The Hawker Hurricane was designed by Hawker's Chief Designer Sydney Camm, originally as a private venture, but later under Air Ministry specification F36/34. The prototype Hurricane first flew on the 6th of November 1935 at Hawker Aircraft Ltd's Brooklands establishment at Weybridge in Surrey, and retained the overall visual lines of Hawker's existing Fury and Nimrod biplane fighters. The first Hawker Hurricane Mk.I's were delivered to the RAF in October 1937 and were the RAF's first monoplane fighter (the Bristol M1c was withdrawn from service as a fighter before the RAF was formed). The early production aircraft had fabric-covered wings, a wooden fixed-pitch propeller, lacked armour to protect the pilot and self-sealing fuel tanks, even worse in the event of a "scramble" they had to have their engines started by several ground-crew simultaneously cranking twin starting handles located either side of the engine cowling. The Hawker Hurricane Ib first saw action in France in the early part of WW2 with the BEF (British Expeditionary Force). Fortunately by the start of the Battle of Britain in 1939 the RAF was in possession of 497 improved Hawker Hurricane Mk.I's, these were now fitted with a Rotol or deHavilland constant-speed metal propeller, ejector exhaust stacks, armour for the pilot, self sealing fuel tanks, electric starters and stressed duralumin-skinned wings. During the Battle of Britain the Hawker Hurricane fighters primarily engaged the German Bombers whilst the less numerous but more agile Supermarine Spitfire Mk I fighters engaged their Messerschmitt Bf 109 Fighter fighter escorts. It has always been debated which was the better fighter, the reliable stable gun platform Hawker Huricane I, or the more agile Supermarine Spitfire Mk I, there however be no doubt that due to the number of aircraft in service that the Battle Of Britain and effectively WWII, would have defiantly been lost if it was not for the Hawker Hurricane Mk I as they were responsible for shooting down 80% of all enemy aircraft shot down in the Battle. The Hawker Hurricane Mk.I was updated only slightly during WW2, other later Hawker Hurricane fighter info and photos featured on this Military Aircraft website include: Hawker Hurricane Mk 11c Fighter
Hawker Hurricane Mk IV Fighter
Hawker Hurricane Mk XII Fighter
Hawker Sea Hurricane CAM Navy Fighter
Hawker Hurribomber Mk IIB Fighter Bomber It is interesting to note that the Hawker Hurricane remains one of the most popular choices by modellers for model aircraft, both static and R/C kits for the Hawker Hurricane being readily available worldwide. Hawker Hurricane Mk I Specifications: Crew: Pilot only Engine: Single 1,030 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin III twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled engine Wing span: 40ft 0in (12.19m) Length: 31ft 4in (9.55m) Weight: 7,127 lb Maximum speed: 328 mph (529km/h) at 17,500 ft Service ceiling: 36,000 feet Range: 700 miles
Hawker Hurricane Mk I Armament: | 
