Fly Past

HAWKER HORSLEY 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

BOMBERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 23

Above left

Built in 1927, it was

August 1929 before

Horsley I J7993

entered service,

with 33 Squadron at

Netheravon. By the

spring of 1930 it had

joined 504 Squadron

at Hucknall, retiring in

September 1932. KEC

when it converted to Hawker Harts
in the spring of 1930. The special
reserve 504 (County of Nottingham)
Squadron was formed at Hucknall
in 1928 and the following year took
delivery of Horsleys. They were traded
in for Westland Wallaces in March
1934.
At Leuchars, the Coast Defence
Torpedo Bomber Flight started
working up on Horsleys from July
1928 and became operational, as
36 Squadron at Donibristle, in
September. In late 1930 the unit
relocated to Seletar, Singapore, to
boost British presence at the newly
completed naval base. Vickers
Vildebeests replaced 36 Squadron’s
Horsleys in July 1935.

UPSTAGED
The cavernou s fuselage and large
wings of the Horsley made it ideal to
be turned into a flying fuel tank for
ultra-long range sorties. A non-stop
flight to India to show off British
aeronautical prowess and to do a spot

of ‘flag waving’ was a very tempting

prospect.

Hawker prepared two Horsley

Specials, J8607 and J8608. Standard

fuel tankage was 276 Imp gal (1,254

lit) and this was boosted to 1,320 in

the wings and within the fuselage.

This got the take-off weight up to

an incredible 14,000lb (6,350kg) –

just shy of that of the twin-engined

Handley Page Hinaidi heavy bomber.

That explains why J8607 just missed

the boundary wall on take-off from

Cranwell at 10:38 hours (all times

local) on May 20, 1927. The Horsley

was piloted by Flt Lt Charles ‘Roddy’

Carr – later Air Marshal Sir Roderick

Carr – and navigated by Flt Lt L E M

Gillman. The biplane was observed

over southern Germany, heading for

the Alps. Then there were no more

sightings.

Abeam Bandar Abbas in Iran, a fuel

blockage ended the adventure. After

34 hours airborne, they had achieved

a world record distance of 3,419 miles

(5,502km). Carr made an approach

to what he thought was a flat stretch

of sand, but it turned out to be the

Persian Gulf at its most tranquil.

At 21:08 on May 21 J8607 settled

into the water and the crew climbed

on to the top wing and hoped for

rescue. They were picked up the

following day.

Another heavily laden aircraft had

struggled into the air on May 20,

clearing telephone wires by a matter

of feet. The time was 07:52, the venue

Roosevelt Field, New York. Piloting

the single-engined Ryan NYP, Spirit of

St Louis, was Charles Lindbergh. He

touched down at Le Bourget, Paris,

at 22:22 on the 21st, having taken 33

hours 30 minutes to fly 3,590 miles to

achieve the first solo non-stop crossing

of the Atlantic.

Paris time was three hours ahead of

the clock in Bandar Abbas. Drenched

and defeated, Carr and Gillman could

not have known it, but their record

stood for just a couple of hours. Their

endeavours were lost in the tsunami of

press coverage that greeted the ‘Lone

Eagle’ – Lindbergh.

Undaunted, Carr was at the controls

of the second Horsley Special, J8608,

as it departed Cranwell on June 16,

1927, again bound for India. In the

back was Flt Lt P H Mackworth. An

oil leak in the Rolls-Royce Condor

IIIA – named after a bird of prey –

necessitated a precautionary landing at

Martlesham Heath.

Repaired, J8608 and Carr set off

again, on August 2, with Fg Off E C

Dearth navigating. They got as far as

Austria where another ditching, this

time into the far more hostile River

Danube near Linz, was required.

Workmen on the bank dragged the

two men out of the wreck: Carr was

merely shaken, Dearth was badly

injured, but made a full recovery.

The India expedition was quietly

shelved.

Type: Two-seat day/torpedo bomber

First fl ight: 1925, entered service August 1926

Powerplant: One 665hp (496kW) Rolls-Royce Condor IIIA V12

Dimensions: Span 56ft 6in (17.22m), Length 38ft 10in (11.83m)

Weights: Empty 4,958lb (2,248kg), All-up 9,271lb (4,205kg)

Max speed: 113mph (181km/h) at 10,000ft (3,048m) in bomber role

Range: 900 miles (1,448km)

Armament: One 0.303in machine gun fi ring through propeller arc, another in

dorsal position. Up to 1,500lb (680kg) of bombs or one 2,150lb (975)

torpedo

Replaced: De Havilland DH.9A and Fairey Fawn from 1926

Taken on charge: 113

Replaced by: Westland Wapiti from 1928, Hawker Hart from 1930, Vickers

Vildebeest from 1932

HAWKER HORSLEY II

“Abeam Bandar Abbas in Iran, a fuel blockage ended the adventure.

...Carr made an approach to what he thought was a fl at stretch of

sand, but it turned out to be the Persian Gulf at its most tranquil.”