Hawker Hind

The last of the RAFs light bombers to feature biplane wings, the Hawker Hind was designed in 1934 to function as an interim replacement for the Hawker Hart. The Hind was essentially an improvement of the Hart, with a more powerful engine, improvements to the crew space, and a tailwheel instead of a skid. The aircraft was rapidly produced until 1937, and was supplied to the RAF and the Commonwealth nations of New Zealand, India and South Africa, as well as export sales to Afghanistan, Latvia, Persia, Portugal, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia. After 1937, the Bristol Blenheim and Fairey Battle began to replace the Hind, which was then relegated to training purposes. By 1942, the Hind had been phased out of active service altogether.

The Hind has a crew of two: pilot and bombardier. The plane uses 24 gallons of gasoline per hour at routine usage. It had a historical range of 430 miles. A full load of fuel and ammo (excluding bombs) costs $34.

Hawker Hind Mk I

Subassemblies: Recon Fighter chassis +2; Light Fighter wings with Biplane option +2; 3 fixed wheels +0.

Powertrain: 477-kW HP gasoline engine with 477-kW prop, 120-gallon fuel tank [Body], and 4,000-kWs battery.

Occ.: 2 XCS Body

Cargo: 0

Armor F RL B T U

Body: 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2

Wings: 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C

Wheels: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3

Weaponry:

Aircraft LMG/.303 Vickers Mk III [Body:F] (1,000 rounds).

Aircraft LMG/.303 Lewis [Body:B] (1,000 rounds).

580 lbs. of Bombs [Wings:U].

Equipment:

Body: Medium radio transmitter and receiver, autopilot, navigation instruments, bombsight, universal and casemate mount for rear MG, 3 hardpoints.

Statistics:

Size: 29'x37'x10' Payload: 1.02 tons Lwt.: 2.65 tons

Volume: 96 Maint.: 78 hours Cost: $6,542

HT: 6. HPs: 15 Body, 135 each Wing, 2 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 186 aAccel: 5 aDecel: 37 aMR: 9 aSR: 1

Stall Speed: 45 mph. Take Off Run: 184 yards. Landing Run: 203 yards.

gSpeed: 214 gAccel: 11 gDecel: 10 gMR: 0.5 gSR: 2

Ground Pressure: Moderate. ¼ Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes:

Historical wing area was 348 sf. Design loaded weight was 5,372 lbs.; it was decreased 1% to the historical. Design aSpeed as 201 mph; design Stall Speed was 54 mph. Historical values were used for all calculations when available. Fuel capacity and machine gun loadouts are a guess. Using the calculated gSpeed at ¼ Off-Road speed (53.5 mph) gSpeed is 100% of stall speed, allowing the airplane to get airborne in a bumpy field, at the GM's discretion.

Variants:

There were no true variants of the Hind. Some foreign planes were equipped with similar engines by varying manufacturers. Later in the plane's career the machine guns and bomb racks were stripped, and backup controls added, to convert the plane into a trainer.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS