Hawk (October 2026)

The Hawk first flew just over 50 years ago and is one of the most important British aircraft of the post-1945 era. Hawks have been used to train over 20,000 pilots around the world. The Hawk was also the last all-British military aircraft to be developed; over 800 have either been exported or built abroad, becoming one of the most successful products to come out of Britain’s aircraft industry. This sales success included its adoption by the United States Navy, a welcome penetration of the American market. Although production ended in 2022, many are likely to remain in service for at least another couple of decades with at least 540 in service around the world currently.

This study is an illustrated history of the Hawk’s development and operational life, beginning with the initial design studies from 1968 and the ASR.397 contenders, through to the flight test programme and development of the export models – the Mark 50, 60 and 100 families – as well as the Hawk 200 and Goshawk. Drawing on official archival material, as well as dealing with its career with the UK’s armed services, the political and technical issues behind the export success of the Hawk is examined, including ambitious schemes like Project Defender in Iraq and several projects for further Hawk developments that never left the drawing board.