Hawker Henley

Henley
Role	Target tug
Manufacturer	Hawker
First flight	10 March 1937
Introduction	1938
Retired	1945
Primary user	Royal Air Force
Number built	202
Variants	Hawker Hotspur

The Hawker Henley was a British two-seat target tug derived from the Hawker Hurricane that was operated by the RAF during the Second World War.

In 1934 Air Ministry Specification P.4/34 was issued which called for a light bomber that could also be deployed in a close-support role as a dive-bomber.

(While this suggests a departure from Air Ministry policy which placed great emphasis on strategic bombing, the RAF had always had two-seat light bombers in its armoury – notably the DH4 and DH9a in World War I and a host of types in the 1920s leading to the fast Fairey Fox, Hawker Hart, and Hawker Hind – which suggests P.4/34 was issued to identify a modern equivalent for RAF two-seat day-bomber squadrons that had attacked railways and trains bringing supplies to the front line from 1915 in World War I.)

Fairey, Gloster and Hawker all rushed to fulfil this need and competition was tight to attain the highest performance possible. As the aircraft required only a modest bomb load and with performance being paramount, the Hawker design team chose to focus its efforts on developing an aircraft similar in size to their Hurricane fighter.

The Hurricane was then in an advanced design stage and there would be economies of scale if some assemblies were common to both aircraft. This resulted in the Henley, as it was to become known, sharing identical outer wing panel and tailplane jigs with the Hurricane. Both were equipped with the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine as it offered the best power-weight ratio as well as a minimal frontal area. The Henley’s cantilever fabric-covered monoplane wing was mid-set, a retractable tail wheel landing gear was selected and accommodation provided for a pilot and observer/air gunner, which differed from the Hurricane’s single-seat cockpit.

...
Wikipedia