Four Numbered Hawks

The Midnight Hawks' aircraft are four BAE Systems Hawk advanced jet trainers. The Hawk is the primary advanced and weapons training platform of the Finnish Air Force.

The Hawks flown by the Midnight Hawks are identified by yellow numbers in the vertical tail. The team leader flies ship #1, while ship #4 is the mount of the slot pilot. Ship #7 is a spare aircraft.

The individual aircraft allocated for the team are pulled from the pool of Hawks used for routine training with the Training Air Wing about one week before each display. At that point, yellow numbers are also applied.

The wing pylons of the aircraft are fitted with Sanders SCSG-5A smoke generators prior to each display. They burn the mixture of oil and aviation kerosene and produce smoke to heighten the visual impact of the display sequence.

Yellow tail numbers and smoke generators are the distinguishing features of Midnight Hawks aircraft. Photo: Aleksi Ruotsila.

The Hawk: a Pilot's Classroom

The BAE Systems Hawk is a British single-engined two-seat advanced jet trainer used by the Training Air Wing in the advanced (Phase III) and lead-in (Phase IV) training roles. During Hawk training, a Finnish military pilot gets the first taste of fast jet flying before subsequent conversion to the more demanding Hornet strike fighter.

The Air Force operates three variants of the Hawk. A large initial batch of Hawk 51s was purchased with deliveries starting in 1980. The fleet was later augmented by 51As in 1993 and red-and-white 66s sourced from Switzerland in 2007.

Twenty-six Hawks are currently going through upgrades to have a modern glass cockpit in which legacy analog instruments are replaced by multi-function displays and associated digital avionics. The first batch of upgraded Hawks arrived in Kauhava in 2010. For the time being, the Midnight Hawks will only fly grey aircraft that retain their original cockpit configuration.

The Hawk is in service with a large number of armed services throughout the world. Other Hawk display teams include the Red Arrows of the Royal Air Force and Saudi Hawks of the Royal Saudi Air Force of Saudi Arabia.

Technical Data

Wing span: 9.39 m

Length: 11.9 m

Height: 3.99 m

Empty weight: 3,647 kg

Maximum operating weight: 7,750 kg

Structure: All-metal

Power plant (51 and 51A): Rolls-Royce Turboméca Adour 851 bypass engine, 2,420 kp (23.7 kN) thrust

Performance: Maximum speed 1,038 km/h at low level, 0.88 Mach at altitude. Ceiling 14,500 m

Armament: 30-mm gun and heat-seeking missiles

Stores and mission equipment: Air sample pods or smoke generators on wing pylons, digital mission debriefing system, and other stores

In service with the Finnish Air Force: 67, to be reduced to 26 by 2015

More info on the Finnish Air Force Hawk upgrades

Last updated 02.04.2012