Hawker Hector

The Hawker Hector was a British biplane army co-operation and liaison aircraft of the late 1930s, named after the Trojan prince. It served with the Royal Air Force and saw brief combat in the Battle of France in May 1940, and some were later sold to Ireland. It was meant to replace the Hawker Audax. Hawker designed it and built the prototype, but production aircraft were built by Westland at Yeovil. Because Rolls-Royce Kestrel engines were needed for the Hind programme, the Hector used the 24-cylinder 805 hp Napier Dagger III instead. The prototype first flew on 14 February 1936 with George Bulman as pilot, and one prototype and 178 production aircraft were built. It began equipping seven army co-operation squadrons in February 1937, and was replaced by Westland Lysanders from July 1938. Thirteen went to the Irish Air Corps.