The Hawker Duiker was an unusual, but unsuccessful aircraft. It was the first design under a new chief designer, Capt Thomson, in 1922. Much of the equipment & parts were propriety & made by another aircraft company, Vickers, which also shared the airfield at Brooklands. The Duiker was a parasol wing monoplane in a period where the biplane held sway. The intended purpose of the aircraft was for army reconnaissance. Vickers Armstrong (Aircraft) company logo Vickers, founded as the Vickers Company in 1828, was a British manufacturer, primarily of military equipment, traditionally based in Barrow-in-Furness. ... Brooklands was a motor racing circuit built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. ... An amateur-built aircraft featuring a parasol wing A parasol wing monoplane is an aircraft design in which the wing is not mounted directly to the fuselage, but rather, the fuselage is supported beneath it by a set of struts. ... A monoplane is an aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. ... Hs123 biplane. ... Mixed reconnaissance patrol of the Polish Home Army and the Soviet Red Army during Operation Tempest, 1944 Reconnaissance is the military term for the active gathering of information about an enemy, or other conditions, by physical observation. ...

Construction

The Duiker had an all wood structure. The wings has a slight sweep-back, which gave rise to instability at all speeds, and even caused the separation of the wing from the rear struts. The fin was rather small and was typical of Sopwith design in shape. An Armstrong-Sidderley Jaguar engine was initially used, but this was later changed for a Bristol Jupiter IV. The first flight took place in July 1923. Only one aircraft was built. The Sopwith Aviation Company was a British aircraft company that manufactured aeroplanes for the British Military in the first world war, most famously the Sopwith Camel. ... Bristol (IPA: ) is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, 115 miles (185 km) west of London and located at With a population of 400,000, and metropolitan area of 550,000, it is Englands sixth, and the United Kingdoms ninth, most populous city...

Specification

• Span - 48' 5" [14.76 m]
• Length - 31' 5" [9.58 m]
• Height - 10' 7" [3.23 m]
• Empty Wt - 3950 lb [1792 kg]
• Design Max Wt - 4940 lb [2241 kg]
• Max Wt limited by unsafe flight - 4700 lb [2132 kg]
• Max Speed - 125 mph [201.2 km/h]
• Ceiling - 14500' [4420 m]
• Range - 340 miles [547.1 km]

Reference

• "Hawker Aircraft since 1920" by Francis K Mason - pub Putnam