Hawker P.V.3

The Hawker P.V.3 was a British single-engined biplane fighter prototype of the 1930s, built by Hawker as a private venture after the Air Ministry rejected its bids for Specification F.7/30, a heavily armed day and night fighter with a speed of at least 250 mph. Designed under Sydney Camm, it was an enlarged development of the Hawker Fury with swept-back wings, spatted mainwheels and a steam-cooled Rolls-Royce Goshawk V12 engine, with condensers in the upper wing. It carried four Vickers machine guns and first flew on 15 June 1934 with George Bulman at the controls. Test pilots at Martlesham Heath praised its handling and performance, but no order followed, because the Gloster Gladiator with an air-cooled Bristol Mercury had meanwhile been ordered. Only one was built.