+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Hawker Fury was a British biplane fighter aircraft used primarily by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s. It was a development of the earlier Hawker F.20/27 prototype fighter, replacing the radial engine of the F.20/27 with the new Rolls-Royce F.XI V-12 engine (later known as the Rolls-Royce Kestrel), which was also used by Hawker's new light bomber, the Hawker Hart. The new fighter prototype, known as the Hawker Hornet, first flew at Brooklands, Surrey, in March 1929. The Hornet was a single-engine biplane, with single bay wings. It was initially powered by a 420 hp (313 kW) Rolls-Royce F.XIC engine enclosed by a smooth, streamlined cowling, but was quickly re-engined with a 480 hp (358 kW) Kestrel IS.
The prototype was evaluated against the similarly powered Fairey Firefly II, being preferred because of its better handling and its all-metal structure, compared with the mainly wooden construction of the Firefly.
The Hornet was eventually won the competition and was purchased by the Air Ministry in early 1930. It was, however, subjected to more tests, with a small initial production order for 21 aircraft placed during 1930. At this stage the Hornet was renamed Fury, as the Air Ministry wanted fighter names that "reflected ferocity". The ultimate production Fury Mk. I made its maiden flight at Brooklands on 25 March 1931.
The Fury was the first operational RAF fighter aircraft to be able to exceed 200 mph (322 km/h) in level flight. It had highly sensitive controls which gave it superb dogfight characteristics and aerobatic performance. It was designed partly for the fast interception of bombers and to that end it had an outstanding climb rate of almost 2,400 ft/min (730 m/min) when powered by a 525 hp/391 kW Kestrel engine. Firmly believing in the aircraft’s potential, Sidney Camm even designed in 1933 a monoplane version of the Fury, but it was not developed further until Rolls-Royce produced what became their famous Merlin engine. The design was then revised according to Air Ministry specification F5/34 to become the prototype Hawker Hurricane.
The Fury I entered squadron service with the RAF in May 1931, but owing to finance cuts in the Great Depression, only relatively small numbers of Fury Is were ordered. The improved Fury II entered service in 1936–1937, increasing total number of operational RAF Fury squadrons to six. Furies remained with RAF Fighter Command until January 1939, replaced primarily with Gloster Gladiators and other types, such as Hawker Hurricane. During the Thirties the Fury was furthermore exported to several customers, including Portugal, Spain, Persia and South Africa. These aircraft were supplied with a variety of engines, including Kestrels, Hispano Suiza and Lorraine Petrel vee-type engines, and Armstrong Siddeley Panther, Pratt & Whitney Hornet and Bristol Mercury radials. A total of 262 Furies were eventually produced.
A major foreign operator of the Fury was Yugoslavia. Initially, Yugoslavia ordered a version called Mk. IA, which was similar to the RAF’s Fury Mk I, for trials and potential license production. It was powered by a Kestrel IIS piston engine, and six were built by Hawker. One was delivered fitted with a 500 hp (373 kW) Hispano-Suiza 12 NB engine, with poorer performance, and was re-fitted with a Kestrel, while a second was later used for trials with a 720 hp (537 kW) Lorraine Petrel HFrs engine.
The valuations were successful and led to the so-called “ Yugoslav Fury”, a thoroughly revised aircraft, powered by a 745 horsepower (556 kW) Kestrel XVI piston engine, fitted with a low drag radiator and a Dowty cantilever undercarriage with internally sprung wheels (similar to the contemporary Gloster Gladiator). Beyond the standard pair of machine guns in the upper front fuselage, these aircraft had provisions for two more machine guns under the lower wings in streamlined pods. Ten were made by Hawker and delivered 1936–37, with a further 40 license-built in Yugoslavia by Ikarus (24) and Zmaj (16).
At that time the RAF was already phasing the Fury out, and twenty of these retired aircraft – originally scheduled to be sold to Persia and already re-engined with new, tropicalized Bristol Mercury radial engines and designated Mk. IB – were taken over by the Royal Yugoslav Air Force, too. The more powerful Mercury engine appreciably improved the Fury’s performance, despite a slightly higher all-up weight and poorer aerodynamics: top speed rose by 30 mph (50 km/h), service ceiling by 3.000 ft (1.000 m) and time to 10.000 ft (3.000 m) was reduced by 20 seconds to just 3½ minutes.
The Mk. IBs arrived in Yugoslavia in mid-1938 and were further upgraded by Zmaj with elements from the license-produced Yugoslav Furies. The most obvious detail were the additional Browning machine guns under the lower wings, and weapons of the same type replaced the original fuselage-mounted Vickers Mk IV machine guns. A new three-blade variable-pitch metal propeller replaced the wooden single-pitch two-blade propeller, greatly improving the aircraft’s handling and fuel economy. The original landing gear was retained, but the wheels were upgraded with Dowty wheels with internal springs (like the Fury Mk. IA) and a tail wheel replaced the original tailskid, making the aircraft better suited for operations on paved runways.
Yugoslav Furies soon saw action against Axis forces in the German invasion of 1941. On 6 April 1941, a squadron of Furies took off against the invading German Messerschmitt Bf 109Es and Messerschmitt Bf 110s. In the resulting air battle 10 Furies were destroyed, almost the entire squadron. In an unequal battle against superior adversaries, five aircraft were destroyed while taking off and eight pilots killed. Two more Furies and Bücker Bü 131 trainers were destroyed on the ground. Of the attacking German aircraft, five Bf 109s and two Bf 110s failed to return, though most were non-combat losses, and at least one was lost after having been rammed by a Yugoslav Fury.
The other active Yugoslav Fury squadron at the time of the invasion strafed enemy tanks and ground forces, some aircraft being lost to ground fire and one was destroyed in a dogfight with an Italian Fiat CR.42. The rest of the Yugoslav Furies were destroyed at the time of Armistice on 15 April or when they became unserviceable.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 26 ft 7 in (8.11 m)
Wingspan: 30 ft 0 in (9.14 m)
Height: 10 ft 2 in (3.10 m)
Wing area: 252 sq ft (23.4 m²)
Empty weight: 2,9514 lb (1,340 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 3,814 lb (1,732 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Bristol Mercury IX 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 830 hp (620 kW)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 253 mph (407 km/h, 220 kn) at 14,500 ft (4,420 m)
Range: 270 mi (430 km, 230 nmi)
Service ceiling: 32,800 ft (10,000 m)
Time to altitude: 3 min 35 sec. to 10,000 ft (3,000 m)
Armament:
4× 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns; two in the upper front fuselage, synchronized to fire
through the propeller disc with 600 RPG, plus one with 400 RPG beneath each lower wing
The kit and its assembly:
This quick build was based on the remnants of a Matchbox Hawker Fury biplane, which had donated its engine to another build, and leftover pieces from at least two Matchbox Gloster Gladiator kits, all mashed into one to create a fictional late Fury variant with a radial engine and some other updates. The Fury kit is a late Revell re-boxing, and while it retained the crisp details of the original, the molds seem to have suffered a little because the fuselage halves did not fit well and called for considerable PSR.
The Fury – or what was left of it – was built OOB, I just had to improvise the cowling ahead of the cockpit and scratch a front end to replace the inline engine. This was done with a piece from a bulbous (probably 1:48) drop tank, which was tailored to take the upper wing struts, and the rest of the fuselage was sculpted with 2C putty around an engine mount at the core, which was made from styrene profiles.
The different engine was 100% taken from a Matchbox Gladiator, even though I added a matching grid from another 9-cylinder radial for a different look. The three-blade propeller is new, too, probably from a Hobby Boss Fw 190A. From another Gladiator came the underwing machine gun pods as well as the Dowty wheels, which look more modern than the Fury’s OOB wheels. For an even more modernized look I replaced the Fury’s tailskid with a self-castoring tailwheel – apparently from a Gladiator, too.
The exhaust pipes were scratched from wire, the carburetor intake for the Mercury engine is a piece of sprue and the ventral oil cooler is a piece from a backrest (from a Matchbox Heinkel 70).
Painting and markings:
While the idea of an update Fury was quickly settled and defined by the ingredients at hand, finding a suitable operator was not an easy task. I considered various options and eventually settled for Yugoslavia, because this country was major Fury operator and I had appropriate national markings at hand.
The tri-color camouflage was based on the individual und very disruptive schemes that Yugoslavian Hawker Hurricanes carried. Information concerning the colors is quite contradictive, but AFAIK the schemes consisted of a yellowish sand brown, a medium khaki green and a dark, reddish brown, over light blue undersides with a low, wavy waterline raising from the wings to the stabilizers. Every aircraft carried a different pattern, and some machines of British origin also carried the former Temperate Land Scheme (Dark Green/Dark Earth/alu dope undersides), at least for a while.
I used Humbrol 63 (Sand), Modelmaster 2027 (FS 34096, Dark Olive) and Modelmaster 2106 (Burnt Umber), over Humbrol 87 (Steel Grey), because I wanted colors with good contrast from each other. The cockpit interior became anthracite (Revell 09), while the wing struts were painted in a dirty black (Revell 06).
The “windmill” roundels for the wings came from an Xtradecal sheet for Bristol Blenheims, the small fin flash was created with single decal stripes in red, white and blue, trying to match the roundels’ colors. The roman codes were typical for the Hurricanes between 1938-40 and created with single white letters from TL Modellbau. According to the typical Yugoslavian liveries of the era, the aircraft did, beyond national markings and tactical codes, not carry any colorful decoration, but I could not resist and added small unit badges in front of the fin flash.
The model received a light ink washing to emphasize the nice fabric structure on the wings, as well as some post-shading and weathering through dry-brushing with beige. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and the rigging was added, created with heated and stretched black sprue material.
A relatively simple and quick build, and an attempt to “create something plausible” from leftover stuff. While Yugoslavia is not the most exotic operator of the Fury, I think that the fictional aircraft looks good in these colors and markings, even though the bulky radial really kills the Fury’s elegant lines, esp. its streamlined nose section. It looks quite backdated and reminds of a juvenile Fairey Swordfish?
