claidemore
Senior Airman
The Hurricane had a few other advantages over the Spit besides being easier to produce. Some of this has probably been covered in earlier posts.
The eight brownings were placed in two close grouped sections of four guns, so you had two streams of bullets that were grouped closer together than in the Spitfire which had its guns spread out along the length of its wing. it also carried more ammo than the Spitfire. 2800 vs 2400.
The wing was stiffer, and the plane was more stable longitudinally, allowing more accurate shooting.
It had a slightly lower stall speed, (72mph) allowing it a smaller turn radius.
It had a better angle of view over the nose than the Spitfire.
Now for the disadvantages:
According to the manual for the Hurricane 1 with two blade prop, the max dive speed was only 380 mph, and that is pretty darn slow. With the constant speed props in use during BoB it would be higher, how much I don't know. Suffice it to say, it dived slower than a Spit, and much slower than a 109.
Top speed was also slower, 30-40 mph depending on altitude. (More powerful engines brought about greater gains in speed for a Spit than a Hurricane, one of the reasons the Spit was chosen for continued developement and the Hurri was not.)
Ceiling was lower, it struggled to engage 109s at high alt.
I don't have numbers, but I'm pretty sure the roll rate on the Hurricane was a bit poorer than the Spitfires. It's handling is described as 'gentlemanly'. It had more wing area, so all things being equal, roll rate would be slower.
Hurricanes shot down more planes during BoB than Spifires, but their kill ratio was lower, another reason the Spit was chosen as the main RAF fighter after BoB.
If we look at the number in the poll, we see that 47% of us think the advantages of the Spit outweight the advantages of the Hurricane, or the Me109.
Claidemore
The eight brownings were placed in two close grouped sections of four guns, so you had two streams of bullets that were grouped closer together than in the Spitfire which had its guns spread out along the length of its wing. it also carried more ammo than the Spitfire. 2800 vs 2400.
The wing was stiffer, and the plane was more stable longitudinally, allowing more accurate shooting.
It had a slightly lower stall speed, (72mph) allowing it a smaller turn radius.
It had a better angle of view over the nose than the Spitfire.
Now for the disadvantages:
According to the manual for the Hurricane 1 with two blade prop, the max dive speed was only 380 mph, and that is pretty darn slow. With the constant speed props in use during BoB it would be higher, how much I don't know. Suffice it to say, it dived slower than a Spit, and much slower than a 109.
Top speed was also slower, 30-40 mph depending on altitude. (More powerful engines brought about greater gains in speed for a Spit than a Hurricane, one of the reasons the Spit was chosen for continued developement and the Hurri was not.)
Ceiling was lower, it struggled to engage 109s at high alt.
I don't have numbers, but I'm pretty sure the roll rate on the Hurricane was a bit poorer than the Spitfires. It's handling is described as 'gentlemanly'. It had more wing area, so all things being equal, roll rate would be slower.
Hurricanes shot down more planes during BoB than Spifires, but their kill ratio was lower, another reason the Spit was chosen as the main RAF fighter after BoB.
If we look at the number in the poll, we see that 47% of us think the advantages of the Spit outweight the advantages of the Hurricane, or the Me109.
Claidemore