# WWII Aircraft PT 2: Hawker Hurricane



## Xenophon

The Hurricane took Britain's fighter force belatedly out of the bi-plane era and gave the RAF a machine with which to combat the fast growing might of the German Luftwaffe. The year 1937 was a key time in fighter development on both sides of the channel. In Germany the Messerschmidt Bf-109B, armed with three 7.9mm machine guns or 2 machine guns and one 20mm cannon entered service, and soon proved its worth in the Spanish Civil War. By contrast, the British had the ponderous Gloster Gladiator, a bi-plane. But two new British types were on the way, and by the eve of the Battle of Britain, the RAF's front line fighter strength of 1,200 included 800 Hurricane monoplane single seat fighters, armed with 8 .30s inch caliber machine guns.

The Hurricane was born in the fertile mind of Sidney Cam, the talented designer of the Hawker aircraft firm. The RAF wanted a monoplane with a retractable undercarriage, closed cockpit, single wing plane that could exceed 300mph. Cam went right to work. Drawing on Hawker's experience in fabric covered bi-planes, he decided the new plane would be a steel framed, covered in fabric, so to save wieght and improve speed. The first proto-type flew in November of 1935, and proved at that point to be the most advanced fighter design in the world. It exceeded the specification of 300mph, and was armed with 8 machine guns, giving it 4 times the fire-power of the 2 gunned bi-planes the RAF and Luftwaffe were then using.

The plane proved to be a joy to fly, it's spread undercarriage made it much safer to land then the faster Spitfire design, and it's fabric wings and fuselage were easily repaired from battle damage, another advantage over the Spitfire. It was also an extremely stable gun platform, suffering little vibration at speed or in defection shooting.

When the war broke out, only Hurricanes were allotted to the advanced air strike force in France, and they acquitted themselves well against the faster Bf-109E, and proved deadly vs the Bf-110 and all German bombers.When France fell, two out every three squadrons in Britain were equipped with Hurricane, and they shouldered the major load in the Battle of Britain. british tactics were from the more effective Spitfires to engage the German fighters, and the Hurricanes to take on the bombers. Of course, the Hurricanes were often called on to fight the fighters as well, and ablely held their own.

In late 1940 a new version of Hurricane with 12 machine guns was introduced, called the Mk IIB. The MkIIC replaced the machine guns with four 20mm Cannons, and this version entered service in 1941, and were the most heavily armed fighters in the world at that time. A special ground attack version was developed in 1942, which placed two 40mm cannons in pods under the wings (and was later copied by the Germans, on their Stuka Tank Busters). Later, .5 inch rockets were carried underwing for added firepower. A Special catapult version for convoy protection was devised, which was basically a one shot fighter, the plane would be launched, engage the enemy, and land in the sea, a wasteful stop-gap called a cam-ship combination. Hurricanes were also given arrester gear and used on aircraft carries. The type was produced until 1944, when it was realized it could not be up-rated any further.

It ended up being the most produced fighter in the British inventory during its operational life, over 14,000 of them completed, and was a truly classic war bird. 

MKI

Length: 31 ft 4ins
Span: 40ft 0ins
Crew: one
Top Speed: 328 mph
Ceiling: 34,200 ft
Range: 505 miles
Armament: 8x .303 Caliber Browning Machine Guns

MKIIB:

Length:32 ft 3ins
Span: 40ft 0ins
Combat weight: 8,250 lb
Crew: one
Top Speed: 339 mph
Ceiling: 36,000 ft
Range: 470 miles
Armament: 12x .303 Caliber Browning Machine Guns


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## Xenophon

Hurricane Mk 1


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## Xenophon

Hurricane Mk IIB


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## Xenophon

The last Hurricane assembled, carried the name 'Last of the many'


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## Xenophon

The Hurricane Mk IV carried four 20mm cannon and was used as a tank buster over the western dessert


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## random3434

Xenophon said:


> The last Hurricane assembled, carried the name 'Last of the many'



I love these older pics that look like they were taken during WW2 Xeno!


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## Xenophon

The Hurricane was the backbone of the RAF in the Battle of Britain, 2 Hurricans fought for every Spitfire flying, and Hurricanes downed more German Aircraft then any other type in the battle.


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## Terry

Thanks for that. While living in Germany I went to the Luftwaffe museum and it was interesting to see. Of course I didn't understand a lot because I do not read German, the pictures were neat though. 

I'm still biased toward our P 51 mustangs. My father in-law was an ace in the 55th fighter group and flew strafing missions. I have pictures!


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## Xenophon

Echo Zulu said:


> Xenophon said:
> 
> 
> 
> The last Hurricane assembled, carried the name 'Last of the many'
> 
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> I love these older pics that look like they were taken during WW2 Xeno!
Click to expand...

Oddly enough the older black and white shots are hard to find on the net.


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## Xenophon

Terry said:


> Thanks for that. While living in Germany I went to the Luftwaffe museum and it was interesting to see. Of course I didn't understand a lot because I do not read German, the pictures were neat though.
> 
> I'm still biased toward our P 51 mustangs. My father in-law was an ace in the 55th fighter group and flew strafing missions. I have pictures!


I will get to the mustang eventually Terry.


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## Xenophon

The first Hurricanes in service had only a two bladed propellar, this was quickly changed before the war started.


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## Terry

Xenophon said:


> Terry said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for that. While living in Germany I went to the Luftwaffe museum and it was interesting to see. Of course I didn't understand a lot because I do not read German, the pictures were neat though.
> 
> I'm still biased toward our P 51 mustangs. My father in-law was an ace in the 55th fighter group and flew strafing missions. I have pictures!
> 
> 
> 
> I will get to the mustang eventually Terry.
Click to expand...

 I know...I have a book all about them with some nice stories and pictures.  I also have pictures from father in-law.  

I still love these planes...it amazes me how back then the bravery our pilots were.  They did some amazing things!


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## Xenophon

Squadron Leader Roland Robert Standford Tuck sitting in his Hurricane 'Burma' (donated and paid for by burma citizens) was the highest scoring British ace when he was shot down in 1941. He would later take part in the famous great escape, before eventually escaping first to Russia and then into Turkey.(A Tuck thread will come eventually)


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## Terry

awesome picture...almost could sense being in that time, and taking the picture myself.


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## Xenophon

RAF pilots scramble! (56th Squadron, Wessex RAF 1940)


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## Xenophon

Maraduke st John 'Pat' Pattle may have been the highest scoring allied ace, having shot down over 70 planes over Malta and in Greece, but his squadron records were lost during the retreat and Pat Pattle was killed in action.


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## necritan

We would have no P51 if it wasnt for the Hurricane and Spitfire.


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## Terry

shot down 70? Dang that is a lot!!!!!!!!!


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## Xenophon

necritan said:


> We would have no P51 if it wasnt for the Hurricane and Spitfire.


Spits and Mustangs will come in time.


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## Xenophon

Terry said:


> shot down 70? Dang that is a lot!!!!!!!!!


He was a great fighter leader, in the end he was killed trying to fight an entire squadron of German planes in his lone Hurricane.


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## strollingbones

blessed be are the souls of warriors.


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## Diuretic

Xenophon said:


> RAF pilots scramble! (56th Squadron, Wessex RAF 1940)



The _Firebirds_, famous squadron from its days in the RFC right up through the 1960s when it was equipped with EE Lightings and formed the RAF display team for some yeas.  Still in existence but now reformed as an op conversion squadron.  Well named, they were always disbanded and re-formed.


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## Doddsy2978

Hi,

Just for the record, The RAF do not use ordinal indicators, as a rule, to name squadrons, preferring to just use, for example, "56 Sqn" or "Number 56 Sqn" if more formal.  Also, No. 56 Squadron  was active at least until the late eighties.  I served with the Sqn around the mid eighties when it was equipped with the mighty fine MD Phantom F4M at RAF Wattisham in the Suffolk countryside.

As an aside, the Sqn had an American pilot.  He was a brilliantly entertaining man who never tired of pushing the envelope or whinging (yeah Yanks do that too!) about the fact that the F4M did not have an integral gun.

OK! Whinge over!  Thanks for an entertaining thread and giving the Hawker Hurricane some good press for a change.   The poor ol' Hurric'n always seems to be in the Spitfire's shadow, even though the Hurricane proved to be the most effective and reliable fighter during the BoB.  This was due, in part, to the fact that it was far simpler and quicker to repair when battle damaged.  In many cases the Hurricane could be repaired overnight as opposed to the several nights required to repaire the stressed skin of the, more advanced (technology - wise) Spit. 

Anyway, I hope you don't mind me sticking my oar in your thread.  If you do - I apologise!

Ian


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## psikeyhackr

Sorry, my fave was the P-38 Lightning.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dnbm0vGM0E]YouTube - P-38 Lightning Tribute[/ame]

But technology is better than history.  How about a Lightning design with turbo-prop engines.  To hell with that piston junk.

psik


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