The Hawker Sea Hawk was a single-seat jet fighter of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), the air branch of the Royal Navy (RN), and was built by the Hawker company.

The Sea Hawk was developed from the P1040, a land-based prototype jet interceptor intended for the Royal Air Force (RAF); however, the RAF showed little interest in the project, preferring other jet fighters such as the Gloster Meteor and de Havilland Vampire. Hawker subsequently developed it into into a navalised jet fighter and offered it to the Admiralty who expressed keen interest in the design. The first prototype flew on September 2 1947, though a fully navalised prototype did not fly until the following year. A third prototype which flew in 1949 incorporated a number of modifications from the second prototype. The first carrier trials occurred aboard the fleet aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious that same year. Over 100 of the aircraft, now named Sea Hawk, were subsequently ordered by the navy.

Unlike its rival, the Supermarine Attacker, the Sea Hawk had a nose-wheel rather than a tail-wheel, making it easier to land on carriers compared to the Attacker, which was the first jet to enter service with the FAA. It was a fairly conventional design however. Just one of its conventional aspects was that while other contemporary aircraft, including the Hawker Hunter and the F-86 Sabre, had adopted swept-wings, the Sea Hawk had straight-wings. The Sea Hawk was still a reliable and elegant design though its conventionality would mean it would only have a brief career before it would inevitably be superseded by newer and more technological aircraft.

The first production Sea Hawk was the F1, which first flew in 1951 and entered service two years later. Just over 30 were actually built by Hawker. At that time, Hawker was also producing the famous Hunter for the RAF and so production of the Sea Hawk was switched to Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, part of the Hawker company. The F1 was armed with four 20mm Hispano cannons. It was powered by a single 5000lb thrust Rolls-Royce Nene 101 turbojet. It had a max speed of 599mph at sea level and a range of 800 miles on internal fuel. The second fighter variant was the F2 which introduced power-boosted aileron controls to the Sea Hawk as-well as other modifications, including to its structure.

The next variant of the Sea Hawk was developed into a fighter-bomber, the FB3 (over 100 built) and differed only slightly from its predecessors. Its structure was strengthened to allow it to carry a wide array of equipment. Its new armament consisted of two 500lb bombs and sixteen unguided rockets. The fourth Sea Hawk was a fighter ground-attack variant and was designated the FGA4, and had increased weapons capability. The fifth Sea Hawk was a fighter-bomber variant and was designated the FB5, and were basically FB3 and FGA4s re-engined with the new Roll-Royce Nene 103. The final Sea Hawk was a fighter ground-attack variant, designated the FGA6 and was the exact same as its immediate predecessor, though they were new builds rather than re-engined Sea Hawks, and just under ninety were built. All Sea Hawks were in service by the mid 1950s and eventually over 500 were built.

The Sea Hawk, as part of the Fleet Air Arm, saw much service during the Suez War which began because of Egypt's nationalisation of the Suez Canal. The United Kingdom, France and Israel took part in the campaign, with the Anglo-French invasion being known as Operation Musketeer, and which began on October 31 1956. Six Sea Hawk squadrons took part. Two were aboard the fleet carrier HMS Eagle, and two each aboard the light fleet carriers HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark . The Sea Hawks were used in the ground-attack role, in which they excelled, causing immense damage to a variety of Egytpian targets. The military aspect of the Suez Campaign was a very successful operation, unlike the political outcomes. All Allied force were eventually withdrawn by 1957.

The Sea Hawk was a successful export aircraft. In the Royal Netherlands Navy, it served aboard the Dutch aircraft carrier HNLMS Karel Doorman , ex-HMS Venerable. When Karel Doorman was sold to Argentina, the Sea Hawks that served on her were moved ashore. They were taken out of service by the end of the 1960s. In Indian Navy service (beginning 1960), Sea Hawks were used aboard the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant and saw service during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 and 1971. The Sea Hawk was taken out of Indian Navy service in 1983, being replaced by the far more capable Hawker Sea Harrier . The Sea Hawk also saw service with the Bundesmarine, the Navy of West Germany until it was replaced in the mid 1960s by the F-104 Starfighter.

The Sea Hawks in Fleet Air Arm service began phasing out from first-line service in 1958, the year the Supermarine Scimitar and de Havilland Sea Vixen entered service, both of which would eventually replace the Sea Hawk. The last first-line Sea Hawk squadron disbanded in 1960, ending a very brief career for the Sea Hawk. All Sea Hawks in second-line service were also withdrawn by the mid 1960s. A number of Sea Hawks survive as of 2004, mainly in a variety of locations in the United Kingdom, though a few are located abroad, including in the Netherlands and India.

Squadrons that operated the Hawker Sea Hawk

• Fleet Air Arm
  • No. 700 NAS
  • No. 736 NAS
  • No. 764 NAS
  • No. 800 NAS
  • No. 802 NAS
  • No. 804 NAS
  • No. 806 NAS
  • No. 810 NAS
  • No. 812 NAS
  • No. 897 NAS
  • No. 899 NAS

• Bundesmarine (West Germany)
  • Marinefliegergeschwader 1
  • Marinefliegergeschwader 2

• Indian Navy
  • No. 300 Squadron

• Royal Netherlands Navy
  • No. 3 Squadron
  • No. 860 Squadron