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Newsletter 26
Spring 2010
Updated on 22Feb2010
Published by the Hawker Association
for the Members.
Contents © Hawker Association

Contents
Editorial
Book reviews
Camm Windsor memorial
Christmas lunch
Handley Page sixty years
Harrier news
Harry Hawker biography
Hawk news
Hurricane & Fury news
International powered lift
Making them right
Members
New RN carriers news
Programme
RAF museum news
Sea Harrier news
Sea Hawk & Sea Fury news
Visit to Rolls-Royce  
    The Red Arrows team of nine pilots for the 2010 season, led by SLdr Ben Murphy, for the first time includes a woman pilot, FltLt Kirsty Moore, although the RAF has had female aircrew for nearly two decades. Selection for the ‘Reds’ is a considerable achievement in itself as each year 30 - 40 pilots apply for the very few vacancies. Flt Lt Moore, a Tornado GR4 pilot, has an MSc in aeronautical engineering and has seen combat in Iraq. Her father is a Tornado navigator who was shot down and captured in the first Gulf War, and her husband is an RAF advanced weapons instructor. The Association can look forward to a talk from her once she has had time to relax a bit.
    The 221st, and last, T-45 Goshawk was delivered by Boeing to the US Navy on the 20th October 2009 in a ceremony at St Louis. The centre and rear fuselages, wings, air intakes, canopies and windscreens had all been built by BAe and BAES over the past twenty years. BAES continues to provide in-service support via Boeing. Future upgrades are a possibility.

Hawk News

toptop
    New customers for Hawk are being sought, one of the biggest opportunities being the Advanced European Jet Pilot Trainer (AEJPT) programme to serve nine European nations (Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden)  requiring 100 - 150 aircraft. BAES is responding, with the Hawk AJT/T2, to a Request for Information (RFI). Collaborative agreements have already been reached by BAES with industry partners on the Continent. The in-service date is expected to be 2014 with a Request for Proposal (RFP) in late 2010 - early 2011.
    BAES has also responded to two RFIs issued by the USAF for a T-38 Talon replacement for which there is no suitable indigenous aircraft. Some 350 - 500 are required to be in-service in 2017 and an RFP is expected early in 2011. Discussions are in hand with potential US partners. Both requirements are for complete training systems.
    Also, Poland is looking for a new lead-in fighter trainer which might be for new or second-hand aircraft. In the latter case upgraded Finnish Hawks might be offered. A middle-east country is also seeking new trainers.
    An upgraded and more capable software standard has been delivered for the South African Hawk Mk120 fleet’s navigation and weapons system (OC3D). The system was developed in South Africa by Advanced Technologies & Engineering and BAES.
    The last of 24 BAES built Hawk Mk132s for India was handed over in October 2009. It was actually the first aircraft, HT001, which was retained in the UK (as ZK121) for nearly three years as the type development and instructor training aircraft.
    The Royal Navy Hawk fleet of six aircraft at RNAS Culdrose has been carrying a special ‘Fly Navy 100’ livery throughout 2009 to mark the centenary of the ‘Fleet Air Arm‘.