Hawker Sea Hawk Mark 101

The Hawker Sea Hawk Mark 101 was a bad-weather reconnaissance-fighter produced for West Germany. In 1956 the West German navy ordered a total of 64 Sea Hawks, half of which were delivered as Mk.100 day fighters and half as the Mk.101 bad-weather reconnaissance and fighter aircraft. Like the Mk.100 the Mk.101 was based on the F.G.A.6, but with a larger fin and rudder (introduced to balance the weight of the radar) and UHF radio.

The bad-weather capability was provided by an Ekco 38B search radar carried in a pod on the starboard inner pylon. This was the first time radar had been carried on the Sea Hawk, and it was not a great success. The aircraft's electrical system was not designed to support radar, and in order to provide enough power for the radar the hydraulically powered ailerons had to be shut off. This made it harder to fly the aircraft just when the pilot needed to be concentrating on the radar.

The first twelve Mk.100s were delivered complete, but the remaining Mk.100s and all 32 Mk.101s were delivered in parts and assembled by Focke-Wulf in a small factory built in the middle of the ruins of their massive Second World War complex at Bremen. The last aircraft was delivered to Bremen on 21 April 1959.

The Sea Hawk served with Marinefliegergruppe Mfg-1 and Mfg-2 of the Marineflieger until they were replaced by the Lockheed F.104G Starflight during 1965.

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How to cite this article: Rickard, J (6 June 2010), Hawker Sea Hawk Mark 101 , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_hawker_sea_hawk_101.html

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