{"id":23215705,"date":"2026-09-18T11:43:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T09:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/hawker-p-1081-australian-fighter-trevor-wimpy-wade\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T11:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T09:44:11","slug":"hawker-p-1081-australian-fighter-trevor-wimpy-wade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fr\/hawker-p-1081-australian-fighter-trevor-wimpy-wade\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawker P.1081: The Australian Fighter Australia Never Bought"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>On his first day with No. 92 Squadron in May 1940, a twenty-year-old pilot officer borrowed somebody else&rsquo;s Spitfire and rolled it on take-off. His name was Trevor Wade. Everybody called him Wimpy, after the hamburger-eating character in Popeye.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Eleven years later he was Hawker&rsquo;s chief test pilot, holder of the London to Paris record, and the only man who ever flew the Hawker P.1081. On 3 April 1951 the aircraft killed him.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The P.1081 was built for Australia, offered to Australia, and never bought by Australia. Only one existed. This is what happened to both of them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:17px;color:#1a1a1a\">Quick Facts<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> Hawker P.1081, sometimes called the Australian Fighter<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Built:<\/strong> One, converted from the second Hawker P.1052 prototype, serial VX279<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>First flight:<\/strong> 19 June 1950, from RAE Farnborough, flown by Sqn Ldr Trevor &ldquo;Wimpy&rdquo; Wade<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Engine:<\/strong> One Rolls-Royce RN.2 Nene of 5,000 lbf. A Tay was intended but never fitted<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Performance:<\/strong> Maximum speed 696 mph, service ceiling 45,600 ft, Mach 0.9 to 0.95 in the dive<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Intended customer:<\/strong> Royal Australian Air Force, which assigned it the local designation CA-24<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Outcome:<\/strong> Development stopped November 1950. Australia bought Gloster Meteor F.8s instead<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><strong>Fate:<\/strong> Lost on 3 April 1951 at Ringmer, Sussex, killing Wade. Its data fed the Hawker Hunter<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Australia Needed a Fighter and Needed It Quickly<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In 1949 the Royal Australian Air Force went looking for a replacement for two locally built types: the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/p-51-mustang\/\">Mustangs<\/a> and de Havilland Australia&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/de-havilland-vampire\/\">Vampires<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Several designs were considered, including the Grumman F9F Panther and an unconventional twin-jet all-weather fighter of Australia&rsquo;s own, the CAC CA-23. Hawker put forward something based on its P.1052 research aircraft: swept wing, swept tail, Rolls-Royce Tay.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Work began on converting the second P.1052 prototype, VX279. The bifurcated tailpipes of the P.1052, which split the exhaust to exit either side of the rear fuselage, were replaced with a single straight-through pipe so that an afterburner could eventually be fitted. The Tay never arrived; the Nene already installed stayed put. Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, fully expecting to build whatever Australia chose, went so far as to allocate the designation CA-24.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/hawker-p-1081-in-flight-1950.jpg\" alt=\"The Hawker P.1081 prototype in flight in 1950\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The sole P.1081 in 1950. The straight-through jet pipe and swept tail are what distinguish it from the P.1052 it was converted from. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BoVuW80Rxv8\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em style=\"font-size:14px;color:#777\">Period footage of VX279, the only Hawker P.1081 ever built.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Then Korea Happened<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>By the middle of 1950 the calculation had changed completely. Australian Mustangs were already in action over Korea and facing the prospect of meeting MiG-15s, which would have been a short and one-sided conversation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The RAAF did not need a promising prototype. It needed aircraft this year. The P.1081 could not possibly be operational for several years. The <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-86-sabre\/\">North American F-86 Sabre<\/a> was the obvious answer and was already fighting in Korea, but the USAF had absolute priority and none could be spared for Australia for years either.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>So Australia bought the F.8 version of the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/gloster-meteor\/\">Gloster Meteor<\/a>, which was available immediately because the RAF already flew it. Years later CAC did build its own Sabre, re-engined with a Rolls-Royce Avon, and it was a considerably better aircraft than the American original.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In November 1950, correctly reading the room, Hawker stopped work on the P.1081. The prototype went to the Royal Aircraft Establishment for high-speed research.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Man Flying It<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Wade had earned his place in that cockpit several times over.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>He joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in April 1938 at eighteen. In the Battle of Britain he flew Spitfires with 92 Squadron and was shot up repeatedly: forced down after sharing a Ju 88 in August 1940, escaping the aircraft before it caught fire; forced down again at Lewes in September with the aircraft flipping onto its back; down again at Gravesend in December. He baled out over Exeter one night in July when his fuel ran low, the weather closed in and his radio failed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;This officer has displayed great skill and determination in his numerous engagements against the enemy and has destroyed at least six of their aircraft. His efforts have contributed materially to the success achieved by the squadron.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Distinguished Flying Cross citation<\/strong> &mdash; Published in The London Gazette, 15 July 1941<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>A wound during a raid on the Marquise Shell factory in September 1941 ended his combat flying. He became a gunnery instructor, then commanded the Air Fighting Development Unit, and was sent to the United States in early 1945 to test captured Japanese aircraft and get his hands on early jets.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>He joined Hawker in October 1947 and was chief test pilot by June 1948. In May 1949 he flew the 221 miles from London to Paris in 21 minutes 28 seconds, an average of 618 mph. That August he won the SBAC Challenge Cup in the P.1040, beating John Cunningham in a Vampire and John Derry in the DH.108, averaging 510 mph with one lap at 584.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/hawker-p-1081-overflight-1950.jpg\" alt=\"The Hawker P.1081 seen from above during a 1950 test flight\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The P.1081 from above. Wade demonstrated it at Antwerp within a week of its first flight, and again at the SBAC display that September. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>He took the P.1081 up for the first time on 19 June 1950, was happy with it, put six hours on it over the next three days and flew it to the Antwerp air display on the 25th. At the SBAC show in September he showed off its roll rate and its speed. When a main wheel refused to come down on one test flight, he landed it anyway without breaking anything.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">3 April 1951<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In January 1951 Wade was the first British test pilot sent to the United States on an exchange scheme. There he flew the F-86 Sabre and went supersonic in it, which was the sort of thing a chief test pilot needed to have done.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>That detail may be why he died. Bill Bedford, another Hawker test pilot, later suggested that Wade tried to take the P.1081 supersonic the way he had learned in the Sabre, in a vertical dive. The Sabre had powered flying controls. The P.1081 did not. Once the aircraft entered that regime there was nothing in the cockpit strong enough to pull it out.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Wade did everything right on the way down. He jettisoned the canopy at 9,000 feet and ejected at 2,000. The seat fired. He simply never separated from it, and was killed on impact near Ringmer in Sussex. He was 31, and left a wife and three children.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;Trevor Wade: Death of a Young and Brilliant Test Pilot.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Flight magazine<\/strong> &mdash; Headline of its report on the accident, 13 April 1951<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Neither the cause of the loss of control nor the failure of the seat was ever established. The aircraft had an ML ejection seat rather than the Martin-Baker type the RAF used, and the difference did not go unnoticed. On 30 April 1951, Percy &ldquo;Laddie&rdquo; Lucas, the MP for Brentford and Chiswick and himself a wartime fighter pilot, stood up in the Commons and asked the Minister of Supply what seats were fitted to British aircraft, how they were tested, and whether test pilots were insured.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What It Left Behind<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The swept tail did what it was supposed to. It pushed the aircraft&rsquo;s usable Mach number up into the 0.9 to 0.95 region, well beyond what the P.1052 could manage, and that data went straight into the design of the axial-engined <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/hawker-hunter\/\">Hawker Hunter<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3lvFKgANrbM\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em style=\"font-size:14px;color:#777\">The Hunter, the aircraft the P.1081 helped make possible, and one of the most successful British jets ever built.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The Hunter first flew on 20 July 1951, three and a half months after Wade died, with Neville Duke at the controls. Nearly two thousand were built and they served with air forces from Switzerland to Singapore for half a century.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JIGL2bsUhuc\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em style=\"font-size:14px;color:#777\">Neville Duke and the Hunter prototype WB188, in which he would take the world air speed record in 1953.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>That is the honest epitaph for the P.1081. It was not a bad aeroplane and it was not quite a good enough one, it arrived at exactly the wrong moment for the customer it was designed around, and the single example built killed the man who understood it best. What survived was the knowledge, and the knowledge turned into the Hunter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: The Times obituary, 4 April 1951; Flight, 13 April and 11 May 1951; Francis K. Mason, Hawker Aircraft since 1920; Norman Franks, Dowding\u2019s Eagles; Shores and Williams, Aces High; Imperial War Museum oral history 17826, Bill Bedford; RAAF Museum<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What was the Hawker P.1081?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">A one-off British prototype jet fighter, converted from the second Hawker P.1052 prototype with a swept tailplane and a single straight-through jet pipe. It first flew on 19 June 1950 and was offered to the Royal Australian Air Force, which is why it is sometimes called the Australian Fighter.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many Hawker P.1081s were built?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">One. The airframe was the second P.1052 prototype, serial VX279, rebuilt rather than newly constructed. It was destroyed in the crash that killed Trevor Wade on 3 April 1951.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did Australia not buy the P.1081?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Timing. By mid-1950 Australian Mustangs were in action in Korea and the RAAF needed a jet fighter immediately, not in several years. The P.1081 could not have been operational in time, so Australia bought Gloster Meteor F.8s, which were already in RAF service and available at once.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Who was Trevor Wade?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Squadron Leader Trevor Sidney &ldquo;Wimpy&rdquo; Wade, DFC, AFC. A Battle of Britain fighter ace with 92 Squadron and one of The Few, he became Hawker&rsquo;s chief test pilot in June 1948 and set a London to Paris record in 1949 at an average of 618 mph.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How did Trevor Wade die?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">On 3 April 1951 the P.1081 entered an unrecoverable flight regime during high-speed research at RAE Farnborough. Wade jettisoned the canopy at 9,000 feet and ejected at 2,000 feet, but failed to separate from the ejection seat and was killed on impact near Ringmer, Sussex.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why could Wade not recover the aircraft?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">It has been suggested by fellow Hawker test pilot Bill Bedford that Wade may have attempted to go supersonic in a vertical dive, as he had learned to do in the F-86 Sabre during a United States exchange earlier that year. The Sabre had powered flying controls; the P.1081 did not, so recovery was impossible.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What did the P.1081 contribute to later aircraft?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Its swept tail raised the usable Mach number into the 0.9 to 0.95 range, well beyond the P.1052, and that high-speed data fed directly into the design of the Hawker Hunter, which first flew in July 1951 and became one of Britain\u2019s most successful jet fighters.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was the Hawker P.1081?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"A one-off British prototype jet fighter, converted from the second Hawker P.1052 prototype with a swept tailplane and a single straight-through jet pipe. It first flew on 19 June 1950 and was offered to the Royal Australian Air Force, which is why it is sometimes called the Australian Fighter.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many Hawker P.1081s were built?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"One. The airframe was the second P.1052 prototype, serial VX279, rebuilt rather than newly constructed. It was destroyed in the crash that killed Trevor Wade on 3 April 1951.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did Australia not buy the P.1081?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Timing. By mid-1950 Australian Mustangs were in action in Korea and the RAAF needed a jet fighter immediately, not in several years. The P.1081 could not have been operational in time, so Australia bought Gloster Meteor F.8s, which were already in RAF service and available at once.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who was Trevor Wade?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Squadron Leader Trevor Sidney \\\"Wimpy\\\" Wade, DFC, AFC. A Battle of Britain fighter ace with 92 Squadron and one of The Few, he became Hawker\u2019s chief test pilot in June 1948 and set a London to Paris record in 1949 at an average of 618 mph.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How did Trevor Wade die?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"On 3 April 1951 the P.1081 entered an unrecoverable flight regime during high-speed research at RAE Farnborough. Wade jettisoned the canopy at 9,000 feet and ejected at 2,000 feet, but failed to separate from the ejection seat and was killed on impact near Ringmer, Sussex.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why could Wade not recover the aircraft?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"It has been suggested by fellow Hawker test pilot Bill Bedford that Wade may have attempted to go supersonic in a vertical dive, as he had learned to do in the F-86 Sabre during a United States exchange earlier that year. The Sabre had powered flying controls; the P.1081 did not, so recovery was impossible.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What did the P.1081 contribute to later aircraft?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Its swept tail raised the usable Mach number into the 0.9 to 0.95 range, well beyond the P.1052, and that high-speed data fed directly into the design of the Hawker Hunter, which first flew in July 1951 and became one of Britain\u2019s most successful jet fighters.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/hawker-p-1121-mach-2-5-fighter-never-flown\/\">Hawker Built a Mach 2.5 Fighter, Then Refused to Fly It<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/hawker-p1127-harrier-awkward-ancestor\/\">Hawker P.1127: The Harrier\u2019s Awkward Ancestor<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/farnborough-1952-dh-110-crash-john-derry\/\">Farnborough 1952: The DH.110 That Broke Up Over the Crowd<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One aircraft was built, offered to Australia, and never ordered. It killed Hawker\u2019s chief test pilot, a Battle of Britain ace, and its data became the Hawker Hunter.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":23215404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23215705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hawker P.1081: The Australian Fighter | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One Hawker P.1081 was built and offered to Australia. 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