Elegant, powerful and unmistakably of the inter-war era, the Hawker Nimrod represents the Fleet Air Arm’s transition into a new generation of carrier-based fighters. With its silver finish, two wings, fixed undercarriage and streamlined fuselage, it belongs to the age when biplanes were still at the forefront of naval aviation, just a few years before monoplane fighters transformed aerial combat. G-BWWK is one of the rarest flying historic aircraft in Britain: an original Hawker Nimrod Mk.I that once operated from the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Glorious.
Built by Hawker at Kingston-upon-Thames in 1932, this aircraft was the third production Nimrod Mk.I and carried the Royal Navy serial S1581. It was allocated to No. 408 (Fleet Fighter) Flight, where it flew with the individual aircraft number 573. In April 1933, the Fleet Air Arm’s flights were reorganised into naval air squadrons, and the unit became No. 803 Naval Air Squadron. S1581 continued serving aboard HMS Glorious, operating in the demanding environment of carrier aviation, where pilots had to master take-offs and landings on a moving flight deck.
The Nimrod was designed by Sydney Camm, the influential Hawker engineer who would later be responsible for aircraft such as the Hurricane and Typhoon. Its design grew from the successful Hawker Fury fighter, adapted for naval service with strengthened structure, carrier-operating equipment and an arrestor hook on later examples. It was a single-seat fighter powered by a Rolls-Royce Kestrel liquid-cooled V12 engine. At a time when many naval aircraft still looked bulky and relatively slow, the Nimrod combined clean aerodynamic lines with impressive performance, reaching speeds of around 193 mph in suitable conditions.
Its armament consisted of two forward-firing .303-inch Vickers machine guns, synchronised to fire through the propeller arc. The aircraft was designed principally to protect the fleet from enemy aircraft, but its performance also reflected the rapid development of British fighter design during the early 1930s. Although the Nimrod was a biplane, its streamlined fuselage and powerful engine placed it among the most capable naval fighters of its generation. The type entered Fleet Air Arm service in 1933, replacing the ageing Fairey Flycatcher, and remained in frontline use until the late 1930s, when newer aircraft such as the Gloster Sea Gladiator began to take over.
S1581’s operational career ended abruptly on 10 February 1938, when it was written off following a crash at Hal Far, Malta. Its subsequent history became uncertain, and the damaged aircraft was eventually reduced to a collection of remains. Remarkably, substantial parts survived in a West London scrapyard and were recovered in the early 1970s. The remains were donated to the RAF Museum before passing to aircraft enthusiast Viv Bellamy in the early 1980s, who used them as a pattern for a Hawker Fury replica project. Rather than disappearing completely, the Nimrod had become the unlikely starting point for a future restoration.
In 1994, Aero Vintage acquired the remains and began the complex process of returning S1581 to flying condition. The restoration required considerable reconstruction and the remanufacture of parts using original drawings and traditional aircraft-building techniques. By the autumn of 1999, the airframe had reached the trial-assembly stage, and the Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine was installed and run the following spring. The long-awaited first flight took place at Henlow, Bedfordshire, in July 2000, with Flight Lieutenant Charlie Brown at the controls. After joining The Fighter Collection in 2004, the Nimrod became a celebrated attraction at historic aviation events.
Today, G-BWWK wears the markings of its 1930s Fleet Air Arm service as “573”, recalling its time with the squadron aboard HMS Glorious. Its survival offers a rare opportunity to see the kind of fighter that operated from British aircraft carriers before the Second World War. When the Nimrod flies, its graceful turns and the distinctive sound of the Kestrel engine bring the inter-war years to life. It is more than a beautifully restored biplane: it is a tangible connection to the early development of carrier aviation and to the engineers, maintainers and pilots who helped shape the future of naval air power.
