RN Fulmar alternative.

[fastmongrel]

Yulzari you have nailed it.

 

[Some Bloke]

Adopting the Hawker Gently could lead to earlier and more serious development for the Sea Hurricane.

 

[tomo pauk]

AIUI putting a more powerful engine into the Hurricane didn't make the Hurricane Mk II much faster than the Mk I, but IIRC it was heavier as well. Again, AIUI plans to put the Griffon in to the Hurricane were abandoned because it wouldn't make the aircraft that much faster.

Hurricane II was also draggier than MkI, due to having BP windscreen, nore guns, and later cannons. Added drag eats speed far easier than added power can add speed.
Hurricane, in general, was an high-school exercise in how to make a fighter go slow.

I suspect that that the same would have applied to the Henley and for that matter the Hawker Hotspur.

I haven't checked but IIRC putting more powerful engines into the Fulmar didn't make it significantly faster. However, I have also been arguing for years that the main problem with the Fairey Battle was that it was underpowered and that had it been given an engine in the Griffon class (which AIUI was the plan, but the engine was cancelled forcing the Merlin to be substituted) it would have been a half-decent aircraft by 1939-40 standards. I've also suggested a Twin Battle with two Merlins, which I think would have been a worthwhile improvement over the Blenheim Mk IV in 1940-40 in the light bomber role and also as a night fighter in the Blitz.

So I may be wrong.

Hawker Hotspur was a college-grade excercise in making a fighter go slow - take a thick wing from you current draggy fighter, make it even bigger for more lift (and drag) so it can carry bombs, mate it to a big fuselage (= extra drag), then add turret to make it even draggier. Duh.
Henley at least didn't featured the turret, so adding the Merlin XX or 45 should cancel out the speed lost due to added guns and navalization.
As noted in other thread, new engines for Fulmar were still of the low-level flavor - not much of speed they will add.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

Hurricane, in general, was an high-school exercise in how to make a fighter go slow.

This would be the same exercise that took the 223mph Fury design and turned it into the 316mph Hurricane?

 

[tomo pauk]

This would be the same exercise that took the 223mph Fury design and turned it into the 316mph Hurricane?

It took the installation of RR Merlin, that gave 50% more power above 16000 ft than latest Kestrels as installed on latest Furies. Same as the DB 601A installed aboard the Fiat CR.42 managed to propel it at 320+ mph (or it is at least claimed).
Sir Sidney and his team were convinced that thick wing and out-hanging radiators were mark of a good design even by time Typhoon was in design & prototype phase. Despite all of the publicly-available results of research in, at least, the UK, USA and Germany in 1920s and 30s.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

I've been doing a little more reading and in theory the Henley could have been ordered as an alternative to the Skua. Now that would really have but the cat amongst the pigeons. A naval dive bomber faster and more heavily armed (with Hurricane outer wing panels) than any single seat naval fighter in existence.

 

[Anderman]

Sir Sidney and his team were convinced that thick wing and out-hanging radiators were mark of a good design even by time Typhoon was in design & prototype phase. Despite all of the publicly-available results of research in, at least, the UK, USA and Germany in 1920s and 30s.

AFAIK that was because the RAe told Camm that it didn´t matter if the wing was thick or thin. That was of the reason why Camm distrusted later aerodynamic findings like swept wings or the area rule...