{{Short description|1920s British ultralight aircraft}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}} {{Use British English|date=November 2017}} {{Infobox aircraft |name =Cygnet |image =Hawker Cygnet Cosford crop.jpg |caption =Hawker Cygnet ''G-EBMB'' at RAF Museum, Cosford |type =light competition aircraft |manufacturer =Hawker Engineering Co. |designer =Sydney Camm |first_flight = 1924 |introduction = |retired = |status = |primary_user = |more_users = |produced = |number_built =2 (+ 1 replica) |unit cost = |variants= |developed_from= }}

The '''Hawker Cygnet''' is a British ultralight sesquiplane aircraft of the 1920s.

==Background== In 1924, the Royal Aero Club organized a Light Aircraft Competition. £3000 was offered in prizes. An entry was made by Hawker Aircraft, which was a design by Sydney Camm, the Cygnet. Camm had joined Hawker the previous year. Two aircraft were built (''G-EBMB'' and ''G-EBJH'') and were entered in the competition, held in 1924 at Lympne Aerodrome, by Thomas Sopwith and Fred Sigrist. The aircraft were flown by Longton (No. 14) and Raynham (No. 15) and came in 4th and 3rd places respectively. In 1925, ''G-EBMB'' was entered again in the 100 mi (161 km) International Handicap Race, this time flown by George Bulman, who won at a speed of 75.6 mph (121.7 km/h). At the same meeting, the Cygnet came in 2nd in the 50 mi (80 km) Light Aeroplane Race. In 1926, both aircraft were again entered in the Daily Mail competition for £5,000 prize money over six days' flying around South-East England, piloted by Bulman (No. 6) and Flight Lieutenant JS Chick and Flying Officer RL Ragg (No. 4), taking first and second place respectively. thumb|right thumb|

==Design== The aircraft were of wood-and-fabric construction, the fuselage being four longerons-strutted in the fashion of a Warren girder. The wing had two box spars with Warren truss ribs. Initially the two aircraft were powered, one by an Anzani, and the other by an ABC Scorpion (both opposed twin-cylinder engines). In 1926 the engines in both Cygnets were changed to the Bristol Cherub III, another twin-cylinder engine. The airframe weighed a remarkably low 270 lb, and its weight when empty was only 373 lb.

==Postwar history== [[File:Hawker Cygnet G-EBMB BAG 19.06.54 edited-2.jpg|thumb|right|The surviving Cygnet on display in airworthy condition at Coventry Airport in 1954]] thumb|Hawker Cygnet (Shuttleworth Collection, replica 1993) ''G-EBMB'' was kept by Hawker in storage until 1946, when it was refurbished and reassembled at Hawker's Langley Aerodrome. It was later transferred to their new facility at Dunsfold, where it stayed, being flown to various displays and airshows, until 1972, when it was transferred for exhibition at the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon.<ref name="Mason Hawker p111"/> More recently it has been transferred to its site at RAF Cosford in Shropshire, where it can now be seen.<ref>"[http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/cosford/collections/aircraft/hawker-cygnet.cfm Hawker Cygnet airplane pictures & aircraft photos – RAF Museums] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706094245/http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/cosford/collections/aircraft/hawker-cygnet.cfm |date=2008-07-06 }}" ''RAF Museum''. Retrieved 16 August 2008.</ref> ''G-EBJH'' crashed in 1927 and was destroyed. An airworthy replica (''G-CAMM'') is on display at the Shuttleworth Collection, Old Warden, Bedfordshire.<ref>[http://www.shuttleworth.org/shuttleworth_aircraft_details.asp?ID=16 Aircraft: 1924-Hawker Cygnet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212114419/http://www.shuttleworth.org/shuttleworth_aircraft_details.asp?ID=16 |date=12 February 2010 }}. ''Shuttleworth Collection''. Retrieved 16 August 2008.</ref>

==Specifications== thumb|Hawker Cygnet 3-view drawing from NACA-TM-289 {{Aircraft specs |ref=Hawker Aircraft since 1920 <ref name="Mason Hawker p111">Mason 1991, p.111.</ref> |prime units?=imp <!-- General characteristics --> |genhide=

|crew=2 |capacity= |length m= |length ft=20 |length in=5 |span m= |span ft=28 |span in=0 |width ft=8 |width in=0 |width note=(folded) |height m= |height ft=5 |height in=10 |wing area sqm= |wing area sqft=165 |empty weight kg= |empty weight lb=373 |gross weight kg= |gross weight lb=950 |fuel capacity= <!-- Powerplant --> |eng1 number=1 |eng1 name=Bristol Cherub III |eng1 type=2-cylinder piston engine |eng1 kw=<!-- prop engines --> |eng1 hp=34<!-- prop engines -->

|prop blade number=<!-- propeller aircraft --> |prop name= |prop dia m=<!-- propeller aircraft --> |prop dia ft=<!-- propeller aircraft --> |prop dia in=<!-- propeller aircraft -->

<!-- Performance --> |perfhide=

|max speed kmh= |max speed mph=82 |max speed kts= |max speed note=at sea level |cruise speed kmh=<!-- if max speed unknown --> |cruise speed mph=<!-- if max speed unknown --> |cruise speed kts= |range km= |range miles= |range nmi= |ceiling m= |ceiling ft=8900 |ceiling note=(absolute ceiling) |climb rate ms= |climb rate ftmin= |time to altitude=11 min 20 s to {{convert|5000|ft|m|abbr=on}} |more performance=

|avionics= }}

==See also== {{Aircontent| |related= |similar aircraft=*De Havilland Humming Bird |sequence= |lists= * List of civil aircraft |see also= }}

==References==

===Notes=== {{Reflist}}

===Bibliography=== {{refbegin}} *Mason, Francis K. ''Hawker Aircraft since 1920''. London:Putnam, 1991.{{ISBN|0 85177 839 9}}. {{refend}}

==External links== {{commons category}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070210192803/http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/aircraftpage.php?ID=441 Hawker Cygnet] – British Aircraft Directory

{{Hawker Aircraft aircraft}}

Category:1920s British civil utility aircraft Cygnet Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft Category:Sesquiplanes Category:Aircraft first flown in 1924