Hawker Sea Fury

The Hawker Sea Fury was a British fighter designed and manufactured by Hawker, and the last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy. It was developed during the Second World War from the land-based Fury, whose RAF order was cancelled before any production aircraft were built because the RAF already had many late-mark Spitfires and Tempests. The first Sea Fury prototype, SR661, flew at Langley on 21 February 1945 with a Bristol Centaurus XII radial engine, and the type entered service two years after the war ended. The order under specification N.22/43 was cut to 100, and the improved FB.11 fighter-bomber reached a production total of 650. The Sea Fury served the Fleet Air Arm as its main fighter-bomber until 1953, fought well against the MiG-15 in the Korean War and was exported widely.