The Hawker Hart and its many derivations, the Demon, Audax, Hardy, Hind, Osprey and Hector must have been the multi-role aircraft of the 1930s. Constructed by Sydney Camm, the prototype Hart flew for the first time in 1928 with production machines reaching RAF service in 1930.
The Hart was armed with a single forward .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun and one rear .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun; the Hart also had a capacity to carry 520 lb (235 kg) of bombs. The Hart had a single 525 hp (390 kW) Rolls-Royce Kestrel IB 12-cylinder V-type engine; a speed of 184 mph (296 km/h) and a range of over 400 mi (640 km). It was much faster than contemporary fighters, an astonishing achievement considering it was a light-bomber, and had high manoeuvrability, making the Hart one of the most effective biplane bombers ever produced for the Royal Air Force.
Sweden acquired the license for series production in Sweden by ASJA, Götaverken and CFM. All Swedish Harts were powered by Bristol Mercury VII engines of 580 hp. radial engines, which resulted in an angular, less elegant appearance than their British Kestrel-engined counterparts. 42 machines were produced in total. In Swedish service the aircraft received a military designation B4 and was primarily used as a dive bomber.
During the Winter War of 1939-40 between Finland and the Soviet Union, the Swedish volunteer unit F 19 (Flygflottiljen 19). oerated for 62 days in the northern Finland. The unit was equipped with aircraft purchased with the money collected among the Swedish public: 12 Gloster Gladiators Mk.I fighters, 5 Hawker Harts dive bombers and two Junkers F-13 transport.
The 12 Gladiators represented 1/3 of the Swedish Air Force fighter inventory.
The project to assist Finland with a Swedish unit progressed: Capt. Bjuggren (later the executive officer for F19) traveled to Finland on the 13th of December 1939. He flew in a Junkers Ju-52 transport plane to Turku (Åbo). The Junkers was loaded full with the ammunition for the fighters. A government car took Bjuggren from Turku to Helsinki for discussions with the Finnish Air Force HQ. Talks progressed so that already on the 15th of December it was decided that the Swedes would take part in the Winter War.
There were five Harts in F 19, of which three of them were lost in service. All of them were flown with Finnish national markings. Individual aircraft carried identification letters R, Z, Y, X and M respectively.
The Hart was armed with a single forward .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun and one rear .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun; the Hart also had a capacity to carry 520 lb (235 kg) of bombs. The Hart had a single 525 hp (390 kW) Rolls-Royce Kestrel IB 12-cylinder V-type engine; a speed of 184 mph (296 km/h) and a range of over 400 mi (640 km). It was much faster than contemporary fighters, an astonishing achievement considering it was a light-bomber, and had high manoeuvrability, making the Hart one of the most effective biplane bombers ever produced for the Royal Air Force, Swedish Air Force and other operators.
All Swedish Air Force Harts were also equipped with ski undercarriage as an alternative to conventional wheels. However, the aircraft could also carry extra winter gear for the crew - a pair of wooden skis which during normal flight could be carried strapped along the rear fuselage.
Swedish Air Force general Bjorn Bjuggren wrote in his memoirs how his squadron in the mid 1930s developed dive-bombing techniques for their Hawker Harts B4s. (He actually claims that he got this idea from watching a Hollywood movie with divebombers.) When the Hawker engineers found out, they issued a formal objection, saying that the plane had not been designed for that purpose; however, during the Winter War Swedish volunteers proved that the aircraft was up to that task and dispelled their concern.
Today, a replica of this machine is yet preserved and displayed at the Swedish Air Force Museum in Linköping, Sweden.
(Source: Wikipedia on line and Revista Fach #136, 1975 (Chilean Air Force magazine)).
General characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 29 ft 4 in (8.94 m)
Wingspan: 37 ft 3 in (11.36 m)
Height: 10 ft 5 in (3.18 m)
Wing area: 349.5 ft² (32.5 m²)
Empty weight: 2,530 lb (1,150 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 4,596 lb (2,089 kg)
Powerplant: 1× Bristol Mercury VII radial or Bristol Pegaus IM2, air-cooled engine, 580 hp.
Performance
Maximum speed: 161 kn (185 mph, 298 km/h) at 13,000 ft
Stall speed: 39 kn (45 mph, 72 km/h) [2]
Range: 374 nmi (430 mi, 692 km)
Service ceiling: 22,800 ft (6,950 m)
Wing loading: 13.2 lb/ft² (64.3 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.11 hp/lb (0.182 kW/kg)
Climb to 10,000 ft 8 minutes, 30 seconds
Armament
1 × synchronised forward firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun, on the right (starboard) side, in swedish version.
1 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun on Scarff ring in rear cockpit, or ksp m/22 of 8mm caliber on swedish version.
Up to 500 lb (227 kg) bombs under wings.
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Based on FS.5/FSFS Mike Hill original.
All reworked to CFS, with new air file, up-scaled, damage profile, moving parts and new textures by Edmundo Abad, 2012.
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This virtual model represent the Hart "black M", on finnish winter war camouflage. A replica of this machine is yet preserved and displayed at the Swedish Air Force Museum in Linköping, Sweden.
As second set of textures, I have included the Hart #1301, the first Hart made at Sweden, but powered by Bristol Pegaus IM2, instead the Mercury VII engine.
This virtual model is up-scaled to obtain a better view in Combat Flight Simulator.
(for accurate scale in FS98, replace the file Hart-fin.mdl by Hart-fin.old.mdl and rename this as Hart-fin.mdl)
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Installation FS98/CFS
1. Unzip to Temporaly directory "Hart-fin".
2. Copy "Hart-fin" folder to X:\CFS\aircraft directory.
3. Copy "gauges" folder to X:\CFS\gauges directory.
