Gloster Aircraft Company
Canadian Car and Foundry
Austin Motor Company
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| Hurricane Mk I (R4118), a Hurricane from the 1940 Battle of Britain, still flying | |
| Role | Fighter |
| Manufacturer | Hawker Aircraft Gloster Aircraft Company Canadian Car and Foundry Austin Motor Company |
| Designed by | Sydney Camm |
| First flight | 6 November 1935 |
| Introduced | 1937 |
| Primary user | Royal Air Force |
| Produced | 1937-1944 |
| Number built | 14,000 |
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. Some production of the Hurricane was carried out in Canada by the Canada Car and Foundry Co Ltd.
The 1930s design evolved through several versions and adaptations, resulting in a series of aircraft which acted as interceptor-fighters, fighter-bombers (also called "Hurribombers"), and ground support aircraft. Further versions known as the Sea Hurricane had modifications which enabled operation from ships. Some were converted as catapult-launched convoy escorts, known as "Hurricats". Together with the Spitfire, the Hurricane was significant in enabling the Royal Air Force (RAF) to win the Battle of Britain of 1940, accounting for the majority of the RAF's air victories. About 14,000 Hurricanes were built by the end of 1944 (including about 1,200 converted to Sea Hurricanes, and about 1,400 built in Canada), and served in all the major theatres of the Second World War.
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The Hurricane was developed by Hawker in response to the Air Ministry specification F.36/34 (modified by F.5/34) for a fighter aircraft built around the new Rolls-Royce engine, then only known as the PV-12, later to become famous as the Merlin. At that time, RAF Fighter Command comprised just 13 squadrons, each equipped with either the Hawker Fury, Hawker Hart variant, or Bristol Bulldog – all biplanes with fixed-pitch wooden propellers and non-retractable undercarriages.[1] The design, started in early 1934, was the work of Sydney Camm.
Sydney Camm's original plans submitted in response to the Air Ministry's specification were at first rejected (apparently "too orthodox," even for the Air Ministry). Camm tore up the proposal and set about designing a fighter as a Hawker private venture. With economy in mind, the Hurricane was designed using as many existing tools and jigs as possible (the aircraft was effectively a monoplane version of the successful Hawker Fury); and it was these factors that were major contributors to the aircraft's success.
Early design stages of the "Fury Monoplane" incorporated a Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine, but this was replaced shortly after by the Merlin, and featured a retractable undercarriage. The design came to be known as the "Interceptor Monoplane," and by May 1934, the plans had been completed in detail. To test the new design, a one-tenth scale model was made and sent to the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington. A series of wind tunnel tests confirmed the aerodynamic qualities of the design were in order, and by December that year, a full size wooden mock-up of the aircraft had been created.[1]
Construction of the first prototype, K5083, began in August 1935 incorporating the PV-12 Merlin engine. The completed sections of the aircraft were taken to Brooklands, where Hawkers had an assembly shed, and re-assembled on 23 October 1935. Ground testing and taxi trials took place over the following two weeks, and on 6 November 1935, the prototype took to the air for the first time, at the hands of Hawker's chief test pilot, Flight Lieutenant (later Group Captain) P.W.S. Bulman.[2] Flight Lieutenant Bulman was assisted by two other pilots in subsequent flight testing; Philip Lucas flew some of the experimental test flights, while John Hindmarsh conducted the firm's production flight trials.[3]
One of Camm's priorities with the new fighter was to provide the pilot with good all round visibility. To this end the cockpit was mounted reasonably high in the fuselage, creating a distinctive "hump-backed" silhouette.[4]Pilot access to the cockpit was aided by a retractable "stirrup" mounted below the trailing edge of the port wing. This was linked to a spring-loaded hinged flap which covered a handhold on the fuselage, just behind the cockpit. When the flap was shut the footstep retracted into the fuselage. In addition, both wingroots were coated with strips of non-slip material.
Though faster and more advanced than the RAF's current frontline biplane fighters, the Hurricane's design was already outdated when introduced. It employed traditional Hawker construction techniques from previous biplane aircraft, with mechanically fastened, rather than welded joints. It had a Warren girder-type fuselage of high-tensile steel tubes, over which sat frames and longerons that carried the doped linen covering. An advantage conferred by the steel-tube structure was that cannon shells could pass right through the wood and fabric covering without exploding. Even if one of the steel tubes were damaged the repair work required was relatively simple and could be done by the groundcrew at the airfield. An all metal structure damaged by an exploding cannon shell required more specialised equipment to repair.[5]. The old-fashioned structure also permitted the assembly of Hurricanes with relatively basic equipment under field conditions. Crated Hurricanes were assembled in West Africa and flown across the Sahara to the Middle East theatre, and to save space some Royal Navy aircraft carriers carried their reserve Sea Hurricanes dismantled into their major assemblies which were slung up on the hangar bulkheads and deckhead for reassembly when needed.
Initially, the wing structure consisted of two steel spars, and was also fabric-covered. An all-metal, stressed-skin wing of duraluminium (a DERD specification similar to AA2024) was introduced in April 1939 and was used for all of the later marks.[2] In contrast, the contemporary Spitfire used all-metal monocoque construction and was thus both lighter and stronger, though less tolerant to bullet damage. With its ease of maintenance, widely set landing gear and benign flying characteristics, the Hurricane remained in use in theatres of operations where reliability, easy handling and a stable gun platform were more important than performance, typically in roles like ground attack. One of the design requirements of the original specification was that the Hurricane, as well as the Spitfire, was also to be used as a night-fighter. The Hurricane proved to be a relatively simple aircraft to fly at night[6] and was to be instrumental in shooting down several German aircraft during the nocturnal hours. From early 1941 the Hurricane would also be used as an "intruder" aircraft, patrolling German airfields in France at night in an attempt to catch night bombers during take-offs or landings.
In March 1940, Hurricanes with the Merlin II and III engines began to receive modifications to allow for an additional 6 lbs of supercharger boost, for five minutes, (although there are accounts of its use for 30 minutes continuously). The increased supercharger boost, which increased engine output by nearly 250 hp, gave the Hurricane an approximate increase in speed of 25 to 35 mph, under 15,000 ft altitude, and greatly increased the aircraft's climb rate. "Overboost" or "pulling the plug" was an important wartime modification, that allowed the Hurricane to remain more competitive against the Bf 109E and to increase its margin of superiority over the Bf 110C, especially at low altitude. The Supermarine Spitfire also benefited greatly when using overboost.[7]
The Hurricane was ordered into production in June 1936, mainly due to its relatively simple construction and ease of manufacture. As war was looking increasingly likely, and time was of the essence in providing the RAF with an effective fighter aircraft, it was unclear if the more advanced Spitfire would be able to enter production smoothly, while the Hurricane used well-understood manufacturing techniques. This was true for service squadrons as well, who were experienced in working on and repairing aircraft whose construction employed the same principles as the Hurricane, and the simplicity of its design enabled the improvisation of some remarkable repairs in Squadron workshops.
The maiden flight of the first production aircraft, powered by a Merlin II engine, took place on 12 October 1937. The first four aircraft to enter service with the RAF joined No. 111 Squadron RAF at RAF Northolt the following December. By the outbreak of the Second World War, nearly 500 Hurricanes had been produced, and had equipped 18 squadrons.[8]
During 1940, Lord Beaverbrook, who was the Minister of Aircraft Production, established an organisation in which a number of manufacturers were seconded to repair and overhaul battle damaged Hurricanes. 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 Austin Aero Company's Cofton Hackett plant, which also built 300 Hurricanes. Another was David Rosenfield Ltd, based at Barton aerodrome near Manchester.[9]
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 Gloster Aircraft Company, making (2,750) most of the rest. As described, the Austin Aero Ltd built 300. Canada Car and Foundry in Fort William, Ontario, Canada, (where the Chief Engineer, Elsie MacGill, 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 Yugoslavia by Zmaj and Rogozarski. Of these, 20 were built by Zmaj by April 1941. One of these was fitted with a DB 601 and test flown in 1941.[10]
A contract for 80 Hurricanes was placed with Fairey's Belgian subsidiary Avions Fairey SA for the Belgian Air Force in 1938. Three were built and two flown by the time of the Blitzkrieg in May 1940.[11]
In response to a request from the French government for ten fighter squadrons to provide air support, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, Commander-in-Chief of RAF Fighter Command, insisted that this number would deplete British defences severely, and so initially only four squadrons of Hurricanes, Nos. 1, 73, 85 and 87, were relocated to France, keeping Spitfires back for "Home" defence. The first to arrive was No.73 Squadron on 10 September 1939, followed shortly by the other three, and a little later Nos. 607 and 615 Squadrons joined them. In May the following year, Nos. 3, 79 and 504 Squadrons reinforced them as Germany's Blitzkrieg gathered momentum, and on 13 May 1940, a further 32 Hurricanes arrived. All ten 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.
Flying Officer E.J."Cobber" Kain was responsible for No. 73 Squadron's first victory in October 1939, while stationed in France; he subsequently went on to become the RAF's first fighter ace of the war. In June 1940, prior to heading for England at the start of his leave, on leaving his airfield, he crashed during a low-level "victory roll" and lost his life.
On 27 May 1940, 13 aircraft from No. 501 Squadron intercepted 24 Heinkel He 111s escorted by 20 Messerschmitt Bf 110s, and during the ensuing battle, 11 Heinkels were claimed as "kills" and others damaged, with little damage to the Hurricanes.[12]
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 Battle of Britain officially lasted from 10 July until 31 October 1940, but the heaviest fighting took place between 8 August and 21 September 1940. Both the Supermarine Spitfire and the Hurricane are renowned for their part in defending Britain against the Luftwaffe's might — generally the Spitfire would intercept the German fighters leaving Hurricanes to concentrate on destroying 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 out of the 2,739 total claimed.
As a fighter, the Hurricane had some drawbacks. It was slower than both the Spitfire and Bf 109, and the thick wings compromised acceleration. Whilst it was sturdy and stable, the Hurricane's construction had made it very dangerous when on fire: the forward fuel-tank sat right in front of the instrument panel, without any form of firewall between it and the pilot. Many Hurricane pilots were horribly burned. As in the Spitfire, the Merlin engine suffered from negative-G cut-out, a problem not cured until the introduction of the Miss Shilling's orifice in early 1941.
The only Battle of Britain Hurricane Victoria Cross was awarded to Flight Lieutenant Eric Nicolson, of 249 Squadron as a result of an action on 16 August 1940 when his section of three Hurricanes was "bounced" from above by Bf 110 fighters. All three were hit simultaneously. Nicolson was badly wounded, and his Hurricane was damaged and engulfed in flames. While attempting to leave the cockpit, Nicolson noticed that one of the Bf 110s had overshot his aircraft. He returned to the cockpit, which by now was a blazing inferno, engaged the enemy, and may have shot the Bf 110 down.[13]
Following the Battle of Britain, Hurricanes continued to give service, and through the Blitz of 1941 were the principal single-seat nightfighter in Fighter Command. F/Lt. Richard Stevens claimed 14 Luftwaffe bombers flying Hurricanes in 1941.
1942 saw the cannon-armed Mk IIc perform further afield in the night intruder role over occupied Europe. F/Lt. Karel Kuttelwascher of 1 Squadron proved the top scorer, with 15 Luftwaffe bombers claimed shot down.
The Hurricane Mk II was hastily tropicalised following Italy's entry into the war in June 1940. These aircraft were initially ferried through France by air to No. 80 Squadron RAF, in Egypt, to replace Gladiators. The Hurricane claimed its first kill in the Mediterranean on 19 June 1940, when F/O P. G. Wykeham-Barnes reported shooting down two Fiat CR.42s.
Hurricanes served with several British Commonwealth squadrons in the Desert Air Force. They suffered heavy losses over North Africa after the arrival of Bf 109E and F-variants and were progressively replaced in the air superiority role from June 1941 by Curtiss Tomahawks/Kittyhawks. However, fighter-bomber variants ("Hurribombers") retained an edge in the ground attack role, due to their impressive armament of four 20 mm cannon and a 500 lb bombload.
During and following the five-day El Alamein artillery barrage that commenced on the night of 23 October 1942, six squadrons of Hurricanes claimed to have destroyed 39 tanks, 212 lorries and armoured troop-carriers, 26 bowsers, 42 guns, 200 various other vehicles and four small fuel and ammunition dumps, flying 842 sorties with the loss of 11 pilots. Whilst performing in a ground support role, Hurricanes based at RAF Castel Benito, Tripoli, knocked out six tanks, 13 armoured vehicles, ten lorries, five half-tracks, a gun and trailer, and a wireless van on 10 March 1943, with no losses to themselves.[14]
The Hurricane played a significant role in the defence of Malta. When Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940, Malta's air defence rested on four Gloster Gladiators (after the first one was lost, the remaining were named “Faith, Hope and Charity”) which managed to hold out against vastly superior numbers of the Italian air force during the following three weeks. Four Hurricanes joined them at the end of June, and together they faced attacks throughout July from the 200 enemy aircraft based in Sicily, with the loss of one Gladiator and one Hurricane. Further reinforcements arrived on 2 August in the form of 12 more Hurricanes and two Blackburn Skuas,[15] which prompted the Italians to employ German Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers to try and destroy the airfields. Finally, in an attempt to overcome the stiff resistance put up by these few aircraft, the Luftwaffe took up base on the Sicilian airfields only to find that Malta was not an easy target. After numerous attacks on the island over the following months, and the arrival of an extra 23 Hurricanes at the end of April 1941, and a further delivery a month later, the Luftwaffe left Sicily for the Russian Front in June that year.[16][17]
As Malta was situated on the increasingly important sea supply route for the North African campaign, the Luftwaffe returned with a vengeance for a second assault on the island at the beginning of 1942.[17] It wasn't until March, when the onslaught was at its highest, that 15 Spitfires flew in off the carrier HMS Eagle to join with the Hurricanes already stationed there and bolster the defence, but many of the new aircraft were lost on the ground and it was again the Hurricane that bore the brunt of the early fighting until further reinforcements arrived. In relation to this second intensive assault on Malta, Wing Commander P.B. "Laddie" Lucas is quoted as saying:[18]
| “ | For weeks a handful of Hurricane IIs, aided by Group Captain A.B. Woodhall's masterly controlling, had been meeting, against all the odds, the rising crescendo of Field Marshal Kesselring's relentless attacks on Grand Harbour and the airfields. Outnumbered, usually, by 12 or 14 to one and, later – with the arrival of the Me 109Fs in Sicily – outperformed, the pilots of the few old aircraft which the ground crews struggled valiantly to keep serviceable, went on pressing their attacks, ploughing their way through the German fighter screens, and our flak, to close in with the Ju 87s and 88s as they dived for their targets. | ” |
Mk II Hurricanes played an important air defence role in 1941 when the Soviet Union found itself under threat from the German Army approaching on a broad front stretching from Leningrad, Moscow, and to the oil fields in the south. Britain's decision to aid the Soviets meant sending supplies by sea to the far northern ports, and as the convoys would need to sail within range of enemy air attack from the Luftwaffe based in neighbouring Finland, it was decided to deliver a number of Hurricane Mk IIBs, flying with Nos. 81 and 134 Squadrons of No. 151 Wing RAF, to provide protection. Twenty-four were transported on the carrier HMS Argus arriving just off Murmansk 28 August 1941, and another 15 crated aircraft on board merchant vessels. In addition to their convoy protection duties, the aircraft also acted as escorts to Russian bombers. Enemy attention to the area declined in October, at which point the RAF pilots trained their Soviet counterparts to operate the Hurricanes themselves and, by the end of the year, the RAF's role had ended, but the aircraft remained behind and became the first of thousands of Allied aircraft that would be accepted by the Soviet Union.[19]
Following the outbreak of war with Japan, 51 Hurricanes (MkII) were sent in crates to Singapore, with 24 pilots, the nucleus of five squadrons. They arrived on 3 January 1942, by which time the Allied fighter squadrons in Singapore, flying Brewster Buffalos, had been overwhelmed in the Malayan campaign. The Imperial Japanese Army Air Force's fighter force, especially the Nakajima Ki-43, had been underestimated in its capability, numbers and the strategy of its commanders.[20]
Arriving in crates by sea, 51 Hurricanes were assembled in 48 hours and ready for testing. 21 were ready for service within three days, thanks to the efforts of the 151 Maintenance unit. The Hurricanes suffered in performance. The crews equipped them with 12, rather than eight machine guns. This made them slow in the climb and unwiedly in the manoeuvre, although they were more effective bomber killers.[21]
The recently-arrived pilots were formed into No. 232 Squadron. In addition, No. 488 Squadron RNZAF, a Buffalo squadron, converted to Hurricanes. On 18 January, the two squadrons formed the basis of No. 226 Group RAF. 232 Squadron became operational on 20 January and suffered the first losses and victories for the Hurricane in East Asia, when S/L Lawrence Landels was shot down and killed; he was avenged by his wingman, Sgt Jimmy Parker. The squadron destroyed three Ki-43s that day for the loss of three Hurricanes.[22] However, like the Buffalos before them, the Hurricanes began to suffer severe losses in intense dogfights. A future Prime Minister of Australia, John Gorton, saw action with 232 Sqn before being badly injured in a crash.
Between 27 and 30 January, another 48 Hurricanes (Mk IIA) arrived with on the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable, from which they flew to airfields code-named P1 and P2, near Palembang, Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies. A/Cdre Stanley Vincent was appointed CO of 226 Grp.
Because of inadequate early warning systems, Japanese air raids were able to destroy 30 Hurricanes on the ground in Sumatra, most of them in one raid on 7 February. After Japanese landings in Singapore, on 10 February, the remnants of 232 and 488 Squadrons were withdrawn to Palembang. However, Japanese paratroopers began the invasion of Sumatra on 13 February. Hurricanes destroyed six Japanese transport ships on 14 February, but lost seven aircraft in the process. On 18 February, the remaining Allied aircraft and aircrews moved to Java. By this time, only 18 serviceable Hurricanes remained out of the original 99.[citation needed]
After Java was invaded, some of the pilots were evacuated by sea to Australia. One aircraft, V7476 which had not been assembled, also escaped capture and was transferred to the RAAF (as A60-1), becoming the only Hurricane to see service in Australia, with training and other non-combat units.
One pilot, Sgt Jimmy King, claimed 6.5 aircraft destroyed during the campaign.[20]
Hurricanes saw action the day they first arrived in Burma, on 23 January 1942, when three aircraft hampered by fixed underwing fuel tanks, were forced to intercept a Japanese air raid.[23] The first kills were recorded by Pilot Officer Jack Storey and his Squadron Leader Carey of No. 17 Squadron RAF on 29 January 1942. Each shot down a Nakajima Ki-27, one of which crashed onto a Bristol Blenheim after being down by Storey. The two wreckages were found and photographed.[24] Six more Hurricanes arrived during the day. One Hurricane crashed in an accident, killing its pilot Sgt. R.F Doman of 17 Squadron.
The Hawker Hurricane, due to its rugged construction and ease of maintenance, enjoyed a long operational life in all theatres of war, flown by both the Axis and Allies. It served in the air forces of many countries, some "involuntarily" as in the case of Hurricanes which either landed accidentally or force-landed in neutral Ireland.
In June 1994 the remaining components of P3351, originally built in March 1940 as a Mk I, arrived at the Air New Zealand Engineering Services Christchurch. In October 1999, the fully restored, flyable aircraft, now a Mk IIA, rolled out of the hangar for the first tests of its Merlin 35 engine. Keith Skilling, at the time a Boeing 767 captain for Air New Zealand and also one of the pilots in Ray Hanna's Breitling Fighters team, was one of the first to fly the Hurricane:
Data from Jane’s Fighting Aircraft of World War II[29]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Related development
Comparable aircraft
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