Read Roald Dahl's account of the dog fight during the Battle of Athens - the British were flying Hurricanes. Gives a great sense of what it was like, and what struck me most was upon landing after the dogfight, Dahl realised that he was soaked in sweat and shaking uncontrollably. Then he noticed that all the other pilots were too. This from Wikipedia: The Battle of Athens (also known as the Battle of Piraeus Harbour) on 20 April 1941 is the name given by author Roald Dahl to a dog-fighting air battle over Athens fought for half an hour between the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe towards the end of the Battle of Greece. Roald Dahl flew a Hawker Hurricane in the battle, which he describes in his second autobiography Going Solo and in the short story 'Katina'. According to Dahl, the battle began when the twelve remaining Hurricanes of the Royal Air Force (RAF)'s 80 Squadron, flying in formation over Athens (to boost civilian morale) were attacked by a large group of German Luftwaffe aircraft, mostly Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Bf 110s along with some Junkers Ju 87s and Junkers Ju 88s. According to the citizens of Athens the Germans had 200 planes; according to Dahl, they had 152 bombers and fighters. In the resulting battle four RAF pilots were shot down and killed, including the famous Marmaduke "Pat" Pattle and the Irish RAF pilot William "Timber" Woods, and one pilot lost his Hawker Hurricane but was able to escape. Dahl states that Greek observers counted 22 German aircraft shot down, although another source states that the Germans lost eight aircraft.[1][2][3] Dahl escaped from Greece with the remnants of his squadron.
When compared to the Spitfire, I find the Hurricane's ease of construction, repair, and significant use of non-strategic materials to be very noteworthy. Thanks for a great video, again!
Exactly - not as sexy as the Spit, but just what was needed at the time, did a lot of the heavy lifting, and then just a year later was obsolete and relegated to ground attack. Which by the way she did pretty well ;-)
@@DavidKing-ph8or exactly, the Hurricane was the right aircraft at the right time. For the Battle of Britain, the Hurricane was the right aircraft and the more important one. For the rest of the war it was clear that the Spitfire was more modern and the one that could be easier to upgrade and so that was the future fighter and the now obsolete Hurricane was relegated to secondary duties, but for those few months in 1940 the Hurricane was the more important fighter.
A couple of years ago, we were surprised by a Hurricane and a Lancaster Bomber flying a circuit over Lincoln. We were up near the cathedral, and many just stood mouths open gawping up at the majestic sight (and sound).
There are currently 2 airworthy mk I hurricanes flying in the UK: R4118 (G-HUPW) of the Old Warden collection and P2909 (G-ROBT) of Duxford/Sywell. There is also a third mk I which is the sea hurricane Z7015 (G-BKTH) of the Shuttleworth collection.
I was in electronics servicing based at RAF Sealand in the early 80s, one day a photog appeared and asked for a chap in the process of servicing, I was volunteered. A couple of years later I visited RAF Hendon (museum) and was surprised to see my photos in a display, not been since, doubt they're still there!
I built a scale model of the Mk. 1 a couple years back. I know it usually gets overshadowed by the Spitfire, but I have a certain affinity for the Hurricane. I think I like it because it looks a bit more rugged.
Fun fact: The Gladiator shown is actually a Sea Gladiator - you can see both the V shaped tail hook and the fairing between the wheel struts housing the dinghy. This aircraft belonged to No.802 Naval Air Squadron. This squadron was the one that was delivered crated to Malta in the spring of 1940. There several of the planes - including this - were assembled, but were later disassembled again. Then most of them - including N5525 here - were transferred to HMS Glorious as she was on her way to participate in the Norwegian Campaign. There this aircraft served until the end of the campaign and was lost when Glorious was sunk by Gneisenau and Scharnhorst. The rest of the planes from the original delivery of No.802 Squadron's planes were assembled again on Malta to make 5 complete airframes that became the Hal Far Fighter Flight. These aircraft gave birth to the (false but charming) myth of Faith, Hope and Glory defending Malta.
The Hurricane was often underrated, specially when they finally engineered a variable pitch prop. After that it could hold it's own against many other more modern types.
I had my grandfather’s logbook from WW2 few over 2000 hours in the hurricane before moving onto beau fighters in North Africa and Italy . Both great fighters for a great generation of fighters.
Thanks for this detailed look around. I have a soft spot for the Hurricane as my parents met whilst building them at Hawkers factory at Langley, West of London. Her sister and my uncle also met working there. At age 76, I am in the process of building an Airfix kit of a Hurricane so the detail from your video will be referred to a lot.
Hurricane went after the bombers but did struggle against the 109. Over 1700 hurricanes took part in the BoB. In the first week of June 1940 over 80 hurricanes were built compared to 22 spitfires there were simply more of them in combat. The sturdy gun platform with its 4 machine guns placed next to each other on each wing gave it an advantage against the well armed German bombers. With a more experienced pilot the hurricane could perform well against the 109 but its strengths were as a bomber intercepter. The spitfire Mk I and then in August 1940 with the mk II entering service with an even more powerful Merlin engine without these aircraft to take out the German fighters the RAF would have struggled considerably against the luftwaffe in 1940.
True enough. Keep in mind that the only reason there weren't more Spitfires then was due to Lord Nuffield delaying construction of Castle Bromwich Factory and preparing tooling. Started in mid 1938, not one Spitfire had left the factory by June 1940. Meanwhile Nuffield (Morris) had spent 100,000 pounds ($8.2 million today) of his own money to showcase the Napier Sabre engine in his Nuffield-Napier Sabre Racer. It crashed in June, the same month that Nuffield was fired. Only then with Supermarine in charge of CBF did Spitfires start coming off the line at CBF.
Great video. So glad that we have HD video nowadays. In old TV shows, you couldn't see this level of detail, and also they would skim over a lot of the stuff such as seen here.
The most successful RAF Squadron during the Battle of Britain was the Polish 303, equipped with Hawker Hurricanes. Glory to the brave Polish pilots of WW2!
@@walrus4046 went on to make the Typhoon and Tempest. Then after the war, the Sea Fury, the Sea Hawk, the Hunter and the prototype of the Harrier! Sydney Camm was a brilliant engineer. Hawker is one of, if not the greatest British Aircraft manufacturer ever.
@@weirdbritishperson9542 It remained in heavy use for the most of the war because while the Spitfire was the superior dogfighter, the Hurricane's flight characteristics and armament layout made it the better bomber killer and a capable fighter bomber. During the Battle of Britain, Spitfires would peel off to engage the german escorts and keep them busy while the Hurricanes did the actual intercepting.
@@GaldirEonai I know, that’s why I said at the start as in at the start of the Battle of Britain, because it let us create spitfires instead of stretching out hurricanes and letting them concentrate on the bombers.
One nice feature on the Hurricane is the engine cowling slopes downward toward the propeller hub giving good forward visibility. The long straight nose on the Spitfire created a big blind spot in front of and just below the plane. I've read several accounts of this causing problems. I think in Doug Bader's biography he describes an incident during the Battle of Britain where he watched in horror as a Spitfire dived straight into a German fighter resulting in a catastrophic collision. The whole time he was watching he could tell the Spitfire pilot couldn't see the German at all.
Good observation, except that it was usually the Me109 that was behind the Hurricane, which had inferior fighter metrics (save turn radius). It was very vulnerable to the LW fighters, including the Me110s until Sep 1940.
Two large hangers with lots of amazing aeroplanes to see. If your not going by car it's a long way from Hendon or Colindale Tube stations, best to get a taxi when you get off, or check for shuttle bus. Thanks Chris, another super video.
Many years ago, I visited the RAF Museum at Hendon with a friend. We thought we might be there a couple of hours, but we were still chasing around at closing time! That was about 30 years ago so I don't know what it is like now, but I can't think that it is any less brilliant now than it was then?
Something this particular example shows, which I always think looks "wrong" on the early-war RAF aircraft is the lack of a tail flash. It's the same with the Spitfire Mk.I at RAFM Cosford, which at least has a Squadron marking on the vertical stabiliser. Having nothing there always just looks somehow odd and unfinished after seeing so many different types of coloured bars of various sizes from that point on.
The Portuguese Air Force was using them post war and they were co-opted (with their pilots) to star in the film Angels One Five 1952. I don't think any were saved afterwards. We scrapped anything that came along in those days.
Having worked on both Spitfire and Hurricane The Hurricane is the more interesting of the two. If you remove the two lower fuselage panels you can stand up inside the tubular construction and admire the beauty of its construction.
Very accurate and informative, thank you. The Hurricane accounted for more bombers shot down or badly damaged, that the more famous Spitfire, because the Spitfire was needed to fight the Luftwaffe fighter escorts, who would have easily defeated the Hurricanes, due to the Hurricanes lower speed and climb rate. The part metal, part fabric skin of the Hurricane made is faster and cheaper to build and the aft section would allow cannon exploding shells to pass right through with little damage, and could be repaired quickly.
The first Hurricanes fitted with back armour were in No1 Squadron in France early 1940. An armoured panel from a Fairey Battle was fitted and flown over to Hawker for assessment. This was approved and back armour was fitted to all No1 Squadron aircraft, saving the life of Flying Officer Billy Drake when he was shot down during the Battle of France.
With reference to the armour plate. The CO of 1squadron , 'Bull' Hallahan experimentally fitted a piece recovered from a crashed Fairy Battle during the Battle of France. The aircraft was test flown by squadron pilots and their findings sent back to England. The RAF were sceptical to say the least and implied it would upset the centre of gravity and handling. Anyhow the aircraft was sent to Farnborough and tested. It was deemed a success and became a standard fit soon after, saving many lives. It is mentioned in Paul Richeys superb book Fighter Pilot which is a record of No 1 Squadrons time in France during that Campaign.
Thanks for this one Bismarck. I always had a soft spot for the Hurricane. Not as glamorous as her older sister (spitfire), but exactly what was needed at the time. And she did well ;-) I honestly don't think the Hurricane gets the love she deserved
younger cousin more like. The Hurricane first flew a few months before the Spitfire did and was introduced into RAF service earlier. But other than that I agree with you, a brilliant aircraft indeed!
@@Frserthegreenengine Yeah you right there Fraser, Hurricane was like the older sister or cousin, Spitfire was the young upstart ;-) But she did what was needed at the time!
No. Not even in any aircraft game. The Hurricane is dangerously underrated. I see people in Bf 109s in War Thunder, for example, trying to dogfight me in a Hurricane Mk I. Oh welp, free kill for me ;)
The reserve fuel tank wasn't in a particularly great location - lot of guys burned horribly, although that did lead to some huge innovations in plastic surgery which are still used today.
@@Siddich but apparently the Hurricanes reserve tank for some reason were less protected than the Spitfire's and so it was more catastrophic. But they managed to solve it with self-sealing materials.
I was in a hospital many years ago where they pioneered the plastic surgery on these guys. They had a brass plaque on the wall of a pig with wings, labelled "Guinea Pig Club". It must have been horrific.
This is the kind of material that really deserves our attention! A detailed and fully descriptive walk around adding many significant descriptions, that reveal the engineering of those times. Truly enjoyable. Well done sir. Your work is highly appreciated. Keep up this level of work, it is well above many other visually attractive but still lacking videos. Thanks very much.
There are some audio editing issues, for example "The rudder trim....." (7:55) is not only a started sentence thats cut without conclusion, its much louder than other voice over.
Hurricanes were the draft horses of the Battle of Britain. Mainly they bore the burden of fighting with German bombers, but also with fighters. They shot down more German warplanes than Spitfires. The best of the Czechoslovak pilots in the Battle of Britain, Sgt Josef Frantisek DFM & Bar, flew the Hurricane Mk I in Polish No. 303 Squadron. Within a month he was the highest-scoring non-British Allied ace in the Battle of Britain, with 17 confirmed victories and one probable. Unfortunately, he died when landing at the age of 26 (8 October 1940). - Sqn Ldr Karel Kuttelwascher DFC & Bar (nicknamed Kut; 1916-1959). He was in combat service from May 1940 to October 1942; first with the French Air Force and then with the RAF. In RAF service he shot down 18 enemy aircraft, another 2 warplanes in France. He is also considered the best night fighter pilot of the RAF. After the Battle, he later flew as an intruder night fighter with No. 1 Squadron. However, he flew without radar on his Hurricane Mk IIC. Other pilots used radars. He had excellent eyesight - "cat eyes". - High respect for the memory of both of these Czechoslovak pilots. - (I am CZ)
Well done primer into the workings of an aircraft that earned its keep despite its inferior reputation. Just having that divine Rolls-Royce Merlin is enough to endear it to a great many. Glad they had the insights to preserve st least one of these aircraft for prosperities sake.
My grandpa flew hurricanes in North Africa, as well as the Middle East during WWII. I know some of the stories, but sadly he died years ago, and I can't ask him about his time and experiences.
Love your videos. Not a critique, but some language help (I once spoke German, French and Korean). The word, "fuselage," in the American accent is pronounced "Fee-u-s-uh-laage" as opposed to "foo-selage" I split our pronunciation up into individual phonemes which you might practice slowly until you can combine them. This is the same way I learned to pronounce the European umlaut. I voice the letter, "e", then "u", eventually putting them together to pronounce that unique phoneme.
Better than me old chap, I pronounce it “Few-z-laage”. It works for me, I’m English and the Germans bombed my grandparents pub in the south of England (in a well known island city) on December 23rd 1940. My Dad, who was 11 at the time, went from the Snug Bar to the Cellar in the blink of an eye. 150 killed but my family survived. On that basis my pronunciation is correct 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Look at the thickness of that wing - about 20% t/c ratio with an old style Clark airfoil. All other fighters of that era used a thinner wing for less drag and higher performance. Sadly, Camm made the same mistake on his next "interceptor", the Typhoon.
My favorite RAF plane, thank you for showcasing it. If any game includes this plane, I make sure to play/fly/own it, I just love the looks, and the historical significance.
I recall tha tthe underside painted half white and half black was a form of Identification for ground units tha tthe aircraft was a ealy ground control intercept night fighter. You can see this patter on some early Boulton Paul Defiants used for night intercepts. This was discontinued on these aircraft in April 1941. I have ot seen aby Beaufighters painte dthis way, they seem to have used all black for night fighters from the start.
Hi anyone remember the Hawker Hurricane mark 1 that was on the Gilbert’s dairy farm at Warnford near Kilmeston in Hampshire back in late 70s. It had a wooden two blade propeller and wooden wings covered in fabric....it belonged to Brian Gilbert’s grandfather Pilot Officer Harold Gilbert of 252 Squadron the planes no was L 2 4 4 4 It saw action in the battle of France, the Battle of Britain, Malta and Sicily
I really needed a plain old PLANE video 😜 Glad its a Hurricane. Now isn't it cool that we are able to see a Mark 1 ? One would have thought all the Mark 1's are upgraded or scrapped and any remaining planes would be later models
The Hawker Hurricane is perhaps one of my favorite early World War 2 aircraft! What are your favorites from this time?
Hurricane is simply sexier than the spitfire
Fight me
Early war?
Visually (by looks): the P-39’s
By combat record: probably the early P-40’s and Ki-44’s
Definitely the Hurri. I also like the Bf 109E and the Grumman F4F Wildcat.
At 7:55 Aaudio cuts out? whilst talking about the rudder trim, may want to ad a quick subtitle for what you said! :D
Always been a Hurricane fan.
Read Roald Dahl's account of the dog fight during the Battle of Athens - the British were flying Hurricanes. Gives a great sense of what it was like, and what struck me most was upon landing after the dogfight, Dahl realised that he was soaked in sweat and shaking uncontrollably. Then he noticed that all the other pilots were too.
This from Wikipedia:
The Battle of Athens (also known as the Battle of Piraeus Harbour) on 20 April 1941 is the name given by author Roald Dahl to a dog-fighting air battle over Athens fought for half an hour between the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe towards the end of the Battle of Greece.
Roald Dahl flew a Hawker Hurricane in the battle, which he describes in his second autobiography Going Solo and in the short story 'Katina'.
According to Dahl, the battle began when the twelve remaining Hurricanes of the Royal Air Force (RAF)'s 80 Squadron, flying in formation over Athens (to boost civilian morale) were attacked by a large group of German Luftwaffe aircraft, mostly Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Bf 110s along with some Junkers Ju 87s and Junkers Ju 88s. According to the citizens of Athens the Germans had 200 planes; according to Dahl, they had 152 bombers and fighters.
In the resulting battle four RAF pilots were shot down and killed, including the famous Marmaduke "Pat" Pattle and the Irish RAF pilot William "Timber" Woods, and one pilot lost his Hawker Hurricane but was able to escape. Dahl states that Greek observers counted 22 German aircraft shot down, although another source states that the Germans lost eight aircraft.[1][2][3] Dahl escaped from Greece with the remnants of his squadron.
When compared to the Spitfire, I find the Hurricane's ease of construction, repair, and significant use of non-strategic materials to be very noteworthy. Thanks for a great video, again!
I'll second Chris's recommendation to visit the museum, it's fascinating and full of interesting aircraft!
Always loved the Hurricane , did most of the hard work during the battle of Britain but got less of the credit, undeservedly so.
Exactly - not as sexy as the Spit, but just what was needed at the time, did a lot of the heavy lifting, and then just a year later was obsolete and relegated to ground attack. Which by the way she did pretty well ;-)
Also middle east my grandad was ground crew with 6 squadron with the iic and iid
@@DavidKing-ph8or exactly, the Hurricane was the right aircraft at the right time. For the Battle of Britain, the Hurricane was the right aircraft and the more important one.
For the rest of the war it was clear that the Spitfire was more modern and the one that could be easier to upgrade and so that was the future fighter and the now obsolete Hurricane was relegated to secondary duties, but for those few months in 1940 the Hurricane was the more important fighter.
@@Frserthegreenengine Right on Fraser! For those few months in 1940 she was the star of the show, and rightly so, I love her for it :-)
Easier to repair than the spitfire aswell with it's old school easy to patch airframe .🙂
Impressive! The unsung hero of the battle of Britain.
It was sung, but not enough
303 Squadron flew Hurricanes during Battle of Britain ❤
A couple of years ago, we were surprised by a Hurricane and a Lancaster Bomber flying a circuit over Lincoln. We were up near the cathedral, and many just stood mouths open gawping up at the majestic sight (and sound).
I never thought there were still Mk.1’s around!
There are currently 2 airworthy mk I hurricanes flying in the UK:
R4118 (G-HUPW) of the Old Warden collection and P2909 (G-ROBT) of Duxford/Sywell.
There is also a third mk I which is the sea hurricane Z7015 (G-BKTH) of the Shuttleworth collection.
@@craigb7967 3 actually. R4118, P2902 and P3717 (which ended up in Russia)
@@Frserthegreenengine ah yes P3717 which was converted to a mk II now restored back to its mk I configuration
@@craigb7967 actually there's a fourth Hurricane Mk.I flying, V7497 which also fought in the Battle of Britain, as part of 501 Squadron.
@@Frserthegreenengine Excellent stuff. I wonder how many more restoration projects they have on the go for the Mk I
Plane Mechanic Simulator vibes intensify
Hi 👋
Hi amigos!
I was in electronics servicing based at RAF Sealand in the early 80s, one day a photog appeared and asked for a chap in the process of servicing, I was volunteered. A couple of years later I visited RAF Hendon (museum) and was surprised to see my photos in a display, not been since, doubt they're still there!
Thanks Chris, your attention to detail is remarkable, your video is excellent for clarity and showing the early nature of the Hurri.
I built a scale model of the Mk. 1 a couple years back. I know it usually gets overshadowed by the Spitfire, but I have a certain affinity for the Hurricane. I think I like it because it looks a bit more rugged.
Fun fact: The Gladiator shown is actually a Sea Gladiator - you can see both the V shaped tail hook and the fairing between the wheel struts housing the dinghy. This aircraft belonged to No.802 Naval Air Squadron. This squadron was the one that was delivered crated to Malta in the spring of 1940. There several of the planes - including this - were assembled, but were later disassembled again. Then most of them - including N5525 here - were transferred to HMS Glorious as she was on her way to participate in the Norwegian Campaign.
There this aircraft served until the end of the campaign and was lost when Glorious was sunk by Gneisenau and Scharnhorst. The rest of the planes from the original delivery of No.802 Squadron's planes were assembled again on Malta to make 5 complete airframes that became the Hal Far Fighter Flight. These aircraft gave birth to the (false but charming) myth of Faith, Hope and Glory defending Malta.
I did visit this Museum and what really impressed me was the sheer size of the Hawker Tempest, that thing is m a s s i v e
The Hurricane was often underrated, specially when they finally engineered a variable pitch prop. After that it could hold it's own against many other more modern types.
I had my grandfather’s logbook from WW2 few over 2000 hours in the hurricane before moving onto beau fighters in North Africa and Italy . Both great fighters for a great generation of fighters.
Thanks for this detailed look around. I have a soft spot for the Hurricane as my parents met whilst building them at Hawkers factory at Langley, West of London. Her sister and my uncle also met working there. At age 76, I am in the process of building an Airfix kit of a Hurricane so the detail from your video will be referred to a lot.
Hurricane went after the bombers but did struggle against the 109. Over 1700 hurricanes took part in the BoB. In the first week of June 1940 over 80 hurricanes were built compared to 22 spitfires there were simply more of them in combat. The sturdy gun platform with its 4 machine guns placed next to each other on each wing gave it an advantage against the well armed German bombers. With a more experienced pilot the hurricane could perform well against the 109 but its strengths were as a bomber intercepter.
The spitfire Mk I and then in August 1940 with the mk II entering service with an even more powerful Merlin engine without these aircraft to take out the German fighters the RAF would have struggled considerably against the luftwaffe in 1940.
True enough. Keep in mind that the only reason there weren't more Spitfires then was due to Lord Nuffield delaying construction of Castle Bromwich Factory and preparing tooling. Started in mid 1938, not one Spitfire had left the factory by June 1940. Meanwhile Nuffield (Morris) had spent 100,000 pounds ($8.2 million today) of his own money to showcase the Napier Sabre engine in his Nuffield-Napier Sabre Racer. It crashed in June, the same month that Nuffield was fired. Only then with Supermarine in charge of CBF did Spitfires start coming off the line at CBF.
Great video. So glad that we have HD video nowadays. In old TV shows, you couldn't see this level of detail, and also they would skim over a lot of the stuff such as seen here.
The most successful RAF Squadron during the Battle of Britain was the Polish 303, equipped with Hawker Hurricanes. Glory to the brave Polish pilots of WW2!
The man who taught me how to fly the Fw190 in War Thunder became RUclips famous, glad to see the mighty Bismarck still alive and well
My favourite WW2 aircraft. And the first Airfix model I ever made! Thank you for this excellent review of this classic aeroplane.
Fantastic reference, thank you!
This plane always arrives on time, Its never in a hurri
Gues you are really glad it hurrycame huh
Boooooooooo this joke ruined my day.
Don't be in a hurri to do stand up comedy!
The plane that saved Britain
Yes, at the start. It let us make the spitfires and field them
Sydney Camm and his team sure designed some belters
Thank goodness for the Hurri in the BoB
@@walrus4046 went on to make the Typhoon and Tempest. Then after the war, the Sea Fury, the Sea Hawk, the Hunter and the prototype of the Harrier! Sydney Camm was a brilliant engineer. Hawker is one of, if not the greatest British Aircraft manufacturer ever.
@@weirdbritishperson9542 It remained in heavy use for the most of the war because while the Spitfire was the superior dogfighter, the Hurricane's flight characteristics and armament layout made it the better bomber killer and a capable fighter bomber. During the Battle of Britain, Spitfires would peel off to engage the german escorts and keep them busy while the Hurricanes did the actual intercepting.
@@GaldirEonai I know, that’s why I said at the start as in at the start of the Battle of Britain, because it let us create spitfires instead of stretching out hurricanes and letting them concentrate on the bombers.
The unsung workhorse of workhorse of the Battle of Britain. Its a beautiful plane.
One nice feature on the Hurricane is the engine cowling slopes downward toward the propeller hub giving good forward visibility. The long straight nose on the Spitfire created a big blind spot in front of and just below the plane. I've read several accounts of this causing problems. I think in Doug Bader's biography he describes an incident during the Battle of Britain where he watched in horror as a Spitfire dived straight into a German fighter resulting in a catastrophic collision. The whole time he was watching he could tell the Spitfire pilot couldn't see the German at all.
Good observation, except that it was usually the Me109 that was behind the Hurricane, which had inferior fighter metrics (save turn radius). It was very vulnerable to the LW fighters, including the Me110s until Sep 1940.
Really impressed with the detail you've included in this, extra helpful for replicating a scale model
This really brings back Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator (1998) nostalgia for me!
Chris is definitely the greatest historian in world history fam!!!!
Excellent walk around Chris thanks for sharing much appreciated 👍
Very useful as I have just started building an Airfix 1:48 Hurricane Mk. I !!
Hurricanes looks so gooood!
I like the low lighting in this video (one of my favourites of yours) - it enhances the grim, almost steampunk, look of this aircraft.
Two large hangers with lots of amazing aeroplanes to see.
If your not going by car it's a long way from Hendon or Colindale Tube stations, best to get a taxi when you get off, or check for shuttle bus.
Thanks Chris, another super video.
So, this hurricane became a bad landing practise machine.
I suspect many Ryan Air pilots learnt to fly in this machine?
@@Dave_Sisson nah, Ryan Air pilots would have destroyed it. the RAF wouldn't even let them anywhere near that Hurricane.
Many years ago, I visited the RAF Museum at Hendon with a friend. We thought we might be there a couple of hours, but we were still chasing around at closing time! That was about 30 years ago so I don't know what it is like now, but I can't think that it is any less brilliant now than it was then?
Something this particular example shows, which I always think looks "wrong" on the early-war RAF aircraft is the lack of a tail flash. It's the same with the Spitfire Mk.I at RAFM Cosford, which at least has a Squadron marking on the vertical stabiliser. Having nothing there always just looks somehow odd and unfinished after seeing so many different types of coloured bars of various sizes from that point on.
The Portuguese Air Force was using them post war and they were co-opted (with their pilots) to star in the film Angels One Five 1952. I don't think any were saved afterwards. We scrapped anything that came along in those days.
Having worked on both Spitfire and Hurricane The Hurricane is the more interesting of the two. If you remove the two lower fuselage panels you can stand up inside the tubular construction and admire the beauty of its construction.
Very accurate and informative, thank you. The Hurricane accounted for more bombers shot down or badly damaged, that the more famous Spitfire, because the Spitfire was needed to fight the Luftwaffe fighter escorts, who would have easily defeated the Hurricanes, due to the Hurricanes lower speed and climb rate. The part metal, part fabric skin of the Hurricane made is faster and cheaper to build and the aft section would allow cannon exploding shells to pass right through with little damage, and could be repaired quickly.
Great walkaround reference- thanks for the passion and effort involved!
Thank you for such a well-made documentary about an absolutely beautiful aircraft.
The first Hurricanes fitted with back armour were in No1 Squadron in France early 1940. An armoured panel from a Fairey Battle was fitted and flown over to Hawker for assessment. This was approved and back armour was fitted to all No1 Squadron aircraft, saving the life of Flying Officer Billy Drake when he was shot down during the Battle of France.
With reference to the armour plate. The CO of 1squadron , 'Bull' Hallahan experimentally fitted a piece recovered from a crashed Fairy Battle during the Battle of France. The aircraft was test flown by squadron pilots and their findings sent back to England. The RAF were sceptical to say the least and implied it would upset the centre of gravity and handling. Anyhow the aircraft was sent to Farnborough and tested. It was deemed a success and became a standard fit soon after, saving many lives. It is mentioned in Paul Richeys superb book Fighter Pilot which is a record of No 1 Squadrons time in France during that Campaign.
A real fighting machine. Lovely episode.
Thanks for this one Bismarck. I always had a soft spot for the Hurricane. Not as glamorous as her older sister (spitfire), but exactly what was needed at the time. And she did well ;-) I honestly don't think the Hurricane gets the love she deserved
younger cousin more like. The Hurricane first flew a few months before the Spitfire did and was introduced into RAF service earlier. But other than that I agree with you, a brilliant aircraft indeed!
@@Frserthegreenengine Yeah you right there Fraser, Hurricane was like the older sister or cousin, Spitfire was the young upstart ;-) But she did what was needed at the time!
She does in my house.
No. Not even in any aircraft game. The Hurricane is dangerously underrated. I see people in Bf 109s in War Thunder, for example, trying to dogfight me in a Hurricane Mk I. Oh welp, free kill for me ;)
It almost seems like 109 pilots think they can dance all over Hurricanes with impunity. Of course, that isn't really the case.
The reserve fuel tank wasn't in a particularly great location - lot of guys burned horribly, although that did lead to some huge innovations in plastic surgery which are still used today.
most aircraft these days did not have fuel tanks in great locations...109..., spitfire...
@@Siddich but apparently the Hurricanes reserve tank for some reason were less protected than the Spitfire's and so it was more catastrophic. But they managed to solve it with self-sealing materials.
I was in a hospital many years ago where they pioneered the plastic surgery on these guys. They had a brass plaque on the wall of a pig with wings, labelled "Guinea Pig Club". It must have been horrific.
@@jamesharmer9293 british humour...
“Tale of a Guinea Pig”, by Geoffrey Page.
Brilliant as usual. Love these videos, so informative. Keep up the great work Kris!
Excellent. Always liked the Hurricane, but if I won the lottery I would buy a Spitfire Mk1a.
The real lethal beauty.
I love the Hawker Hurricane although it has 8 303 mg they have most credit for having high kills in the battle of britain mostly Bombers.
Eight loads of ANY calibre coming at you at once is terrifying...
@@NiSiochainGanSaoirse and all concentrated together!
Need to get close like the poles in 303 squadron
What a fabulous aircraft.
This is the kind of material that really deserves our attention! A detailed and fully descriptive walk around adding many significant descriptions, that reveal the engineering of those times. Truly enjoyable. Well done sir. Your work is highly appreciated. Keep up this level of work, it is well above many other visually attractive but still lacking videos. Thanks very much.
There are some audio editing issues, for example "The rudder trim....." (7:55) is not only a started sentence thats cut without conclusion, its much louder than other voice over.
Hurricanes were the draft horses of the Battle of Britain. Mainly they bore the burden of fighting with German bombers, but also with fighters. They shot down more German warplanes than Spitfires. The best of the Czechoslovak pilots in the Battle of Britain, Sgt Josef Frantisek DFM & Bar, flew the Hurricane Mk I in Polish No. 303 Squadron. Within a month he was the highest-scoring non-British Allied ace in the Battle of Britain, with 17 confirmed victories and one probable. Unfortunately, he died when landing at the age of 26 (8 October 1940). - Sqn Ldr Karel Kuttelwascher DFC & Bar (nicknamed Kut; 1916-1959). He was in combat service from May 1940 to October 1942; first with the French Air Force and then with the RAF. In RAF service he shot down 18 enemy aircraft, another 2 warplanes in France. He is also considered the best night fighter pilot of the RAF. After the Battle, he later flew as an intruder night fighter with No. 1 Squadron. However, he flew without radar on his Hurricane Mk IIC. Other pilots used radars. He had excellent eyesight - "cat eyes". - High respect for the memory of both of these Czechoslovak pilots. - (I am CZ)
Glory to the Czechoslowakian and Polish pilots of WW2!
Thank you for such a detailed description.
It is also worth a note that one of the most favoured users of hurricane especially cannon modified ones was the USSR.
You are quickly becoming my favourite & most watched historical RUclips channel, I love your content dude.
I love this aircraft my number one favourite, thank you this walk around
Well done primer into the workings of an aircraft that earned its keep despite its inferior reputation. Just having that divine Rolls-Royce Merlin is enough to endear it to a great many. Glad they had the insights to preserve st least one of these aircraft for prosperities sake.
Nicely makes an apex in the gap between the Sopwith Camel and Harriers in Sir Tom Sopwith's magnificent legacy.
Excellent vid. A really good tour of the plane. Really well researched and the detail given is superb. Thank you.
Great presentation. Thanks!
BTW, anyone know why the guns had fabric over them? And why red?
My grandpa flew hurricanes in North Africa, as well as the Middle East during WWII. I know some of the stories, but sadly he died years ago, and I can't ask him about his time and experiences.
Love your videos. Not a critique, but some language help (I once spoke German, French and Korean). The word, "fuselage," in the American accent is pronounced "Fee-u-s-uh-laage" as opposed to "foo-selage" I split our pronunciation up into individual phonemes which you might practice slowly until you can combine them. This is the same way I learned to pronounce the European umlaut. I voice the letter, "e", then "u", eventually putting them together to pronounce that unique phoneme.
Better than me old chap, I pronounce it “Few-z-laage”.
It works for me, I’m English and the Germans bombed my grandparents pub in the south of England (in a well known island city) on December 23rd 1940. My Dad, who was 11 at the time, went from the Snug Bar to the Cellar in the blink of an eye. 150 killed but my family survived.
On that basis my pronunciation is correct 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Great video! I loved the animations highlighting the details.
Great post Chris.....love the hard work and research you put forth.....and the outstanding presentation!
👍🤠
01:24 RMS.7 Rotol wooden propeller, CS propellers were installed from late July to 15 August 1940 on 1050 machines.
Look at the thickness of that wing - about 20% t/c ratio with an old style Clark airfoil. All other fighters of that era used a thinner wing for less drag and higher performance. Sadly, Camm made the same mistake on his next "interceptor", the Typhoon.
I hope you do an Inside the cockpit for this plane at some point
Excellent review. Thank you.
Stable gun platform.
Nice Intercepter paint scheme.
My favorite RAF plane, thank you for showcasing it. If any game includes this plane, I make sure to play/fly/own it, I just love the looks, and the historical significance.
Thank you. A very informative video full of useful and well researched technical description.
Nice access & informative walk around... Hendon is just 20 mins down the A1 for me.. Once Covid & lockdown is finally over I will revisit 👍🏼
I recall tha tthe underside painted half white and half black was a form of Identification for ground units tha tthe aircraft was a ealy ground control intercept night fighter. You can see this patter on some early Boulton Paul Defiants used for night intercepts. This was discontinued on these aircraft in April 1941. I have ot seen aby Beaufighters painte dthis way, they seem to have used all black for night fighters from the start.
Your videos are so good - very informative and a pleasure to watch.
Hey man this video is sick, it reaĺly made my day, keep up the good work
Thanks!
Excellent episode! Well done! 👍
I just found your channel and I'm absolutely loving it!
Can I just ask, do I keep hearing slight Irish twangs to your accent or is it just me?
Favourite plane!! Such an underated aircraft and i love the look
Hi anyone remember the Hawker Hurricane mark 1 that was on the Gilbert’s dairy farm at Warnford near Kilmeston in Hampshire back in late 70s. It had a wooden two blade propeller and wooden wings covered in fabric....it belonged to Brian Gilbert’s grandfather Pilot Officer Harold Gilbert of 252 Squadron the planes no was L 2 4 4 4 It saw action in the battle of France, the Battle of Britain, Malta and Sicily
I'm currently loving fliying the Hurricaines in WT. That one with the 40mm canon. Cheers for the upload Biz.
Thats the iid . My grandad worked on those .
Great video. I really like the view on the technical details. Hope there will be a portrait of the Westland Whirlwind someday.
I am often surprised the Hurricane was as fast as it was. It was 20 mph slower than the Spitfire, but it seems so much larger and less aerodynamic.
In person it definitely is a lot larger than Spitfire, or at least appears so, primarily bacause of how it sits.
Very well done.
Great photography and details.
One of my favourites!
nice little summary
Outstanding video and presentation.
I really needed a plain old PLANE video 😜 Glad its a Hurricane. Now isn't it cool that we are able to see a Mark 1 ? One would have thought all the Mark 1's are upgraded or scrapped and any remaining planes would be later models
The way you way fuselage makes me happy 😊
Great vid as always bud!
HMS Illustrious flying deck was particularly well protected (64-76 mm).
Beautiful plane.
I surprisingly just found your channel. I've always loved spec/ walk around videos. Subscribed
Love this museum. Been there far too many times. Great vid btw.
Always a treat to watch your videos👍😀
Dude I love so much the work you do!! Your videos are like pure lovely information!!
Thank you very much and keep going!!
Gloster had been acquired by Hawker Aircraft in 1934 - so this aeroplane was built by a Hawker Siddeley Aircraft company as it had become in 1935.
Fantastic video!
Brilliant well researched Video as usual, many thanks, Stay safe.