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it was replaced in multiple squadrons by the P-40 in 1941 and 1942.
You can accuse me of many things, but not reading the source material isn't one of them.
But not all. 6 Sqn kept its Hurricanes and, just like in the Far East the Hurricane remained in service until the end of the campaign, then in 1944 it moved to Italy, still equipped with Hurricane IVs. Despite your protestations, Hurricanes remained in the fight for the same length of time as P-40s and in some cases remained after the P-40s had themselves been replaced in those very same fighter squadrons you mention. It should also be mentioned that those Mid East units received P-40s because they were in theatre; the home based Hurricane units that were replacing theirs received Spitfires - P-40s never served in UK based fighter squadrons, but Hurricanes remained in squadron use back home.
Nevertheless, I suspect this won't change your opinion of the Hurricane, which is sad because I do believe you completely underestimate it and its impact. The two types had a lot in common and even by 1941 were both second tier to better fighters operated by the Allies and Axis. Even their production numbers are not that far apart, even if the P-40 underwent more development through fewer airframes.
All the Curtiss P-40 replacements (P-46 etc.) were unusable rubbish, and while the Typhoon certainly struggled as a design for a good while, it was a good fighter bomber and V1 chaser, and FW killer. The Tempest was the true crowning achievement of the line, once they (finally~!) made that thinner wing.The Brits sensibly realised from early on it wasn't worth putting development effort into the Hurricane outside of weapons modifications - there was a plan to fit Griffons, but that would have meant less for aircraft that better deserved them. There was no need to advance the Hurricane, yet Curtiss threw as much as it could at the P-40 and it still couldn't match the best fighters being built by other manufacturers, again because its replacement by Curtiss was floundering at every turn. Hawker however gave up on improving the Hurricane's performance beyond 1941 and had turned to the Tornado/Typhoon before then, although the latter had its fair share of headaches, it led to the Tempest, which was one of the best low-altitude fighters of the war, yet Hurricane production continued because it proved a very useful airframe, despite what you believe. Credit where credit is due.
Well, you missed that one as the source Wiki quoted was exactly the same as I did. Anyway, point taken. Your info is great to read and I've enjoyed you digging this stuff out, Bill.
Regardless of whether the Hurricane or the P-40 in one of its forms made the best air superiority fighter (which will clearly be argued about until the cows come home!), the bottom line is that the Hurricane outnumbered the P-40 Tomahawk/Kittyhawk throughout 1941 and 1942 in the Western Desert as well as the whole of the Mediterranean/Middle East theatre.
The first Tomahawks went to 250 squadron on its formation in Palestine in April 1941. By Nov 1941 there were only 5 squadrons, all in the Western Desert. Of those 112 converted from the Gladiator (it might have had a few Hurricanes while in Greece in early 1941 during the retreat, but its main equipment remained the Gladiator) and 3 RAAF from Hurricane I. 2 & 4 SAAF arrived from East Africa in July & Oct 1941 having flown a mix of types including Furies, Gladiators, Hurricanes and Mohawks in that region. While Kittyhawks started to become available in Dec 1941 conversion was gradual, lasting until Jan 1943.
By Oct 1942 the number of Tomahawk/Kittyhawk squadrons had risen to 8. 260 and 450 converted from Hurricane I to Kittyhawk I in Feb 1942 and Dec 1941 respectively, while 5 SAAF received Tomahawks on arrival from South Africa in Feb 1942 and retained them until Jan 1943 before upgrading to the Kittyhawk III.
Beyond that Tomahawks were used to supplement Hurricanes in a handful of squadrons for short periods in late 1941 and 1942. 94 even re-equipped from Hurricane IIB to Kittyhawk I for 3 months in 1942 before converting back to Hurricane I/IIC in May 1942!
After that only 11 SAAF joined the ranks of Kittyhawk users in the Med/ME and that wasn't until Oct 1944.
By way of comparison there were about 19 Hurricane squadrons in the Med / ME in Nov 1941 (11 in the Western Desert). That had fallen to 18 (13 in the Western Desert) by Oct 1942. That despite there being 4 squadrons on Malta having converted to Spitfire V in the interim.
In terms of numbers, in Nov 1941 Hurricanes outnumbered Tomahawks 348 to 102 across the Med/ME.
Italy and Sicily are in Europe, and you are again forgetting the five US fighter groups flying P-40s, plus by that time a couple of Free French squadrons. Some of the US Fighter Groups were still flying P-40s over Anzio (and doing quite well).When the war in the Far East broke out in Dec 1941, 4 more Hurricane squadrons en route U.K. to ME were diverted to the Far East.
From July 1943, 2 of the SAAF Kittyhawk squadrons converted to Spitfire V followed by 4 squadrons to Mustangs between April & Nov 1944, leaving only 250, 450 and 11SAAF with Kittyhawks when the war in Europe ended.
I believe most of which were no longer being used in combat (not a lot of action in places like Iran)351 (Yugoslav) squadron operated Hurricanes from July 1944 to the end of the war alongside 6 squadron as part of the Balkan Air Force.
Spitfires began to arrive on Malta at the end of Feb 1942. The first squadron operational in the Western Desert was 145 squadron in May 1942, followed by 601 in June (its aircraft having spent a month on so on Malta) and 92 in Aug (it had left the U.K. in Feb with 145 but lack of Spitfires in Egypt delayed its becoming operational).
More Hurricane squadrons arrived in the Med as part of the support for Operation Torch, before the general conversion to Spitfires started in early-mid 1943. But in April 1943 there were still over 20 Hurricane squadrons spread from Algeria to Iran.
So you are now expanding the discussion from the RAF and Commonwealth squadrons to include the USAAF and into 1943.
The first USAAF FG in Africa was the 57th which didn't leave the USA until 1 July 1942 on the USS Ranger which took them to Takoradi to be flown across Africa to join the 9th AF in Egypt. It only became operational in Aug 1942. The other P-40 FG didn't arrive until After the start of Operation Torch on 8th Nov 1942.
As for the Hurricane squadrons in early 1943, most (at least 16) fell under the command of Headquarters, Air Defences, Middle East
and were strung out at bases from the Canal Zone to Sousse in southern Tunisia. That is a distance of about 1,000 miles. Just because the land war and related air support moved on to Tunisia, Sicily and then Italy in 1943 and that Hurricanes were not so involved in combat with enemy aircraft does not mean that there was not vital operational work to be carried out. Supply convoys, both naval and truck, still had to run from Egypt or bases further forward to support the 8th Army as it moved forward and needed fighter cover (The first through convoy from Gibraltar to Alexandria didn't occur until the end of May 1943, after the German surrender in North Africa). About half the assault shipping for Operation Husky in July staged out of Egypt and needed fighter protection.
Ok, so they fought a few coastal patrol missions, fair enough. Does that change anything I said?German anti-shipping operations went on in the Med until until mid-1944 with strikes against many convoys routing east from Gibraltar in early 1944. The heavy bomber bases and coastal strike bases established in the Benghazi area to operate over Southern Europe and the Aegean needed protected from potential enemy action at least until early 1944 when they moved forward to the Foggia area in Italy. The Luftwaffe maintained bases in Greece & Crete throughout this period.
By way of example on 1 May 1943 the Germans launched an evening anti-shipping attack on a convoy north of Benghazi with 19 bombers and 6 torpedo bombers that resulted in a British tanker being sunk. Aircraft from 2 Hurricane squadrons were present as escort and shot down a Ju88A-4 and a Heinkel He111H-11.
Also have to consider operating in a higher density altitudeI will grant you one thing though, there seems to be a notable discrepancy between the kind of performance a Hurricane II gave in England vs. the outcomes you saw in the Middle East (and I think in Burma too). Maybe the major part of the issue was really that Vokes filter. If the speed dropped 30 mph that is fairly drastic. The thing was enormous and obviously caused pretty severe drag.
I always assumed the difference in the operational history between Hurricane and P-40 was more about roll and dive, but it could have been as simple as bad luck with a tropical adaptation.
Well there is the MQ-28 Ghost Bat:Would love to see more Australian designed aircraft in the future.
UCAVs just make sense nowadays.Well there is the MQ-28 Ghost Bat: