Few British aircraft have attained the special niche in the history of the RAF which is accorded to the Hawker Hurricane, sharing with the Supermarine Spitfire the brunt of air defence during the Battle of Britain in August-September 1940. One of the significant statistics of the Hurricane's contribution to this hard-fought battle was the fact that these aircraft destroyed more enemy aircraft than the combined total of all other defence systems, air or ground. Even that factor must be equated with the information that at the beginning of the battle (on 8 August 1940) approximately 65% more Hurricanes than Spitfires (2,309 to 1,400) had been delivered to the RAF's Fighter Command. Perhaps, in the final analysis, such figures can be regarded as more controversial than revealing. The fact remains that this combination of machines and courageous pilots was enough to deny the Luftwaffe access to the daylight skies over Britain without unacceptable loss.
The family tree of the Hurricane can be traced back to a 'Fury monoplane' proposal of 1933, then to be powered by the Rolls-Royce Goshawk evaporative-cooled power plant. Instead it was decided in early 1934 to adapt this design to incorporate the new PV.12 engine which Rolls-Royce had developed - and which was the direct forbear of the famous Merlin. From that time the airframe/engine combination bore so little relation to the Fury that it then became identified as the 'Interceptor Monoplane'.
This finalised design was submitted to the Air Ministry in 1934, and in the following year a prototype was ordered to Specification F.36/34. On 6 November 1935, powered by a 767kW Merlin 'C' engine, the Hurricane took to the air for the first time. Although of cantilever monoplane configuration, its construction was typical of the Fury from which it stemmed, and even its wings were fabric-covered in early Mk Is, with a metal leading edge and trailing-edge flaps. The tailwheel-type landing gear had hydraulically retractable main units of wide track. Armament of production Mk Is comprised four 7.7mm Browning machine-guns in each wing, making this the RAF's first eight-gun fighter.
Early tests of the prototype confirmed the predicted performance, and an initial order for 600 placed in June 1936 was followed by one for 1,000 additional aircraft in November 1938. The first production aircraft flew in October 1937 and Hurricane I began to enter service in December 1937, first with No 111 Squadron. In early February 1938 Britain's breakfast-time newspaper readers almost choked on their toast when headlines assured them that, during the night, No 111 Squadron's commanding officer (Sqdn Ldr J. GilIan) had flown his Hurricane from Edinburgh to Northolt at an average speed of 657km/h, assisted by a tail wind!
Subsequent Hurricane versions included the Mk IIA with Merlin XX and eight guns; Mk IIB with 12 guns; and Mk IIC with four 20mm cannon. Mk IID with two 40mm Vickers 'S' guns and two 7.7mm guns (plus additional armour for low attack) were used extensively in the Western Desert. The final production version was the Mk IV with a wing able to accept armament comprising two Browning machine-guns plus two 40mm guns, or eight rocket projectiles, or two 110kg or 225kg bombs, or long-range fuel tanks. The Hurricane V (only two built) was powered by a Merlin 27 or 32 engine, while Hurricane X, XII and XIIA were produced in Canada by the Canadian Car and Foundry Company with Packard 28 or 29 engines. A total of 12,780 Hurricanes were built in Britain, plus 1,451 in Canada.
Sea Hurricanes joined the Royal Navy in January 1941 and became the first carrier-based British single-seat monoplane fighter when taken to sea by HMS Furious in July 1941. Under the 'Catfighter' scheme, Sea Hurricane IA were equipped for catapult launch from the decks of CAM merchant ships (catapult-equipped merchantmen) to counter the threat posed by Germany's Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condors, introduced in the spring in 1941. Only the Mk IA was specially built. The approximate figure of 800 Sea Hurricanes which entered service included 50 Mk IA and about 750 conversions of Mk II and Canadian-built aircraft.
In addition to the Hurricanes already mentioned, more than 4,000 were supplied to other air forces, including Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Eire, Finland, India, Persia (now Iran), Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, the Soviet Union, Turkey, and Yugoslavia.
Pearl Harbor never fell. The naval force was detected by a 413 sqadron catalina. The air raid was detected by eye and unreported to 30 squadron, which took off under attack. 258 squadron scrambled in time and got up successfully, and 261 squadron wasn't there. Ceylon didn't fall because it was a raiding force to destroy naval forces and harbor installations, not an invasion force. I love Hurricanes. They shot down Vals but were not the equal of the Zero in fighter vs fighter combat. Where did you think 258 squadron was?
I have bean reading the debate between Leo rudniki and d.jay start to get out of hand, Leo mut be German or have had a relation killed by a Hurricane to be so negative towards this great plane ok so it was obsolite by 1942. I don't pretend to know every combat detail but I do know it saved the world in 1940 when nothing stood in the way of the nazis.
Mr Rudniki must be getting his info of the history channel, 261 squadron went to india after the defence of Ceylon for the reinvaion of Burma, 20 Japanese aircraft were shotdown in the fist raid alone, The raiders were spotted by Catalina not radar. POINT IS CEYLON NOR INDIA FELL DEFENDED BY HURRICANES!
258 Squadron RAF was based at the racecourse, 261 was in Burma. 30 squadron took off under attack. Tower staff fired off a flare to signal a scramble but forgot to leave the building first. Only Trincomalee had operational radar. 15 Hurricanes and 4 Fulmars were lost on the Colombo raid. 8 Hurricanes and 1 Fulmar were lost on the Trincomalee raid. Additional aircraft were lost as well. The Japanese losses for all activities were 17 aircraft. Post-war historical research.
the Japaneses attacked Ceylon on the 5th and 8th of april 1942 and and lost 35 aircraft to the defences most of these were by Hurricanes of 30 and 261 squadron RAF yes naval losses were heavy and 15 defending aircraft were lost but Ceylon was never again attacked.
Hurricanes defended Singapore. 48 of them. Singapore fell. Hurricanes replaced Buffaloes in Burma. Burma fell. A Royal Navy task force, Force H, defended Sri Lanka. Aircraft Carrier Hermes, heavy cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire and some lesser ships were sunk by air attacks, pretty one sided action. Then, Nagumo turned and ran. Force H also turned and ran, but without recording anything victorious. Hurricanes never had the speed to dive into and away from Japanese fighters in the Chennault style in which the humble P-40 was somewhat more successful.
The Hurri stayed in production until 44 because it made a very good advanced trainer some thing Germany and Japan forgot to do so they sent porly trained pilots up to thier deaths after all thier experianced pilots had been killed. The pilots who had trained on the hurri then went on to late marks of Spits and Tempests to face Me109s and zeroes. The hurricane did stop Zeroes in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), they tried two raids and then gave up. in Burma it went up agains Ki43s not Zekes.
I've read somewhere that Belgium had some Hurricanes during the nazi invasion armed with 4 x 0.5" machine guns. Can anyone verify this & if so would that armament have made it a more potent bomber destroyer in 1940. It did well in the Battle of Britain as it was a steady gun platform but with heavy calibre machine guns might it have been even more effective. We stuck to the .303 for far too long in aircraft.
The problem with the Hurri was that it was just too nice to let it go. Sir Sidney didn't learn about thick wings until the Tiffie snapped tails off. Production contnued til '44 and it had to face Me 109G's and Zeroes. Hurri's couldn't stop Zekes in Burma and Hans Marseille and the Afrika Korp in Egypt. Not that Pat Pattle wouldn't have died in a Spitfire but you never know. Spitfire V's continued to roll out of the factory long after the FW's air dominance was a fact. Inertia was invented by an Englishman, wasn't it?
The Hurricane out killed the Spitfire in the Battle of Britain. And while slower in level flight, and not able to match the 109 in climb or dive, the Hurricane could out turn it. While not the sexy airframe that the Spitfire was, in the hands of a competent pilot, still a match for the 109. One of my favorite fighter aircraft.
Not a good fighter for air defence? Many a nazi pilot thought that and ended up in flames. Messerschmitt bf 109s often failed to destroy one on their first pass from a bounce and ended up being out turned by it and shot down.
John Taverner, good job you weren't around in WWII, we'd have been defeated with your attitude. If you are not proud to be British (obviously not English) then I suggest you clear off out of the way.
The thing to remember is that Britain has been a Third World Nation since 1892, and always short of money. With the shrinkage of the British empire (owned by the English, by the way), cheap and cheerful compromises have become the norm. The Hurricane was built using private finance before the government of the day were able to see the coming storm, and it was built using old fashioned techniques which reduced the performance (the usual story). Thankfully, it did the job much better than expected in the Battle of Britain. Remember too, that they were flown by very young pilots straight out of training.
Great plane for ground targets its time, but not a good fighter for air defence. That's because of germans Messerschmitt bf 109.In my opinion it was lighter and a bit faster than hurricane. It could do a deadly turn and make hurricane's flight long rememberable :)
