Harry Hawker

Harry George Hawker MBE, AFC, (January 22, 1889 – July 12, 1921) was an Australian aviation pioneer and co-founder of Hawker Aircraft, the firm that would later be responsible for a long series of successful military aircraft, including the Fury, Sea Fury, Hurricane, Hunter and Harrier.

Early life

Hawker was born in Moorabbin, Victoria"The Automobile" September 2007 Harry Hawker - Automobilist. author Bruce Lindsay] . As a 11-year-old he worked at the Melbourne garage of Hall & Warden helping to build engines for five shillings a week, moving on to the Tarrant Motor & Engineering Co helping make Tarrant cars where he qualified as a mechanic. In 1907 he moved again to become the chauffeur and mechanic for Ernest De Little in Caramut, Western Victoria before going to England in 1912. Here he joined the Commer Car Company and then the Sopwith Aviation Company in late 1912. He became immersed in aviation, began instructing novice flyers, and managed hangars at Brooklands aerodrome, the hub of British aviation. Having established his name as an aviator he became chief test pilot for Tom Sopwith who was already recognised as the originator of many fine aircraft. At Sopwiths, in 1915, Hawker had the personal use of a small aircraft, the further development of which led to the Sopwith Pup. He was also a regular competitor in the car races at Brooklands.

Return to Australia

In 1914 Harry Hawker returned to Australia to demonstrate the advanced Sopwith Tabloid which he had earlier helped design. A wild crowd nearly wrecked the plane on one occasion and he further damaged it during stunt flying, so he went back to England, where he remained throughout the Great War, designing and testing production aircraft with Sopwith.

Post-war life

After the war, together with navigator Kenneth Mackenzie Grieve he attempted to become the first to achieve a non-stop flight across the Atlantic. On May 18 1919 they set off from Mount Pearl in a Sopwith Atlantic biplane named "Atlantic". After fourteen and a half hours of flight the engine overheated and they were forced to crash land in the ocean, fortunately within sight of a passing freighter, the Danish "Mary". It wasn't until six days later when the boat reached Europe that word was received that they were safe. He won the Daily Mail prize of 5000 pounds, however. The wheels from the undercarriage, jettisoned soon after takeoff were later recovered by local fishermen and can be seen in the Newfoundland Museum in St John's.

In September 1920 Sopwith Aviation was liquidated because of fears the government would examine the wartime aircraft production contracts of companies like Sopwith and impose a crippling retrospective tax liability on them.

A new beginning

Harry Hawker, Tom Sopwith, Fred Sigist, and Bill Eyre then formed a new company, each contributing 5,000 pounds. To avoid any possible claims against the new company for the wartime contracts of the old company, they chose to call it H.G. Hawker Engineering. (It was renamed Hawker Aircraft in 1933.) As Tom Sopwith put it: "to avoid any muddle if we had gone on building aeroplanes and called them Sopwiths—there was bound to be a muddle somewhere—we called the company the Hawker Company. I didn't mind. He was largely responsible for our growth during the war."

Death

Hawker was killed in 1921 when his experimental aircraft crashed while practicing for an airshow. He had spinal tuberculosis and that plus a fire in the air were considered contributing factors.

Hawker is buried in St Pauls' Church, Chessington, Surrey (facing in the direction of the Ace of Spades roundabout, towards Surbiton).

In memoriam

In 1989 Moorabbin Airport at Mentone in Australia was renamed "Moorabbin (Harry Hawker) Airport".

References

* [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090236b.htm?hilite=hawker Australian Dictionary of Biography: Harry Hawker]