Hawker Heron

The Hawker Heron was a British single-seat biplane fighter and the first fighter designed at Hawker with a basically metal structure. Sydney Camm introduced the construction that stayed typical of Hawker aircraft until the jet-powered P.1040: steel or aluminium tubes with swaged ends joined by fishplates and bolts, covered in fabric. It began in 1924 as a private venture version of the Woodcock with the wooden structure replaced, and grew into an entirely new single-bay design with a 455 hp Bristol Jupiter VI and provision for two Vickers machine guns. The prototype, J6989, was built to Specification 25/24 and first flown by P.S.W. Bulman in 1925. It was 15 mph faster than the Woodcock and handled well, but the Air Ministry showed little interest, only one was built and it went back to Hawker after testing.