The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seater monoplane fighter aircraft designed by Chief Designer Sydney Camm at Hawker Aircraft in the early 1930's. It saw exemplary service in World War II and accounted for over 60% of the air victories in the Battle of Britain.
Designed by the Hawker Aircraft Company in 1934 it first entered service in 1937. It provided the RAF with a fighter 160kph (100mph) faster than aircraft then in service; with an increased fire power of eight machine guns.
The Hurricane out a year before the Spitfire, answering to a design specification of a fighter that could carry the machine guns that it could. Now, a Hurricane was designed in a traditional way. If you look at the sides, they are all Irish linen, a Spitfire, all monocoque steel-stressed skin.
Did the Hurricane shoot down more planes than the Spitfire?
Despite its shortcomings, the Hurricane accounted for 656 German aircraft during the Battle of Britain - more than the Spitfire. Between 30 July and 16 September, 404 Hurricanes were destroyed.
The Spitfire was a technologically advanced fighter with excellent speed, maneuverability, and climb rate. It had a higher top speed than the Hurricane and was more agile. The Spit was particularly effective in engaging German fighters, due to its superior performance at higher altitudes.
His other criticisms covered the pilot's armour plate, which was too thin by comparison to Russian aircraft, and the armament: “At first eight machine guns in the wings seemed formidable armament, but the Hurricane's ammo storage was minimal”.
The Spitfire is the most famous British fighter aircraft in history. It won immortal fame during the summer months of 1940 by helping to defeat the German air attacks during the Battle of Britain.
Did the Spitfire and the Hurricane use the same engine?
The Rolls-Royce Merlin Engine powered some of the most famous aeroplanes of World War II, including the Spitfire, the Hurricane, the Mosquito, the Mustang and the Lancaster. The Merlin was also used in aeroplanes like the Fairey Battle and the Boulton Paul Defiant.
The thick wing created excellent lift, which meant HC was a good climber - it had better climbing rate than Spitfire and similar as Bf 109 E. HC was also easy to maintain and the guns were easy to reload. As the rear fuselage was fabric, it was also easy to repair. Some early models had also fabric wings.
It is pretty simple. Right from their inception, the Spitfire was a significantly more advanced platform than the Hurricane, having better initial all-around performance & hugely greater growth potential.
The Spitfire IX and P-51 have similar climbing abilities at 3200 feet per minute, the P-51 is faster at 440 to the Spits 404 mph, and the Spit is far lighter by 2 full tons (much of that in fuel) and far more maneuverable as a result.
Sadly, today, there are only 12 Hurricanes still airworthy worldwide; only 6 of those in UK. The BBMF is proud to operate two of these historically important and rare aircraft.
The Mosquito reached 408 mph in level flight, which was faster than the operational version of the Spitfire at the time, whose top speed was 370 mph. After this demonstration flight, the airplane almost failed its acceptance for the Royal Air Force.
The Supermarine Spiteful was a British Rolls-Royce Griffon–engined fighter aircraft designed by Supermarine to Air Ministry specification F. 1/43 during the Second World War as a successor to the Spitfire. It had a new wing design to improve its critical Mach number, and allow safe operations at higher speeds.
RAF troop strength had declined significantly by the second decade of the 21st century as part of an overall force-reduction strategy implemented by the British military. With some 35,000 troops and fewer than 150 fixed-wing combat aircraft, the RAF was a smaller, more-focused force than it had been in previous years.
The Soviets did not view the Spitfire favorably either. While they did think it was a maneuverable aircraft, and that the armament was better than other Soviet fighters, it wasn't very stable, the guns were well spaced-out across the wings, and didn't dive well.
Everyone always trumpets how until the Spitfire lX came into production the Fw 190 rained supreme. But the truth is the German 190 pilots were not fazed by the Spitfire lX when it arrived in numbers. If a Spitfire got behind a 190 the Germans would simply dive away at speed.
It flew in the King's Cup on the 17th June 1950 in the hands of RAF ace Group Captain Peter Townsend and finished second. It would appear in the Battle of Britain (1969) film before being handed over to the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight on the 29th March 1972 and is still flying today.
In most cases, the Spitfire had better performance as an all-purpose fighter. The all-important climb rate for a P51D sat at 3200ft per minute whilst the Spitfire could climb at an impressive 3650ft per minute. The maximum speed of a P51D was 437mph whilst the Spitfire was slightly faster at 448mph.
The Spitfire's steady pace of development meant that it always remained a formidable adversary to any opponent. Even the world's first jet fighter, the Me262, was first shot down by a Spitfire.
However, some of the most advanced and lethal fighter jets currently in service are: The F-22 Raptor, a stealth air superiority fighter developed by the United States. It has superior speed, maneuverability, and stealth, as well as a powerful array of weapons and sensors.
