Hawker Siddeley Nimrod

what is it?

The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod is a retired maritime patrol aircraft developed and operated by the United Kingdom. It was an extensive modification of the de Havilland Comet, the world's first operational jet airliner. It was originally designed by de Havilland's successor firm, Hawker Siddeley; further development and maintenance work was undertaken by Hawker Siddeley's own successor companies, British Aerospace and, later, BAE Systems.

🔎How to recognise it: 4 jet engines · 35 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 926 km/htop speed
• range 8,336 kmwithout refuelling
• size 87.1 tmax take-off weight
• built 51made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 59 years ago, in 1967.
• 🏎️Top speed is 7.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 35 m: about 8 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 15 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 8,336 km: Amsterdam to New York (≈5,850 km) without stopping.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.5× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1967-05-23

introduced

1969

retired

2011

status

retired

number built

51

role

maritime patrol aircraft

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Hawker Siddeley

engines

4× Rolls-Royce Spey

crew

13

length

38.6 m

wingspan

35 m

height

9.5 m

max take-off weight

87.1 t

top speed

926 km/h

cruise speed

789 km/h

range

8,336 km

ceiling

13,411 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.