurus was fitted with a Coffman cartridge starter which required the engine to be carefully primed and the throttle fairly precisely set if you were to get a start first go. The Coffman starter was fitted with a safety disk which would blow if too much pressure built up immediately after the cartridge was fired. The system held six cartridges which were about the size of a shotgun cartridge but slightly longer. All good naval aviators in those days carried a spare safety disk in case the disk blew on a land-away somewhere, a not unknown occurrence (a shilling would do but was not recommended by the manufacturer!).

As I recall from my first few flights in the Sea Fury, what impressed me most were the acceleration and the lightness of the controls. The ailerons were remarkably light after the Firefly due to the spring tab system adopted by Hawker. With this system the control column was not directly connected to the ailerons but to spring tabs on each aileron which when deflected, in turn deflected the aileron itself. A similar system was to be fitted to the Gannet.

After the Firefly I always felt slightly hemmed in by the Sea Fury as the cockpit sides were level with your shoulders with only your head protruding into the canopy. In the good old Firefly you could rest your forearm on the canopy rails, a great asset in deck landing as it gave you more precise throttle control.

Another major difference in the two aircraft was that you sat almost level with the trailing edge of the wing in the Fury whereas in the Firefly you were well forward. This seating arrangement did not affect the forward view as the cockpit in the Sea Fury was appreciably higher than that in its land based Fury counterpart. This modification had been considered necessary to improve the view over the nose when deck landing.

For sheer joy, there was nothing better than to haul the beast round in a steep turn, the thirteen feet of nose in front of you acting like a great big pointer. The trick was to place a certain cowl fastener on the horizon and you were guaranteed to hit your own slipstream.

The biggest handling difference between the two aircraft was in the aerodrome landing technique. With the Firefly, there was sufficient elevator control to play the flare to achieve a smooth arrival; the aircraft also sat close to the landing altitude at 90 knots. With the Sea Fury, you only got one go once you had cut the throttle as there was insufficient elevator to hold that great nose up for more than a second. It was a case of ensuring that the speed was right on 100 knots and then fairly smartly back with the stick as you cut.

We Firefly drivers found the rudder somewhat sensitive on landing and in my first few rides I confess to weaving down the runway as I overcontrolled during the final stages of the landing roll-out. As in the Firefly, the Fury was fitted with hand operated brakes which were fairly powerful for their day, and to try and stop the weave with brake normally only made the problem worse. The most important instrument in the Sea Fury was the oil pressure gauge, anyone who has flown a sleeve-valve engine will know what I mean. Failure of the oil supply could result in rapid engine seizure and with that big five bladed prop, a forced landing could be tricky indeed.

It was a rule when on a session of touch-and-goes to do a cooling circuit if the cylinder head temperature was up at all, particularly in hot weather. Early in my conversion to the aircraft, during a session of circuits, I noticed the temperatures were up a bit as I turned downwind but thought I would be OK. Sure enough, as I was cleaning up following the touch-and-go I saw that the oil pressure had dropped to 60 PSI; anything under 100 was cause for concern. As soon as possible I throttled back trying to gain maximum cooling effect with minimum power, promising the Deity above that if He would overlook this one, I would never do it again. To my relief, the cylinder head temperature dropped and the oil pressure returned to normal. I landed and put the aircraft unserviceable, but lucky for me the engine checked out OK.

Mention of snagging the aircraft after flight reminds me of that famous entry in the Form 700, “Engine sounds like the clappers of Hell”. The clearing entry read “Clappers removed, engine serviceable”.

I must admit to giving myself quite a scare in a Sea Fury on one occasion as a result of overconfidence coupled with poor judgement. Shor tly after we had returned from Korea, I had been sent off to sea to gain a watchkeeping certificate in HMAS Murchison, a River class frigate. Half way through my sea time I requested a period of refresher flying, which was granted. Murchison then sailed for Jervis Bay and I had the pleasure of joining her in a successful anti-submarine exercise, flying a Firefly. The next day I managed to scrounge a Sea Fury for some GFP (general flying practice) and couldn’t find the ship and giving the crew a demonstration of my skills. After a few fast runs I decided to do a low, slow fly-by with everything down, but failed to take account of the ship’s speed and the strong wind into which she was steaming. I had intended to fly across her bows but as I closed in, I found that I was having to increase my bank angle in order to pass ahead. Things got rapidly worse and soon I had so much bank on that I lost sight of her. It was one of the fastest clean-ups I’ve ever done and with full power on, I roared across her fo’csle with a few feet to spare and climbed away a very chastened young man. I’ve often pondered on how luck must play a part in every aviator’s development; a few seconds more and I would have written myself off. However, I survived and was a much wiser pilot as a result. Years later at Murchison reunions I would be told how I had impressed everyone onboard; I would mumble something and change the subject.

Finally, my one regret was that I never had the opportunity to fly the aircraft operationally, but from my limited experience I can say that without doubt, the Sea Fury was one of the finest piston engined fighters ever built.

Next issue: The Auster, don’t miss it?