Hawker Danecock

10/31/2010. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "Following evaluation of a Woodcock II demonstration aircraft in 1925, the Danish Government placed order with the H.G. Hawker Engineering Co., Ltd. of Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, UK (formalized in Contract No. 14/660/D.25), for three similar aircraft. The single-seat interceptor fighter of wooden construction with fabric covering was to be powered by Armstrong-Siddeley Jaguar engines, and commenced negotiations to acquire a license for production of a further small number.

Under the direction of Sydney Camm a limited redesign of the Woodcock II was carried out, the fuselage being lengthened slightly in the vicinity of the cockpit and minor improvements being incorporated in the wings (the span of the upper plane was fractionally increased and the lower plane reduced). Armament consisted of two synchronized 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Madsen machine guns, with 720 rounds per gun.

A 385 hp Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar IV fourteen-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial engine was installed driving a 9 ft 8 in (2.95 m) diameter Watts two-blade wooden propeller. The first Danecock, Danish s/n 151, was flown by Chief Test Pilot Lieutenant P.W.S. Bulman on December 15, 1925, at Brooklands, being followed by 152 and 153 within a month. All three aircraft cleared Customs for Denmark in February 1926 (though at least one returned to the UK later for engine adjustments).

Production of the license version (known as the L.B. II, Dankok) got under way at the Danish Royal Naval Dockyard factory in Copenhagen in 1927, a further twelve machines (Danish s/n 154-165) being built in that and the following year. In January 1927, one of the Hawker-built Danecocks set up a Scandinavian Altitude Record of 28,208 ft (8,598 m), a record that was to stand for some eight years. This aircraft was displayed at the Copenhagen Aero Show in August 1927, while in 1934 Dankoks of the Danish Army Air Service were entered in the Scandinavian Military Aircraft Competition of that year, gaining 5th place in a sizeable field of more modern entries.

One Army Air Service Squadron and No. 2 Naval Squadron were equipped with Dankoks, and due to the failure of the Nimrod to achieve full production status in Denmark in 1934, the Dankok remained in service until 1937. The Dancock with s/n 158 survived WW II and was put on display at the Tojhusmuseet (Royal Arsenal Museum) in Copenhagen, presently it is on display at the Dansk Veteranflysamling (Danish Vintage Aircraft Collection) at Stauning, its log book bearing testimony to 704 hours 5 minutes flying time."