The Sea Fury is one of the only two prop-driven fighters to manage to shoot down a MiG-15.

August 2025 will mark the eightieth anniversary of the end of World War II, and accordingly, a number of military history milestones either will mark or already have marked their own eightieth anniversaries along the way.

Just looking at February 2025, we saw some truly epic WWII-related anniversaries such as the commencement of the Battle of Iwo Jima. Meanwhile, there was another anniversary—perhaps not as earth-shattering and impactful as Iwo Jima—that certainly will hold some interest for military aviation history and British military history buffs alike: the first flight of the Hawker Sea Fury, the last propeller-driven fighter of the British Royal Navy’s (RN) Fleet Air Arm. 

Hawker Sea Fury initial history and specifications

To be more specific, the Sea Fury’s maiden flight took place on February 21, 1945. However, it didn’t actually make its official operational debut until August 1947, with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) actually being the first entity to adopt it, with the RN following suit a month later.

Built by Hawker Aircraft Limited (now known as BAE Systems)—best known for the Hurricane fighter plane immortalized during the Battle of Britain—the Sea Fury had the following tech specs and vital stats:

• Crew: One (pilot)
• Fuselage Length: 34 ft 8 in
• Wingspan: 38ft 41.75 inches (16ft 1in folded)
• Height: 15 ft 10.5 in
• Empty Weight: 9,240 lbs.
• Gross Weight: 12,500 lbs.
• Max Takeoff Weight: 14,650 lbs.
• Powerplant: One 2,480 hp 18-cylinder Bristol Centaurus 18 sleeve-valve radial piston engine
• Max Airspeed: 460 mph at 18,000 ft
• Range: 700 miles
• Service Ceiling: 35,800 feet
• Rate of Climb: 4,320 feet per minute
• Armament: Four 20mm Hispano cannon and carriage of up to sixteen three-inch 60-lb. rockets, or two 1,000-lb. bombs, or drop tanks underwing

A total of 864 Sea Furies were built, In addition to the U.K. and Canada, the warbird was also adopted by Australia, Burma, Cuba, Iraq, the Netherlands, and Pakistan.

(The Hawker Sea Fury monoplane should not be confused with the 1930s vintage Hawker Fury biplane design.)

Operational history/combat performance

As already noted, the Sea Fury missed out on WWII. However, it more than made up for lost time by fighting in two significant anticommunist engagements of the Cold War.

The biggest of these was the Korean War. As noted by the BAE Systems official info page:

“In Korea, the Hawker Sea Fury saw its share of air combat against Soviet-built jet fighters with the Hawker fighter accounting for the loss of one jet in August 1952. This would prove ironic as the Hawker Sea Fury was eventually replaced in front-line service by the Hawker Sea Hawk jet fighter from 1953.”

That “one Soviet jet” was the vaunted and much-feared MiG-15 (NATO reporting name: “Fagot”), and thus, the Sea Fury is in distinguished company along with the American-made Vought F4U Corsair as the only two prop-driven fighters to manage to shoot down a MiG-15. The lucky Sea Fury pilot in question was Lieutenant (later commander) Peter “Hoagy” Carmichael, who pulled off the daring feat on August 9, 1952, whilst assigned to 802 Squadron and flying off the deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Ocean (Pennant No. R68).

And then there was the Sea Fury’s involvement in Cuba. Initially used by Fulgencio Batista’s Cuban Air Force against Fidel Castro’s revolutionaries, the aircraft were later transferred to the Revolutionary Air Force after Batista’s overthrow. They also later took part in counter-revolutionary fighting at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.

Meanwhile, the Burmese Air Force reportedly used the fighters for counterinsurgency ops between 1961 and 1968, including the shootdown of an unarmed Chinese Nationalist Air Force PB4Y-2 Privateer on February 15, 1961.

Where Are They Now?

The Fleet Air Arm, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR), Netherlands Naval Aviation Service, and Burmese Air Force retired the Sea Fury in 1953, 1955, 1956, and 1968 respectively.

As far as surviving airframes are concerned, to quote the BAE Systems info page again, “With its excellent aerodynamics and an ability to accept other powerful radial engines, the Hawker Sea Fury has been a popular competitor in ‘Unlimited Air Racing’ in the USA, and as of October 2018, some 24 Hawker Sea Furies were listed on the US civil aircraft register (although not necessarily active). There are another five listed on the UK civil register.”

In addition, there are nine Furies on static display in museums spread out across Australia, Canada, Cuba, the Netherlands, the U.K., and the United States. The lone stateside museum hosting a Sea Fury is the War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

About the Author: Christian D. Orr

Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and 19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.

Image: Ryan Fletcher / Shutterstock.com

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