Hawker Hind

The British Hawker Hind was a Royal Air Force light bomber of the inter-war years produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was developed from the Hawker Hart day-bomber introduced in 1931.

An improved Hawker Hart bomber defined by Specification G.7/34, was purchased by RAF as interim aircraft while more modern monoplane bombers such as the Fairey Battle were still in development. Structural elements were a mixture of steel and duralumin with the wings being fabric covered while the main differences compared to the earlier Hart was a new powerplant, (the Rolls Royce Kestrel V) and the inclusion of refinements from the earlier derivatives such as the cut-down rear cockpit developed for the Demon. 

The prototype (Serial number K2915) was constructed very rapidly due to Hawker's development work for other proposals, and made its first flight on September 12, 1934. A variety of changes were subsequently incorporated ("ram's horn" exhaust manifolds, Fairey-Reed metal propeller and engine improvements) with the first production Hind (K4636) flown on 4 September 1935.

Characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 29 ft 3 in (8.92 m)
Wingspan: 37 ft 3 in (11.36 m)
Height: 10 ft 7 in (3.23 m)
Wing area: 348 ft² (32.3 m²)
Empty weight: 3,195 lb (1,452 kg)
Loaded weight: lb (kg)
Useful load: lb (kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 4,657 lb (2,167 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Kestrel V Water-cooled V-12, 640 hp (477 kW)
Maximum speed: 161 kn (185 mph, 298 km/h) at 15,500 ft
Stall speed: 39 kn (45 mph, 72 km/h) [5]
Range: 374 nmi (430 mi, 692 km)
Service ceiling: 26,400 ft (8,050 m)
Wing loading: 13.3 lb/ft² (37.1 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.14 hp/lb (0.22 kW/kg)
Climb to 10,000 ft 8 minutes 6 seconds
Armament: 1 × synchronised forward-firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers gun and 1 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun in rear cockpit
Up to 510 lb (231 kg) bombs under wings.

The Hind went into service in November 1935 and eventually equipped 20 RAF bomber squadrons. A number were also sold to foreign customers including Afghanistan, the Republic of Ireland, Latvia, Persia (Iran), Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia. By 1937, the Hind was being phased out of front line service, replaced by the Fairey Battle and Bristol Blenheim, and with many of the Auxiliary Air Force squadrons changing role to fighter or maritime patrol units. 

At the outbreak of the Second World War 613 Squadron retained the Hind in the Army co-operation role before re-equipping with the Hart derivative, the Hawker Hector, in November 1939. The Hind found a new career in 1938 as a training aircraft, representing the next step up from basic training on Tiger Moths. It continued in use as an intermediate trainer during the Second World War. Hind trainers were also operated by Canada and New Zealand.

In 1941, Hinds flew combat missions in their original role as light bombers against Axis forces - South African Hinds were employed against Italian forces in Kenya, during the East African Campaign and Yugoslav Hinds were used against the Germans and Italians

Iranian Hinds were used briefly against Allied forces during the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran. The Imperial Iranian Air Forces's bases were subsequently occupied by the Allies and their aircraft were either destroyed or dismantled by the invading British.
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19 Hinds were donated to the Afghan government in 1939, and four were in turn donated back to Canada by the Afghan president to further relations between Canada and Afghanistan in 1970 following inquiries by the National Aeronautical Collection into aircraft dumped at various locations in Afghanistan, with two initially going to Canada and two to the United Kingdom.