43sqn 'The Fighting Cocks' Tangmere 1934/or Biggles fly's undone.

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The Hawker Fury was a British biplane fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s. It was a fast, agile aircraft, and holds the distinction of being the first interceptor in RAF service to be capable of more than 200 mph. The Fury is the fighter counterpart to the Hawker Hart light bomber.The Hawker Fury was a development of the earlier F.20/27 prototype fighter, replacing the radial engine with the new Rolls-Royce F.XI V-12 (Kestrel) engine, which was also used in the Hart. The new fighter prototype, known as the Hawker Hornet, first flew at Brooklands, Surrey, in March 1929. It was evaluated against the similarly powered Fairey Firefly II, the Hornet being preferred for its better handling and all metal structure compared with the mainly wooden construction of the Firefly. The Hornet was purchased by the Air Ministry at the start of 1930, and was subject to further evaluation, with a small initial production order for 21 aircraft and to be re-designated Fury (the Air Ministry wanting fighter names that "reflected ferocity). The Fury I made its maiden flight on the 25th of March 1931 with chief test pilot George Bulman at Brooklands. An experimental High Speed Fury, (PV3) was also built to test design features for Hawker's planned competitor for the new Air Ministry F.7/30 fighter directive. While unsuccessful, many of the improvements tested were incorporated on the Fury II. Sidney Camm also designed a monoplane version of the Fury from these development tests that with the latter Rolls-Royce Merlin engine was to become the Hawker Hurricane.
The Fury I entered squadron service with the RAF in May 1931, re-equipping 43 Sqd:, but owing to finance cuts due to the depression in the early 30s, only relatively small numbers of the Fury I where ordered over the slower and cheaper Bristol Bulldog. The Fury II entered service in 1936–1937, equipping six squadrons in total. Furies remained with RAF Fighter Command until January 1939, being primarily replaced by Gloster Gladiators and later other types, such as Hawker Hurricane’s, but they continued to be used for training.
The Fury was exported to several customers, (Norway, Iran, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Yugoslavia),being supplied with a variety of engines, including Rolls-Royce Kestrels, Hispano-Suiza, Lorraine-Petrel vee-type, Armstrong-Siddeley Panther, Pratt & Whitney Hornet and Bristol Mercury radials. Three Furies were ordered by Spain in 1935, it being intended to produce another 50 under licence. The Spanish variant had a cantilever undercarriage design, similar to that used on the Gladiator and was powered by a 612 hp (457 kW) Hispano-Suiza 12Xbr engine, reaching a speed of 234 mph (377 km/h). The three aircraft were delivered without armament on 11 July 1936, just before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. They were taken into service by the Republican Air Force, and fitted with machine guns, one was used in the defence of Madrid while one was captured by the Nationalists, although it’s not know if it was used operationally. Yugoslav Furies saw action against Axis forces on the 6th April 1941, a squadron took off to defend their country against the invading German Messerschmitt Bf 109E’s and Bf110’s. In the resulting air battle 10 Furies were destroyed. Another Squadron of Yugoslav Furies active at the time of the invasion strafed enemy tanks and ground forces, some being lost to ground fire and at least one being destroyed in a dogfight with a Fiat-CR.42., before the Armistice on the 15th. Furies were also used by the South African Air Force against the Italian forces in East Africa in 1941 and despite their obsolescence destroyed 2 Caproni bombers as well as strafing many airfields, destroying fighters and bombers on the ground.
Specifications (Hawker Fury Mk II)
Crew: One
Length: 26 ft 9 in (8.15 m)
Wingspan: 30 ft 0 in (9.14 m)
Height: 10 ft 2 in (3.10 m)
Wing area: 250 ft² (23.2 m²)
Empty weight: 2,734 lb (1,240 kg)
Loaded weight: 3,609 lb (1,637 kg)
Power plant: Rolls-Royce Kestrel IV V12. Producing 640 hp (477 kW)
Performance: maximum speed: 223 mph at 16,500 ft (360 km/h at 5,030 m)
Range: 270 miles (435 km)
Service ceiling: 29,500 ft (8,990 m)
Rate of climb: 2,600 ft/min (13.2 m/s)
Wing loading: 14.4 lb/ft² (21.5 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.177 hp/lb (0.291 kW/kg)
Armament: 2 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers MkIV machine guns with 600 rpg
43sqn "The Fighting Cocks" Tangmere 1934/or Biggles fly's undone.

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Pete, it's refreshing to see an aircraft diorama. Chock full of eye candy details...old time car, Lady...seeing her man off, loyal dog, work area, wind sock, etc. The biplane looks spectacular. You really capture the sight, feeling, and ambiance of a period with your enthralling dioramas. Bravo.
Bill.

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