Hawker P.V.4

The Hawker P.V.4 was a British biplane built by Hawker as a private venture for the 1931 Air Ministry Specification G.4/31 for a standard general purpose aircraft, which was to handle liaison, day and night bombing, dive bombing, torpedo bombing and reconnaissance. Hawker based its entry on the Hind development of the Hart, a two-seat light bomber with the same 570 lb bomb load but a reinforced fuselage and wings so that it could dive with it. It first flew from Brooklands on 6 December 1934 with a Bristol Pegasus III, changed to a Pegasus X in 1935. It was the only competitor fully suitable for dive bombing, but its cross-axle undercarriage could not carry a torpedo and the Vickers Wellesley monoplane won. The only aircraft became a spinning and engine test aircraft, and was struck off charge on 29 March 1939.