De Havilland Hornet

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D.H.103 Hornet
The de Havilland Hornet Mk 1 (F.1)
Type	land and naval fighter aircraft
Manufacturer	de Havilland
Maiden flight	1944
Retired	1956
Primary users	Royal Air Force (209) Fleet Air Arm (174)
Number built	383
Developed from	de Havilland Mosquito

The de Havilland D.H.103 Hornet was a development of de Havilland's classic Mosquito designed as private venture for a long-range fighter for use in the Pacific Theater in the war against Japan. Specification F.12/43 was written around the type. Entering service just too late for the war, the Hornet equipped Fighter Command day fighter units in the UK and later was used with success as a strike fighter in Malaya.

The Hornet first flew in 1944 and remained in service until 1956. Powered by twin "slimline" Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, it was the fastest piston-engined fighter in Royal Air Force service. The Hornet has the distinction of being the fastest wooden aircraft ever built and the second fastest operational twin propeller-driven aircraft — being slightly slower than the unconventional German Dornier Do 335 of 1945.

The Hornet was somewhat unusual in that it had propellers that rotated in opposite directions. To achieve this the engines were slightly different, hence the double Merlin marks of 130/131. This feature effectively cancels the variable and cumulative torque effect of two propellers turning in the same direction that had affected earlier designs such as the de Havilland Mosquito, in turn reducing the amount of adverse yaw caused by aileron trim corrections and generally providing more stable and predictable behaviour in flight.

The prototype achieved 780 km/h (485 mph) in level flight, which came down to 760 km/h (472 mph) in production aircraft.

Construction was of mixed balsa/ply similar to the earlier Mosquito, but the Hornet differed in incorporating aluminium lower-wing skins bonded to the wooden upper wing structure using the then-new adhesive, Redux.

A naval carrier variant was produced as the Sea Hornet F.20, and also a radar-equipped night fighter version with an additional crew member under a separate bubble canopy which entered service as the Sea Hornet NF.21.

Contents 1 Service 2 Variants 3 Operators 4 Units using the Hornet 4.1 Royal Air Force 4.2 Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm 5 Specifications (Hornet F.3) 6 References 7 External links 8 Related content

[edit] Service

The Hornet entered service in 1946, mainly in the Far East, including action in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency.

[edit] Variants

• Hornet F.1: Fighter

60 built

• Hornet PR.2: Photo-reconnaissance

5 built

• Hornet F.3: Fighter

132 built

• Hornet FR.4: Fighter-reconnaissance

12 built

• Sea Hornet F.20: A navalised version for service on British aircraft carriers

79 built

• Sea Hornet NF.21: FAA night fighter, with Merlin 133/134 engines

72 built

• Sea Hornet PR.22: Photo-reconnaissance

23 built

[edit] Operators

• United Kingdom
  • Royal Air Force.
  • Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm.

[edit] Units using the Hornet

[edit] Royal Air Force

• No. 19 Squadron RAF
• No. 33 squadron RAF
• No. 41 Squadron RAF
• No. 45 Squadron RAF
• No. 64 Squadron RAF
• No. 65 Squadron RAF
• No. 80 Squadron RAF

[edit] Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm

• 703 Naval Air Squadron
• 728 Naval Air Squadron
• 736 Naval Air Squadron
• 738 Naval Air Squadron
• 739 Naval Air Squadron
• 759 Naval Air Squadron
• 771 Naval Air Squadron
• 778 Naval Air Squadron
• 787 Naval Air Squadron
• 792 naval Air Squadron
• 801 Naval Air Squadron
• 806 Naval Air Squadron
• 809 Naval Air Squadron
• 1833 Naval Air Squadron

[edit] Specifications (Hornet F.3)

Data from ^[1]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 36 ft 8 in (11.18 m)
• Wingspan: 45 ft (13.72 m)
• Height: 14 ft 2 in (4.3 m)
• Wing area: 361 ft² (33.54 m²)
• Loaded weight: 19,550 lb (8,886 kg)
• Powerplant: 2× Rolls-Royce Merlin 130/131 12-cylinder engines, 2,080 hp (1,551 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 472 mph at 22,000 ft (760 km/h at 6,706 m)
• Range: 3,000 mi (4,828 km)
• Service ceiling: 35,000 ft (10,668 m)
• Rate of climb: 4,000 ft/min (20.3 m/s)

Armament

• 4x 20 mm Hispano cannon (with 190 rounds per gun) in fuselage nose
• 2x 1000 lb (454 kg) bombs under wing, outboard of engines
• 8x 60 lb (27 kg) RP-3 unguided rockets

[edit] References

1. ^ Jane, Fred T. “The D.H. 103 Hornet.” Jane’s Fighting Aircraft of World War II. London: Studio, 1946. p. 114. ISBN 1 85170 493 0.

• Aeroplane Monthly - June 2005, pg 68
• The de Havilland Hornet Project website

[edit] External links

• Hornet and Sea Hornet
• The de Havilland Hornet Project
• the de Havilland Hornet & Sea Hornet
• Hornet & Sea Hornet / Variant Summary

[edit] Related content

Related development

• de Havilland Mosquito

Comparable aircraft

• Grumman F7F Tigercat
• Lockheed P-38 Lightning
• Westland Welkin

Designation sequence

DH.95 - DH.98 - DH.100 - DH.103 - DH.104 - DH.106 - DH.110