Hurricane

=Freedom Wings Version= =Comments= The Spitfire is often associated with the Battle of Britain but it was far from alone, serving alongside it was the Hurricane. This durable fighter bore the brunt of combat in the earlier stages of World War II and was the primary British fighter stationed in France. While being able to out turn nearly any other fighter in the European theater in most other aspects it was outclassed by the Bf 109E. During the Battle Of Britain the Hurricane squadrons focused their attention on the bomber streams, freeing up Spitfire squadrons to engage the Luftwaffe fighter elements. The Hurricane proved to be an extremely capable bomber killer, providing a stable gunnery platform and a devastating cone of fire.
 * Colour Scheme:
 * Sebastian Butler Version - Standard RAF Dark Green/Earth upper surfaces. White Lower Surfaces, Propeller spinner and Fuselage band in front of tail. Red band covering entire upper tailfin. RAF Roundels on Upper (Blue/Red) and Lower (Blue/White/Red) wingtips and fuselage (Yellow/Blue/White/Red).
 * Pirate Version - As Above
 * Version Used - Unclear, but possibly MkIA or IIA
 * Experience/Value ratings (Pirate Version)

The Hurricane's suitability as a gun platform led to the development of a tank buster variant mounting 40mm Vickers S guns. This variant served well in North Africa and other ground attack versions were built. Sea Hurricanes served on carriers and higher time Sea Hurricanes were launched from merchant ships by catapults. This desperate measure provided convoy defense from Luftwaffe long range bombers and observation aircraft until the Escort Carrier concept was introduced later in the war. The pilot would launch for a mission and then bail out or ditch the aircraft when out of fuel.

Originally conceived as a biplane fighter, the Hurricane was altered on the drawing board to include the new PV.12 (Merlin) engine and a new monoplane style wing. The original eight gun battery was unprecedented for the time period. The Air Ministry was sufficiently impressed with the design that they wrote specification F.36/34 around the design and ordered a prototype built. The prototypes performance was sufficiently impressive to the Air Ministry that they ordered 600 aircraft in June of 1936. This number was fantastic by pre-war standards but in hindsight seems almost insignificant. At the start of WWII the Hurricane was the most numerous combat aircraft in the RAF's arsenal. By August 7, 1940 no fewer than 2,309 Hurricanes had been delivered equipping 32 squadrons, compared to 1,383 Spitfire equipping 18.5 Squadrons.

As the war progressed more and more Hurricanes were deployed in the Far East. In addition, countless aircraft were delivered to Allied air forces including 2,952 delivered to the Soviets.

The first flight of the prototype on 6 November 1935 led to the production of 12,780 in Britain, plus a further 1,451 in Canada.

=Sources=
 * Gunston, Bill - The Encyclodepia of the Worlds Combat aircraft, 1976, Chartwell Books, Inc., New York
 * Green, William - War Planes Of The Second World War - Fighters - Vol. 2, 1961, Hanover House, New York

=Notes=  =Sources=