HAWKER HURRICANE
Royal Air Force Fighter, the Hawker
Hurricane had a top speed of 320mph, at 18,200 feet and 340mph at 17,500,
ceiling of 34,200 and a range of 935 miles. The Hurricane was armed with
eight fixed wing mounted .303 browning machine guns in the Mark I and
twelve .303 browning's in the MKIIB in the Hurricane MKIIC it had four
20mm cannon.
All time classic fighter the Hurricane
was designed in 1933-1934, the first prototype flew in June 1936 and a
contract for 600 for the Royal Air Force was placed. The first production
model flew ion the 12th October 1937 and 111 squadron of the Royal Air
Force received the first Hurricanes in January 1938. By the outbreak of
World war two the Royal Air Force had 18 operational squadrons of
Hurricanes. During the Battle of Britain a total of 1715 Hurricanes took
part, (which was more than the rest of the aircraft of the Royal air force
put together) and almost 75% of the Victories during the Battle of Britain
went to hurricane pilots. The Hawker Hurricane was used in all
theatres during World war two, and in many roles. in total 14,533
Hurricanes were built.
Battle Above Dover by Adrian Rigby on 29th July 1904, the Luftwaffe launched what they believed was a
surprise attack on the port of Dover and the shipping in the area. RAF
controllers however were quick to react and Spitfire from Manston along
with twelve Hurricanes from Hawkinge intercepted nearly fifty Stukas and
no less than eighty fighter escorts. the battle was intense and made even more dangerous for the RAF by
the heavy flak, which the gunners of Dover used to some success, shooting
two Stukas out of the sky. at the end of the action, seven German aircraft
were lost to just one Spitfire. more significantly, Dover was spared
serious damage and no ships were lost.
London Guard by Adrian Rigby Like many others, the Hurricanes of No.56 Squadron were frequently
scrambled to attack German formations heading for London. Signatories: Flt Lt Ronald H Smyth DFC AE RAF.
Fastest Victory by Robert Taylor Taking his Hurricane off from
Speke, a raiding JU88 crossed the
airfield in front of Denys Gillam, who promptly shot it down. It was the
fastest air victory of the war, and probably of all time. Robert Taylor's
painting shows Gillam's Hurricane, guns blazing while undercarriage is
still retracting Signatory: Denys Gillam.
Front Line Hurricanes by Robert Taylor Signed by Bee
Beamont, Pete Brothers, Frank Carey, Dennis David,
John Gibson, Kenneth Lee.
