MAQUETTE À MONTER - Hurricane Mk.I `Finnish Air Force´ Hasegawa | N° 09391 | 1:48

Characteristics

Description

Sidney Camm, chief designer for the Hawker Engineering Company, had the vision to see what was coming its end. In 1925 he designed a monoplane (never built) knowing that this was the fighter type of the future. In 1933, under Camm's direction, Hawker began work on a monoplane which became the very successful Hawker Fury biplane. It initially used a 660 hp Rolls Royce engine, but was changed to the higher potential Rolls Royce PV12, the engine that became the famous Merlin. In late 1934, a mock-up of what would be called the interceptor monoplane was begun, and approval was received for a prototype on 21 February 1935. It flew for the first time on 6 November 1935 with George Bulman at the Mk.I controls. An order for 600 Mk.I aircraft was received on 3 June 1936, and the name Hurricane was approved that same month. Early Hurricane Mk.I aircraft had fabric outer wing surfaces, a fixed two-blade Watts wooden propeller, early ejector exhaust pipes and a tall tail antenna. Later Mk.Is had all-metal wings, a three-blade DeHaviland or Rotol variable-pitch propeller, type II exhaust stacks, a short tail antenna and a rear-view mirror on the windscreen. The Mk.I Hurricane was at the forefront during the Battle of Britain in WWII and is credited, along with the Spitfire, with saving England from invasion by Germany during that dark period in history. The Mk.I was also exported and fought well for other nations as well. Introduced twice to the Soviet Union, in 1939 and 1941, Finland fought back fiercely with all of her limited military resources. The indomitable Finnish Air Force was desperately short of planes and used any at their disposal, including downed Soviet aircraft which they repaired and flew themselves. Despite such conditions, the Finns were nevertheless successful in defend their country, giving birth to numerous ace pilots in the process. The Hurricane Mk.I was imported and flown by the Finns beginning in 1940.

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