Hawker Hurricane's of the RCAF
by Ingwald Wikene
Without a doubt the name of the Hurricane will be forever linked to the "Battle of Britain" during 1940, where together with the Spitfire it added one of the most glorious chapters to the history of the RAF During this battle the Hurricane shot down more enemy aircraft than did all the other air or ground defences combined. Later it was to carry the brunt of the fighting in Malta, in the Western Desert and in Burma until the Spitfire became available in quantity. In 1941 it was the first to make fighter sweeps over the mainland and was the first fighter to carry bombs into action. Later it pioneered the use of rocket-projectiles on fighters and as the Mk.IID was the only fighter to carry twin 40 mm cannon as a tank buster in the Western Desert. The Hurricane was the first RAF fighter to fly faster than 300 mph and the first to carry eight machine guns.
The origin of the Hurricane began in October 1933, when the design of a Fury monoplane powered by a Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine was started. In January 1934, it was decided to use the Rolls-Royce P.V.12 engine which was later to become the famous Merlin. At the same time the name was changed to Interceptor Monoplane. The first prototype (K5083)was ordered on 21 February 1935 and the first flight was made on 6 November 1935. The Hurricane, as it was now called, was successful from the start and, in June 1936, an order for 600 was placed and in November 1938 this was increased to 1,000. On 12 October 1937 the first production Hurricane Mk.I (L1547) made its first flight, this model differed from the prototype in having a 1,030 hp Merlin engine, a modified cockpit canopy, ejector exhaust pipes and a redesigned undercarriage fairing. In January 1938 a fin fairing was added beneath the rear fuselage to assist in recovery from a spin. The first Mk.Is had a two-bladed Watts wooden propeller. This was later replaced by a de Havilland two-position three bladed metal airscrew and finally by de Havilland or Rotol constant-speed propellers which greatly improved the performance. Also the early production Hurricanes had fabric-covered wings; later models, starting with Mk.I N2422 had stressed-skin metal-covered wings. At the outbreak of war 497 Hurricanes had been delivered to RAF Fighter Command and by 7 August 1940 a total of 2,309 aircraft had been delivered. The Hurricane first entered service with No. 111 Squadron at Northolt in December 1937 and a little later with No. 3 Squadron at Kenley. In February 1938 a Hurricane established a high speed record of 408 mph; this flight being made at night at a height of 17,000 ft and with the benefit of a strong tail wind. The Hurricane went along with the Advanced Air Striking Force to France after the war started, serving with Nos. 1, 73, 85 and 87 Squadrons. It was a Hurricane from No. 1 Squadron that shot down the first enemy aircraft by RAF fighters on the Western Front on 30 October 1939.
While the Mk.I was fighting the war, the prototype Mk.II made its first flight on 11 June 1940. This model had the improved Merlin XX instead of the Merlin III of the later Mk.Is. The first of these delivered to the RAF were Mk.IIAs during August 1940, followed in 1941 by the Mk.IIB which carried twelve .303 caliber Browning machine guns. Meanwhile during 1939 experiments were carried out with the installation of 20 mm cannon and, on 24 May 1939, Hurricane L1750 had flown with two of these mounted in the wings. The production version carried four 20 mm cannon, either Oerlikons or B.S.A. Hispanos, and was designated Mk.IIC. The first was sent to the RAF for trials in October 1940. Several modifications were carried out in 1940 and 1941, these included self-sealing fuel tanks, tropicalization (including Vokes filter below nose) for work in the desert, the addition of two 45-gallon under-wing tanks and later two 90-gallon under-wing tanks. Later the Hurricane was converted as a fighter-bomber, at first carrying two 250 lb bombs and later two 500 LB bombs. These Hurribombers first went into action in October 1941; No. 402 (RCAF) Squadron being one of the first units to use this version. During June 1941 the Mk.IID, mounting two 40 mm Vickers cannon, went into action in the Western Desert as a tank buster, and in September 1943 the 'Hurry' was carrying rocket-projectiles and was in action over the Netherlands attacking the lock gates of the canals. The last production version of the Hurricane in England was the Mk.IV which first appeared on 14 March 1943. This model had a "Universal armament wing" and could mount two 40 mm cannon or eight rocket-projectiles or two 500 LB bombs or long-range tanks. It was used primarily for low-level attacks and carried much additional armour.
In action it served on all fronts. In the fall of 1939 they were in France, in May and June 1940 in Norway, in August 1940 they were at Malta and by October of the same year in the Western Desert. During the autumn of 1941 two RAF Hurricane squadrons were sent to Northern Russia, and at the end of 1941 they were at Singapore, and continued to serve in the Burma area until the end of the war. The last Hurricane to see service in the RAF was a Mk.IV flying with No. 6 Squadron in Palestine until October 1946. Although the Hurricane was not the 'glamour gal' that the Spitfire was, it was a rugged and dependable machine and was available in large numbers during the early days of the war. Not as fast as the 'Spit' it was a highly maneuverable aircraft and an excellent gun platform and in the hands of the RAF pilots proved to be a match for anything the Germans, Italians and later the Japanese put up against it.
Not only was the Hurricane supplied to the RAF, but to foreign air forces as well, these being Australia, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Finland, India, Iran, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Turkey and Yugoslavia. Belgium, Canada and Yugoslavia obtained licenses to manufacture it, but only Canada was able to go into full scale production, a total of 1,451 aircraft being built. In Belgium production was interrupted by the German invasion after only one aircraft was completed. It is not known if any of the Yugoslav Hurricanes were completed before the invasion of that country. During 1941 it went into service with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm as the Sea Hurricane. These aircraft were conversions of existing land-based fighters; some being earlier models obtained from the RAF - veterans of the Battle of Britain. Modified for service on catapult-armed merchant ships and aircraft carriers the Sea Hurricane saw considerable service at sea protecting the convoys from enemy aircraft.
Designed and built by the Hawker