page_title: Hawker Sea Hawk
section_title: Operational history
hierarchical_section_title: Hawker Sea Hawk / Operational history
caption_attribution_description: A Royal Navy Hawker Sea Hawk FGA.6 of 899 Naval Air Squadron, armed with rockets, about to be launched from the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle (R05) for a strike on an Egyptian airfield.
context_page_description: The Hawker Sea Hawk is a British single-seat jet day fighter formerly of the Fleet Air Arm, the air branch of the Royal Navy, built by Hawker Aircraft and its sister company, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Although its design originated from earlier Hawker piston-engined fighters, the Sea Hawk became the company's first jet aircraft.
  Following acceptance in the RN, the Sea Hawk proved to be a reliable and sturdy workhorse. A considerable number were also produced for the export market and were operated from aircraft carriers in Dutch and Indian service. The last operational Sea Hawks, operated by the Indian Navy, were retired in 1983.
context_section_description: The first production Sea Hawk was the F 1, which first flew in 1951, entered service two years later with 806 Squadron, first based at Brawdy, then transferred to HMS Eagle. All Sea Hawks were in service by the mid-1950s and eventually over 500 were built.
  During service evaluations of the Sea Hawk, Australian and Canadian naval pilots flew the aircraft leading to official suggestions that the aircraft would be chosen by the two countries. Both nations were also interested in new American-built naval aircraft; only a handful of Sea Hawks were transferred to either nation, some operating from the flight deck of the Australian Majestic-class aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney, though these did not enter full squadron service.
  In 1956, shortly after the termination of the Sea Hawk production line, the Federal Republic of Germany placed an order for 64 aircraft to equip the Bundesmarine, the West German navy, considering them good value for money. The Bundesmarine had a requirement for a day fighter-bomber and one with an all-weather capability; 32 aircraft of each variant were ordered, the Mk 100 limited to good weather, and the Mk 101 equipped with a pod-based EKCO-built search radar for sea reconnaissance in all weathers. The German Sea Hawks served into the mid-1960s, until replaced by the F-104 Starfighter.
  The Netherlands placed an order for 30 aircraft, as the Sea Hawk Mk 50, a ground-attack variant for the Royal Netherlands Navy, which was financed by NATO funding. The Mk 50 was externally similar to the Royal Navy aircraft, differing in its use of a Philips-built ultra high frequency (UHF) radio; Dutch Sea Hawks were later equipped to each carry a pair of AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missiles. Between 1957 and 1964, the Dutch Navy operated 22 aircraft. The last export customer was India which ordered 24 new Sea Hawks and 12 refurbished ex-FAA Mk 6s in 1959, following up with 30 additional airframes reconstructed from West German stocks, among others.
caption: A Sea Hawk of 899 Squadron on HMS Eagle during the Suez Crisis.
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