British Aerospace Hawk

Aircraft Information
> Aircraft Make: British Aerospace. (BAE) Model: T1. Nickname: Hawk
> Aircraft Mil Civ Description: Tactical Jet
> FAA Category and Class: Airplane SE Land
> Engine Description: single Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca Adour Mk 871

Aircraft Experience
> As of: 10/31/2024
> Number of Hours Flown: 1
> Number of Times Flown: 1
> Other Aircraft Models Associated: T-45 Goshawk

First Flown Information
> Sequence First Flown: 113
> Date First Flown: 6/29/2001
> Location First Flown: Boscombe Down, UK
> Who and/or What Organization First Flown With: ETPS, Calquhon

Recollections: I flew the Hawk during a trip to the Empire Test Pilot School.  I believe I was there for what we called the “Headmaster’s Conference”, a gathering of the CO’s and XO’s of USNTPS, USAFTPS, ETPS and EPNER.  This meeting was established by the (then) Wing Commander David Best, one of the finest guys I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.  This yearly gathering helped us all get better.  As Dave put it: if you’re a runner, you don’t practice against a slow person, you want to practice with the fastest runners you can find.

The Hawk was frugal (single engine) and easy to fly.  It was easy to see why this venerable design was chosen by the Navy (in the form of the modified T-45 Goshawk) to replace both the T-2 and the TA-4 in the Navy’s jet training pipeline.