Hawker Hurricane

MK I :

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The "Civilian Repair Organisation". also overhauled battle-weary aircraft, which were later sent to training units or to other air forces;
one of the factories involved was the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien],
which also built 300 Hurricanes.

Another was David Rosenfield Ltd, based at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] aerodrome near [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

MK II :

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In all, some 14,000 Hurricanes and Sea Hurricanes were produced.

The majority of Hurricanes were built by Hawker (which produced them until 1944), with Hawker's sister company, the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], making (2,750) most of the rest. As described, the Austin Aero Ltd built 300.

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], Canada, (where the Chief Engineer, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], became known as the "Queen of the Hurricanes") was responsible for production of 1,400 Hurricanes, known as the Mk X.

In 1939, production of 100 Hurricanes was initiated in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Of these, 20 were built by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] by April 1941. One of these was fitted with a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in 1941.

MK II :

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A contract for 80 Hurricanes was placed with Fairey's Belgian subsidiary [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] for the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in 1938, it being intended to arm these aircraft with four 13.2 mm machine guns.

Three were built and two flown with this armament by the time of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in May 1940, with at least 12 more
built by Avions Fairey with the conventional eight rifle calibre machine gun armament.

Operational history


Battle of France


In response to a request from the French government for 10 fighter squadrons to provide air support,
Air Chief Marshal [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], Commander-in-Chief of RAF Fighter Command, insisted that this number would deplete British defences severely, and so initially only four squadrons of Hurricanes, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], were relocated to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], keeping Spitfires back for "Home" defence.

The first to arrive was No.73 Squadron on 10 September 1939, followed shortly by the other three.

A little later, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] joined them.

In October 1939 a trainee pilot, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], had his first flight in a Hurricane:

Then, with tail trimmer set, throttle and mixture lever fully forward...and puffs of grey exhaust smoke soon clearing at maximum r.p.m came the surprise !

There was no sudden surge of acceleration, but with a thunderous roar from the exhausts just ahead on either side of the windscreen, only a steady increase in speed...

In retrospect that first Hurricane sortie was a moment of elation, but also of relief.

Apart from the new scale of speeds that the pilot had to adapt to, the Hurricane had all the qualities of its stable, secure biplane predecessor the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], but enhanced by livlier controls, greater precision and all this performance.

Beamont subsequently flew operationally with 87 Squadron, claiming three enemy aircraft during the French campaign

Throughout the bad days of 1940, 87 Sqn had maintained a proficient formation aerobatic team, the precise flying controls and responsive engines permitting precision formation through loops, barrel rolls, 1g semi-stall turns and rolls off half-loops...

My Hurricane was never hit in the Battles of France and Britain, and in over 700 hr on type I never experienced an engine failure.

In May the following year, 3, 79 and 504 Squadrons reinforced the earlier units as Germany's [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] gathered momentum, and on 13 May 1940, a further 32 Hurricanes arrived.

All 10 requested Hurricane squadrons were then operating from French soil and felt the full force of the Nazi offensive.

By 17 May, the end of the first week of fighting, only three of the squadrons were near operational strength, but despite their heavy losses the Hurricanes had managed to destroy nearly double the number of German aircraft.

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], was responsible for 73 Squadron's first victory on 8 November 1939, while stationed at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

He went on to become one of the RAF's first fighter aces of the war, being credited with 16 kills.

On 7 June 1940 Kain got word that he was to return to England for "rest leave" at an [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]; on leaving his airfield, he put on an impromptu aerobatic display and was killed when his Hurricane crashed after completing a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and attempting some low altitude [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

On 27 May 1940, 13 aircraft from 501 Squadron intercepted 24 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] escorted by 20 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and during the ensuing battle, 11 Heinkels were claimed as "kills" and others damaged, with little damage to the Hurricanes.

Initial engagements with the Luftwaffe showed the Hurricane to be a tight-turning and steady platform but the Watts two-bladed propeller was clearly unsuitable.

At least one pilot complained of how a Heinkel 111 was able to pull away from him in a chase, yet by this time the Heinkel was obsolescent.

At the start of the war, the engine ran on standard 87 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]. From early 1940, increasing quantities of 100 octane fuel imported from the U.S. became available.^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}

In February 1940, Hurricanes with the Merlin II and III engines began to receive modifications to allow for an
additional 6 lbf (27 N) of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] boost for five minutes (although there are accounts of its use for 30 minutes continuously).

The extra supercharger boost, which increased engine output by nearly 250 hp (190 kW), gave the Hurricane an approximate increase in speed of 25 mph (40 km/h) to 35 mph (56 km/h), under 15,000 ft (4,600 m) altitude and greatly increased the aircraft's climb rate.

"Overboost" or "pulling the plug", a form of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] as it was called in later Second World War aircraft, was an important wartime modification that allowed the Hurricane to be more competitive against the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and to
increase its margin of superiority over the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], especially at low altitude. With the +12 lbf/in² (83 kPa) "emergency
boost", the Merlin III was able to generate 1,310 hp (977 kW) at 9,000 ft (2,700 m).

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] of 87 Squadron wrote about the effect of using the extra boost on the Hurricane while chasing a Bf 109 at low altitude on 19 May 1940:

Damn! We're flat out as it is. Here goes with the tit.

A jerk - boost's shot up to 12 pounds; speed's increased by 30 mph.

I'm gaining ground - 700, 600, 500 yards. Give him a burst. No, hold your fire you fool! He hasn't seen you yet...

Gleed ran out of ammunition before he could shoot the 109 down although he left it heavily damaged and flying at about 50 feet.

Hurricanes equipped with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] constant-speed propellers were delivered to RAF squadrons in May 1940, with deliveries continuing throughout the Battle of Britain;
the Rotol propeller transformed the Hurricane's performance from
"disappointing" to one of "acceptable mediocrity" and modified aircraft were certainly much sought after among squadrons equipped with aircraft having the older de Havilland two-position propeller.

Battle of Britain


At the end of June 1940, following the fall of France, the majority of the RAF's 36 fighter squadrons were equipped with Hurricanes.

The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] officially lasted from 10 July until 31 October 1940, but the heaviest fighting took place between 8 August and 21 September.

Both the Supermarine Spitfire and the Hurricane are renowned for their part in defending Britain against the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] — generally the Spitfire would intercept the German fighters,
leaving Hurricanes to concentrate on the bombers, but despite the undoubted abilities of the "thoroughbred" Spitfire,
it was the "workhorse" Hurricane that scored the highest number of RAF victories during this period,
accounting for 1,593 of the 2,739 claimed.