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Hawker Hurricane
The Hurricane was the first monoplane fighter produced by Hawker, and was available in substantial numbers at the beginning of World War II. Hurricanes played a decisive role in the Battle of Britain and went on to fly on more fronts than any other British fighter. Canadian Car and Foundry manufactured 1 451 Hurricanes between 1938 and 1943. With increasingly heavy armament, Hurricanes served to the end of the war. Hurricanes were used in Canada for training and coastal patrols.
Hurricanes equipped 26 RAF squadrons at the beginning of the Battle of Britain and shot down more enemy aircraft than all other defenses combined. The RCAF received its first Hurricanes in August 1939, including those flown by Number 1 Squadron RCAF in the Battle of Britain. Later in the war, Sea Hurricanes were launched by catapult from ships at sea to defend convoys against air attack. A "tank buster" version with 40 mm cannon was used in North Africa.
Type: Fighter
Power plant One Rolls-Royce (Packard) Merlin XX V-engine
Wingspan 40 ft 12.2 m
Length 32 ft 3 in 9.8 m
Height 13 ft 1 1/2 in 4 m
Weight 6,665 LB 3,023 kg
Speed 348 mph 560 km/h
Ceiling 34,000 ft 10,365 m
Range 460 mi 740 km
Armament 8x machine gun or 4x cannon; up to 226 kg bombs
