Hawker Hurricane production and variants, Britain and Canada

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

Main references, RAF Contract Cards and Serial Registers, Ministry of Aircraft Production Monthly Statistical Bulletin (March 1942 to December 1945) and 1945 Statistical Review. British National Archives AIR 19/524, US War Production Board report.

Sensationalist headline, no mark IIE, X, or XI, no Merlin 24 or 27.

Britain,

Hawker 1 mark I prototype

Mark I, Hawker 1,924 December 1937 to February 1941 plus 1 company demonstrator G-AFKX, Gloster 1,850 October 1939 to June 1941

Mark IIA, Hawker 418 August 1940 to April 1941, Gloster 33 in May and June 1941

Mark IIB, Hawker 2,051 February 1941 to November 1942, Gloster 867 June 1941 to March 1942, Austin 300 February 1941 to October 1942

Mark IIC, Hawker, 4,811 March 1941 to July 1944

Mark IID, Hawker 296 January to April 1942, August 1942 to February 1943

Mark IV, Hawker 524 December 1942 to March 1944, Merlin XX engine. Mark IV universal wing a single design able to mount two 250 or 500 lb (110 or 230 kg) bombs, or two 40 mm (1.57 in) Vickers S guns, or two 40 mm (1.57 in) Rolls Royce B.H. type guns, two SBC (small bomb containers) or SCI (smoke curtain installation), or two 45 or 90 gallon drop tanks or eight "60 pounder" RP-3 rockets.

Mark V, Hawker 1 prototype, another two converted from Mk IV, and featured a Merlin 27 engine driving a four-bladed propeller, also tested with a Merlin 32. Though a three bladed propeller was needed to fix problems when carrying the S guns.

Sea IIc, Hawker 60 in November and December 1942 and April to June 1943.

Mark IIE This designation was used by the Ministry of Aircraft Production in 1942 and 1943 for mark II factory fitted with wing racks, 270 delivered according to the Ministry, the RAF used the Mk IIBB or CB designation, the trailing B meaning (fighter) bomber. The Mk IIE was not an early mark Mk IV. A memo in AIR 20/4572 dated 30 August 1942 notes the mark IIE is the Hurribomber with sixty built to end June 1942, which agrees with the MAP total, there are one hundred and sixty eight mark IIE in the monthly production reports from March to October 1942, with mark IV production starting in December. In October 1943 the cumulative total of mark IIE is adjusted from one hundred and sixty eight to two hundred and seventy. The Serial Registers cover all Hurricane serials have no IIE listed, the (incomplete) Contract Cards have no IIE listed.

The designation mark IIE does not appear in the RAF aircraft census AIR 20/1871, instead the February 1943 census reports two hundred and sixty eight mark IIBB had been ordered with two hundred and twenty nine delivered, plus others that had been converted. Then in June 1943 the census is amended to one hundred and sixty eight IIBB ordered and delivered, agreeing with monthly reports. In November 1943 the census adjusts the figures to two hundred and thirty IIBB and forty IICB ordered and delivered, agreeing with the new mark IIE total but the Ministry of Aircraft Production grand totals require no IIC built as IIE. The conclusion is all IIE in the monthly reports are actually IIE, and the IIE was the Ministry of Aircraft Production designation for mark II factory fitted with under wing racks, they were not early mark IV.

AIR 20/1871 notes as of end June 1944 that a nett total of 378 Hurricanes had been converted to Sea Hurricane, 479 Hurricane I converted to other marks, 97 other marks had been converted to IIA, while 133 IIB, 3,034 IIC and 2 IID had been converted to other marks, with a net 66 conversions to IICB, 3,132 conversions to IICB and 1 to mark IV.

The availability of Merlin 24 and 27 versus Hurricane IV production, cumulative official production of Hurricane IV \ Merlin 24 \ Merlin 27, to end of month,
Jul-43 \ 313 \ 16 \ 0
Aug-43 \ 349 \ 81 \ 0
Sep-43 \ 384 \ 349 \ 0
Oct-43 \ 412 \ 514 \ 0
Nov-43 \ 448 \ 719 \ 69
Dec-43 \ 464 \ 1296 \ 139
Jan-44 \ 474 \ 1661 \ 141
Feb-44 \ 523 \ 2028 \ 141
Mar-44 \ 524 \ 2315 \ 141

RAF Squadrons by Jefford, arrival of mark IV
February 1943, 164 Sqn
May 1943, 184 Sqn
June 1943, 137 Sqn
July 1943, 6 Sqn
August 1943, 186 Sqn
October 1943, 42 Sqn
November 1943, 438 Sqn
December 1943, 567, 577, 587, 650 Sqn
January 1944, 439 Sqn
February 1944, 309, 440, 598 Sqn
March 1944, 285, 679 Sqn
April 1944, 63, 291 Sqn
June 1944, 595 Sqn
August 1944, 639 Sqn
September 1944, 351 Sqn
December 1944, 20 Sqn
May 1945, 28 Sqn

Jefford also has Hurricanes marks I, IIB and IV all arriving together at 287 and 289 Sqn in November 1941 which appears to be a typo.

RAFCommands Archive :: Hurricane Mk IV - Recovered Post The accident report for KX190 (the 28th mark IV in serial number terms) and the loss report for KZ607 (189th) both state the engine was a Merlin XX, with KZ607 lost in February 1944.

As of end July 1943 61 Hurricane IV were with Fighter Command (including 21 in miscellaneous units), 76 en route to overseas areas, 6 were in the Middle East, 1 in a training unit, 1 with the Admiralty and 7 had been lost. By end October 1943, 111 were with Fighter Command (50 misc.), 21 with the Tactical Air Force, 14 were en route to overseas areas, 63 in the Mediterranean, 36 in India, 1 in a training units, 1 with the Admiralty and 23 had been lost.

As of end March 1944 of the 524 new and 1 converted mark IV the RAF had received 62 had been lost or converted to instructional airframes, 144 were overseas, 52 en route or being prepared, 173 with fighter/bomber/2nd TAF commands. While the Ministry of Aircraft Production says no Merlin 24 had been exported, versus 108 Merlin 21 and 23 and 115 Merlin 22 (plus 2,240 Merlin XX). If Hurricane IV were going overseas with Merlin 24 they would have needed spare engines yet as of end 1944 two Merlin 24 had been exported. Add the end March 1944 stocks of Merlin 24 engines and power plants figures, 198 with aircraft constructors, 471 with power plant builders, 611 in Maintenance Units, 69 with home commands (as of end February), 19 under repair, total 1,371 out of 2,327 built. Not a lot available for Hurricanes after the Lancasters had been fitted.

RAF records show the final 15 mark IV used Merlin XX engines. "Rolls-Royce Merlin production list show that two Mk.27 were built at Derby and then 141 at Glasgow. A Mk.24 was also converted to a Mk.27. It also states that all Glasgow Mk.27 s were converted to Mk.25s." (131 converted according to MAP, plus 2 more to Merlin 24)

When the mark V was cancelled the Merlin 27 production was also cancelled. According to the RAF census AIR 20/1871 a total of 384 mark V were ordered in June 1943, along with 450 more mark IIC, while the mark IV order was reduced from 1,138 to 454. In August 200 more mark V were ordered, along with 200 more mark IIC, then in January 1944 the mark V order was cancelled, along with 124 mark IIC, with 70 more mark IV ordered. This explains the limited number of 141 Merlin 27 built, why they were built between November 1943 and January 1944 and why they were bulk converted to Merlin 25. (and then used in Mosquitoes)

There were no Hurricane mark IIE, the mark IV used the Merlin XX, the mark V was to use the Merlin 27, but was tested with the Merlin 32.

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Canada, start by noting the Hurricanes built for Britain were incomplete airframes, hence why in 1941 the RCAF had to take Merlin III and propellers from Fairey Battles to make 30 Hurricane I operational.

In a letter dated 10 December 1941 from the (Canadian) Director General of Aircraft Production reported,

15 Sea Hurricanes already despatched for the east, 9 Sea Hurricanes tested and ready at Fort William while 26 Sea Hurricanes that were missing between them, 24 generator couplings, 11 pairs of wheels, 8 tail wheels (slave (CCF test) equipment can reduce this to 8 pairs and 6 tail wheels). The brakes, being magnesium alloy castings, and the wheels must come from England, generator couplings from Merlin 28 can be used. Some items of service equipment are also needed, "secret wireless device" etc.

Fort William has 60 mark IA airframes (explicitly stated can only take Merlin III engines), complete less wheels, brakes, tyres and tubes but needing engines, propellers, instruments, and all other appendix A Serial 1160 Embodiment Loan Equipment. The deficient equipment will have to come from Fairey Battles, including a cut down two pitch propeller.

The mark II in production emerge from the factory in a similar state to the stored mark I. "require from England, wheels, brakes, air compressors and drives and couplers for same, hydraulic pump drives and couplings, airscrews and instruments".

Official production,

486 mark I February 1940 to October 1941 (with 11 in August, 0 in September and 1 in October 1941)

414 mark IIB November 1941 to June 1942, 101 February and March 1943, total 515

400 mark XII June 1942 to May 1943 (B wings)

50 Sea mark I November 1941 to January 1942

Air 20/2019. Arrivals in Britain were 419 mark I airframes May 1940 to August 1941, including L1848, the pre war pattern aircraft returning, 8 more lost at sea, 315 mark II airframes November 1941 to August 1942 plus 118 mark II Hurricanes fitted with an engine February to April 1942, 132 mark II airframes March to July 1943, 116 mark II with an engine March to June 1943, another 11 mark II lost at sea (8 in 1942, 3 in 1943), all up 419 mark I airframes, 447 mark II airframes, 234 mark II with an engine arrived, total 1,100. All Canadian built Hurricanes were retained in Canada or exported to Britain, many mark II having their B wings replaced by C wings before issue to the RAF. The Merlin 28 supplied to Canada in for Hurricanes 1942 lacked accessories, they could not be flown, apart from a few test flights any Hurricane arriving in Britain with a Merlin 28 had it replaced by a Merlin XX, the Merlin 28 going to Lancasters.

The site World War II Operational Documents will allow you to download the US War Production Board report. Merlin 28 production began in August 1941, with 32 built by the end of the year. Also to end June 1942 about a third of US Merlin production was for Merlin 28 for Britain (the USAAF had all those Merlin P-40) plus 240 Merlin 29 and 7 Merlin 31, with 544 Merlin 28 engines in stock in Britain out of 819 produced (and a good 300 on the way, given end July stocks were 833), use that as an aid when someone asks for advice on a good reference for Hawker Hurricane production, you can check out the section on Canadian production to see if it fits the mark X information in particular.

Hurricane mark X. Mark number used by some RAF documentation to describe Canadian built mark I, Merlin III engine. Not an official designation. By the time Merlin 28 production began in the US 419 Canadian built mark I airframes had arrived in Britain

Hurricane mark XI. Designation never officially allocated or used.

Hurricane mark XII (Initially known as IIB (Can)), the designation for Hurricanes fitted with Merlin 29, a total of 400 were built, of which 150 were shipped to Britain while leaving their Merlin 29 in Canada, also the survivors of 30 RAF order mark I and 50 Sea Hurricane I (all 80 built in Canada) serving in the RCAF had their Merlin III replaced by a 29.

So the headline is no mark X and XI, a few test flights only were done using a Merlin 28.

In August 1941 Canada ordered 400 Hurricanes, 100 for the Netherlands East Indies, 300 for China, this changed to 72 for the Netherlands East Indies, 328 for the USSR, to use Merlin 28 and US built propellers and shipped across the Pacific. By the time production started it was 400 RCAF, but in 1943 it was 250 RCAF and 150 RAF, the 150 giving rise to the claim of the mark XI (Merlin 28 RCAF equipment), these PJ serial airframes were stripped so as to be the same standard as mark II production.

In early 1942 the prototype Netherlands East Indies version flew as HC3-287, ex AM270, its ultimate fate is unclear. The RAF also allocated then used AM270 for a Catalina, replacing Hurricane serial AM270 with AP138, hence why Canada officially produced 1,451 Hurricanes despite 1,450 being ordered by Britain and Canada.

The other Canadian production anomalies are AM321 and AM322 which have no known records, when comparing the total production figures less British imports less lost at sea 3 aircraft are unaccounted for as of June 1942. Like a number of earlier mark I two 1943 mark II imports were not delivered to the RAF, which ties in with the officially cancelled JS372 and JS373. While AM270 being present before the switch from IIB to XII production means one early RAF order Hurricane had not been officially produced by June 1942, which turns out to be AG341, number 477 in RAF serial number order, but about the last one built using RAF taken on charge and delivery dates.

In mid 1941 the plan was to retain 100 Hurricanes in Canada for training purposes, the final 59 Hurricane I (to August 1941) then the 1 built in October were put into storage. Of these 30 were allocated to the RCAF initially flew as mark I and were ultimately upgraded to mark XII, while some months after the first mark II had arrived in Britain the remaining 30 stored airframes arrived but were counted and used as mark II by the RAF. It appears they were upgraded to mark II before export.

 

[Crimea_River]

Excellent summary, thank-you.

 

[MiTasol]

Nice work. I am jealous - trying to work with Aus records is a nightmare as they are so fragmented and so many are missing.

Add to that the Nat Archives of Australia cataloging is appalling with dates and titles that have no resemblance to what is written on the files themselves - and they refuse to correct the errors.

Their unofficial motto and operating principal is She'll be right mate. It appears they only apply quality control to things like staff entitlements.

They have some great procedures manuals but obviously no-one follows them going by the large number of twisted pages photographed under bad lighting with pages torn in the process. And I am not talking about old product (which was far worse) but items found at https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ListingReports/NewlyScannedList.aspx almost every month. Obviously they are too lazy to remove staples or to use a proper book scanner (and even I have one of those tho it is home built and currently only to A5 size. With my new phone I will be able to do up to Folio/Foolscap sizes.
The ones used by archives.com (and many other professional quality archives) and how to make them can be found at DIY Book Scanner Designs. The small one I use is based on .

All these samples are 2021 productions.

Read the top text box

 

[fastmongrel]

Always a shame when archives aren't treated properly. Today's records are equally badly handled just because it's on a memory storage device somewhere doesn't mean it's safe. I read recently that digital records from ten years ago are often unreadable and corrupted or plain deleted.

 

[GregP]

I show Canada (CCF) produced another 50 Mk I's, 1 Mk IIC, 1025 Mk X, 401 Mk XII, 50 Mk XIIA, and 1 Sea Hurricane for a total of 1528 by Canadian Car and Foundry in addition to Hawker, Gloster, and the 300 by Austin, for a grand total of 14,570.

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

One of the reasons I ended up doing a count of Hawker Hurricanes is the apparent vow that no two references would give the same total production number. What are the references that give 1,528 Canadian built?

A total of 14,570 with 1,528 in Canada would mean 13,042 in Britain, versus the total of 13,036 plus 1 civil. What is the breakdown of British built versions?

For Canadian production what is the definition of the mark X? If it has a Merlin 28 how does that work given the War Production Board Report monthly reports of Canadian Hurricane and Merlin output, see the URL I provided. Or to put it another way, August 1941 (first Merlin 28 production) to end of Canadian production was 977 Hurricanes, including 400 mark XII, how does the mark X total of 1,025 fit in? It is the first check to do with any claims of Canadian Hurricane production.

Britain reports receiving 419 mark I airframes from Canada via AIR 20/2019 (there were another 8 lost at sea) 1 of these was the returning pre war "pattern" aircraft L1848.

CCF built mark I sent to Britain were serials were the 40 P, 20 T, 100 Z, 20 AE, 55 AF and 191 AG serials to AG291 except AG287.

30 AG serial aircraft, AG287, and the rest from between AG293 and AG332 were transferred to the RCAF and given RCAF serials 1351 to 1380, so you cannot just count serial numbers, the survivors were later upgraded to mark XIIA. All serials to AG340, plus AG342 to 344 and AG665 to 671 were rolled out of the factory as mark I but those sent to Britain from AG292 on are recorded as mark II on arrival. (Changes from original message in bold italic.)

There were 50 Sea Hurricane I, BW835 to 884, essentially retained by the RCAF, those still surviving in Canada were later upgraded to mark XII, Merlin 29. What is the 1 Sea Hurricane Serial? Why is the letter dated 10 December 1941 from the (Canadian) Director General of Aircraft Production wrong?

Air 20/2019 also reports the arrival in Britain of 447 mark II airframes and 234 mark II with an engine (11 mark II lost at sea), how does that work with the mark X definition?

The mark XII were RCAF 5376 to 5775, what was the serial of the 401st mark XII? 150 of the mark XII were transferred to the RAF and given serial numbers in the PJ range, again this means you cannot just count serials.

 

[GregP]

Hi Geoffrey Sinclair,

Apparently, there is some disagreement about Hawker Hurricane production. I have maybe 3 - 4 sources. Here are two.

Of the two, Wikipedia, by far, is the likely to be the one that is more wrong than anything else. I'm pretty happy with somewhere north of 14,000 built.

I just didn't want to leave out Canadian Car & Foundry (CCF). I'm from the U.S.A., but CCF made a lot of aircraft during the WWII and should be credited with their effort.

It's all good. Cheers.

 

[ThomasP]

I do not know if this helps, but the former CC&F Ft William Plant in Thunder Bay is now owned by Bombardier Transportation. A plaque at the entrance to the facility lists the total CC&F Hurricane production as 1451.

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

Alternative wikipedia,

Hawker Hurricane - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Hawker Hurricane variants - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Which wiki page did the 14,570 total come from?

To repeat. One of the reasons for doing a count of Hawker Hurricanes is the apparent vow that no two references would give the same total production number. It is clear a number of errors were introduced quite early into the public history of the Hurricane, with cascading references ever since.

Yet the response to an in depth article on Hurricane production numbers is to look at a couple of web sites and announce there are another 1 or 2, with no mention of their totals or where they obtained their data.

The 2 listed sites contradict each other - no attempt at reconciliation.

The information in the article about Merlin 24, 27 and 28 production - ignored.

The information from the 10 December 1941 letter from the (Canadian) Director General of Aircraft Production in the article - ignored.

Given the article uses a number of contemporary but unpublished documents a link was given to the US War Production Board report, as an independent verification of the article plus with the advice to check it when evaluating reports of Hurricane production in Canada - ignored.

No checks made of the data, no quality control, not even the most basic explanation of the contradictions in what was given.

Using the War Production Report would have quickly shown total production of over a thousand Hurricane X with Merlin 28 would mean instead of the RAF being acutely short of fighter aircraft in 1940/41 it could afford from September 1940 to late 1941 accumulate over 400 Hurricane airframes put into storage until Merlin 28 were made available from August 1941, taking until around April 1942 before there were enough Merlin 28 produced to give them all an engine.

The War Production Board report Canada section shows in great detail the considerable production Canada managed, but to bring the achievements to public attention, despite the URL given the report, it was ignored and incorrect Hurricane production was used. For what it is worth Canada produced 16,229 military aircraft 1940 to 1945 inclusive, however the US paid for 5,260 of these and as such counts what it paid for as US production, appearing in all the US production reports.

If you really really want to come in with a different Hurricane total then understand the RAF Contract Cards track deliveries against orders, one entry per serial, though some of the Hurricane ones are missing. The RAF Serial Registers have entries for every serial between K1000 and RZ499. The Ministry of Aircraft Production monthly bulletins March 1942 to December 1945, put out a couple of weeks after the month they are reporting on, plus the end of war summary, come to around 3,000 pages of data, including reports on US, Canadian and Australian Production. On top of that come the various British and Canadian Archives files reporting on aircraft production, imports and exports, which easily top 1,000 pages, plus selections from dozens of other archive files, plus AVIA 46/114 the official Hurricane biography. Then comes files from places like the Brooklands museum, including a summary of the Langley production book. And so on, plenty of consultations with various historians, professional and non professional. The Hurricane data spreadsheet size is 3.25Mb.

That is what backs up the original message. It would be best to use similarly referenced material on the topic.

 

[GregP]

Hi Geoffrey. There is zero point in keeping up with particular Wiki links because they change all the time and almost anyone can change them. The totals I show from Wiki came from Wiki at some point in time and the page may have been updated. I can't help that.

There is no need to repeat. The sources disagree and there will likely be no agreement until the primary sources can be checked. I am happy with 14,053 or 14,570. Since the 14,053 is from other than Wiki, it is likely a better number and includes CCF, which DID produce Hurricanes.

I have yet to discover a definitive source for absolutely correct Hurricane production. I have no need for reconciliation; I have numbers from both sources (and more) and either one or neither one could be correct. Without primary source data, I have no way of knowing, and I don't HAVE primary source data. If you find it, please share it.

Until then, the number seems to be 14,000 + Hurricanes.

It's sort of like asking exactly how many Bf 109s were built. The people who say they know have a list of planned werknumers, but there is no evidence that the entire planned list was built and, in any case, you have to clarify the production to be total, wartime, or post-war. Since the primary records were lost, there can be no reconciliation. It MAY be the same with the Hurricane unless primary source data can be found.

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

To repeat again. One of the reasons for doing a count of Hawker Hurricanes is the apparent vow that no two references would give the same total production number. It is clear a number of errors were introduced quite early into the public history of the Hurricane, with cascading references ever since.

The RAF contract Cards are the system the RAF used to track production of each aircraft by order, pre war it contained several dates as the aircraft transitioned through the production system, wartime it was just arrival. These were written at the time and are in fact where the published official pre war aircraft production figures come from.

The RAF Serial Registers track where each aircraft was in the RAF, pre war it includes units and dates, think of the individual aircraft history cards but in an abbreviated form, wartime it became arrival, date shipped overseas and loss. These again were written at the time, based in the usual movement reports.

The Ministry of Aircraft Production Statistical Bulletins were published around a fortnight after the month they cover, including aircraft and engine production for the month and cumulative totals of production, compiled independently of the RAF, based on the reporting system the ministry had. Then comes the end of war summary.

The US War Production Board report is the published results of the US production monitoring system, I have seen for example copies of the daily production reports, given the interconnection between Canada and the US it includes Canadian production.

AVIA 46/114 the official Hurricane biography was put together using RAF and Air Ministry documents as background for the Official Histories.

They are what I consider to be primary source material. I shared it and was given the "looked up things on the internet" reply, without at least the most basic courtesy of an effort to explain the contradictions in the internet sources quoted, that seemed to be classified as a someone else's problem. I hope you have at least taken a copy of the War Production Board Report and looked at the Hurricane and Merlin production entries, and if not, why not?

But since the above material has been declared NOT primary source material, along with other unpublished files in the US, UK and Canadian Archives, can you please provide a clear concise definition of what IS primary source material? Until then people are wandering around with the foliage stuck to their hats covering their faces and therefore believing they are lost in the jungle.

As for the Bf109 comparison, when were the Hawker factories over run by hostile forces and/or the British administrative and reporting system collapse in the 1934 to 1944 period? What other Allied WWII aircraft are also listed under the we can never know how many were built?

I was not happy with the many different totals reported for Hurricanes, so I went out and looked at the actual records, given my efforts are not good enough, whose will be and what will they need to do?

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

The Hurricane mark IIE, this is an update based on looking at the form 78 aircraft cards, it corrects an assumption made in the original report, that the IIE missing from the monthly production reports were built after September 1942, in fact they were built in or before March 1942. The IIE was NOT an early mark IV, it was a factory delivered fighter bomber version of the IIB and IIC, called IIBB and IIBC by the RAF.

A memo in AIR 20/4572 dated 30 August 1942 notes the mark IIE is the Hurribomber with sixty built to end June 1942, but a signal to the Middle East dated 31 October 1942 states the IIE is not an official designation, but had been used at times for IIB and IIC fighter bombers. There are one hundred and sixty eight mark IIE in the monthly production reports from March to October 1942, with mark IV production starting in December. In October 1943 the cumulative mark IIE total is adjusted from one hundred and sixty eight to two hundred and seventy.

The designation mark IIE does not appear in the RAF aircraft census, instead in February 1943 it reports two hundred and sixty eight mark IIBB (the second B is for bomber) had been ordered with two hundred and twenty nine delivered, plus others that had been converted. Then in June 1943 the census is amended to one hundred and sixty eight IIBB ordered and delivered, agreeing with the monthly production reports. In November 1943 the census adjusts the figures to two hundred and thirty IIBB and forty IICB ordered and delivered, agreeing with the production reports adjusted mark IIE total.

As can be seen from the above it took a while before an official IIE production total was settled.

Looking at the Form 78 Aircraft Cards there are one hundred and five Hurricanes listed as IIE between BE221 and BP320, with the first ninety eight having Taken On Charge dates of September to early December 1941, the final seven, all BP serials, in March and April 1942. This means the RAF reports IIE production finished at the time the Ministry of Aircraft Production reports it began. It also means the IIE production started four months before the mark IID, around the time the mark IID prototype was undergoing initial tests. The aircraft census as of June 1944 reports a nett (that is conversions to less conversions from) sixty six Hurricanes converted to IIBB. The Aircraft Cards have two hundred and ninety two Hawker IIE or IIBB and four Austin IIBB, all of these listed as IIBB in the Serial Registers. The comments on the Aircraft Cards give sixty eight conversions to IIBB. To agree with the official figures two of those marked conversions were actually built as.

The June 1944 census has forty Hurricanes built as and a nett three thousand one hundred and thirty two conversions to IICB. The Aircraft Cards have forty Hurricanes marked as being built as IICB, in four groups of 10 serials, 1) HW238 to 247, 2) HW551 to 560, 3) HW571, HW572, (blackout block), HW596 to 603, 4) HW614 to 623, Taken on Charge in September and October 1942, the official end of IIE production. This means the one hundred and sixty eight IIE in the monthly production reports are actually one hundred and twenty eight IIB and forty IIC, making the Hawker built totals two thousand and eleven IIB and four thousand seven hundred and fifty one IIC.

The ninety eight IIE from the aircraft cards to early December 1941, the seven in March and April 1942 and the one hundred and sixty eight March to October 1942 in the production reports total two hundred and seventy three, indicating three of the seven March and April 1942 IIE from the aircraft cards are counted in the production reports.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I remember when I first saw this photo caption and noticing the tailhook of the Sea Hurricanes, and thought it there was ever a time to grab one off the line to demo folding wings, now's the time.

This must be one of only three carrier capable fixed wing aircraft made by Canada. The others being the Curtiss SB2C1 Helldiver and the de Havilland Canada (Grumman) CP-121 Tracker. I don't believe the earlier Grumman FF Goblins were thus equipped.