Hawker Tornado

The Hawker Tornado was a British single-seat fighter design of the Second World War, meant to replace the Hawker Hurricane in the Royal Air Force. Hawker started two projects in 1937 after asking the Air Ministry which to pursue: the Type N, with a Napier Sabre engine, and the Type R, with a Rolls-Royce Vulture, which became the Tornado. Air Ministry Specification F.18/37 followed in 1938. The first prototype, P5219, was flown by P.G. Lucas on 6 October 1939, and its radiator was later moved to a chin position. Production was subcontracted to Avro, with orders for 1,760, and to Cunliffe-Owen, but only one Avro aircraft, R7936, was built and flown, on 29 August 1941. Rolls-Royce abandoned the unreliable Vulture, the Tornado order was cancelled and the Sabre-powered airframe went on as the Hawker Typhoon.