Sea Fury VR930 will fly again

The British heritage trust Navy Wings have announced that their Hawker Sea Fury VR930 (G-CLNJ, c/n 41H-609980) will be returned to airworthy condition. But mindful of three engine failures and subsequent damage (two aircraft lost) to their Sea Furies, the Navy Wings have made the difficult decision to perform an engine switch.

Having taken the advice of engineers, pilots and other heritage aviation experts, the charity has decided that in order to continue to safely fly the aircraft, the Centaurus engine needs to be replaced by a Pratt and Whitney R2800 engine.

The Navy Wings engineering team is already working on returning Sea Fury FB11 VR930 to flight. Delivery of the engine is expected in October and the team will be working over the winter to fit it to the aircraft.

This is a complex, bespoke piece of work and will also impact other parts of the aircraft such as the instruments, throttle etc. Preparations for the installation of the R2800 are progressing well and there are high hopes that the aircraft will feature in the 2024 display season.

Photo: Gert Jan Mentink (Duxford 7 July 2007)