Let's Hear It for the Hurricanes! (RAF, WWII)

[Old No7]

OK, I am guilty of several Spitfire-related posts and images on this site, but I just stumbled onto this awesome picture of a flight of RAF Hurricanes.

( Click on image to enlarge )

Hurricanes.jpg

While the Spitfire seems to get most of the credit and glory, there were actually more Hurricanes flown in The Battle of Britain than there were Spits, and with a higher number of kills too. While that may seem odd to some, here are some comments from a pilot who flew both:
"One thing most pilots agree on was that 'it was the pilot, not the plane' that determined the outcome of a dogfight. Technically, the Spitfire was a better plane, but the Hurricane was equally capable in the hands of the right pilot. I could blather on about effectiveness at altitudes, roll rates, stability as a gun platform, suitability for upgrade, etc., but at the end of the day, a good pilot in a marginal plane will win every time over a marginal pilot in a good plane."

I'll end with:

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Old No7

[claybob86]

Great photo! Thanks for posting!

[GunnyMack]

The Sea Fury was quite the air frame too, still a few running at Reno air races .

[OldWin]

They did a lot of the heavy lifting for sure.

[KWK]

Several Hurricane pilots were quite vociferous that their mounts should never be discounted. Roland Beamont comes to mind first. The early Hurricanes were quite remarkable beasts, derived from a biplane. These first jobs had cloth covered wings and fixed wood propellers. I doubt any of these were still in front line service by the start of the war, having been upgraded to metal wings and variable pitch props. As I recall, the 12 gun (.303's) version was known to buzzsaw off whole sections of an enemy bomber at times. As with the Wildcat, a bubble canopy would have improved the lines greatly.

[gamekeeper]

WW2 certainly had a lot of interesting aircraft, my dad was a fireman during the war and was issued booklets on all the allied planes regarding escape hatches etc, in case of forced landings, I enjoyed reading them as a kid wished I'd kept them too...
We also had identification charts of all German and allied planes, they would have made great posters for a man cave.