Hawker Hurricane prototype K5083

[herman1rg]

With a fair amount of free time on my hands currently I have been re-reading many of my Aviation books and I have come across something of a puzzle, namely what happened to the Hawker Hurricane prototype K5083?

There is nothing in my books and the only thing I have been able find online states "* The initial prototype Hurricane had been phased out of testing in early 1937, but got to star in a movie, TEST PILOT with Clark Gable, the aircraft actually being flown by Sammy Wroath. It then went into storage and eventually disappeared without any trace, though there are tales that it may have been pressed into service for a little wartime air-defense duty, and even shot down a German bomber. " (The Hawker Hurricane)

Has anyone else got further information?

 

[fubar57]

Caption from an airborne photo of K5083,".....In the interim, K5083 went on to serve with various test establishments, as well as the manufacturer, receiving its eight Browning machine guns in August 1936. Withdrawn from flying duties on 14th January 1939, K5083 was allocated the maintenance serial 1211M four months later - despite which it apparently remained airworthy for some time and was still extant in 1942."

 

[macharvard]

With a fair amount of free time on my hands currently I have been re-reading many of my Aviation books and I have come across something of a puzzle, namely what happened to the Hawker Hurricane prototype K5083?

There is nothing in my books and the only thing I have been able find online states "* The initial prototype Hurricane had been phased out of testing in early 1937, but got to star in a movie, TEST PILOT with Clark Gable, the aircraft actually being flown by Sammy Wroath. It then went into storage and eventually disappeared without any trace, though there are tales that it may have been pressed into service for a little wartime air-defense duty, and even shot down a German bomber. " (The Hawker Hurricane)

Has anyone else got further information?

I'm curious about the mention of the Hurricane prototype appearing in Test Pilot. I'm ALMOST old enough to have seen the movie in first run, but the 'Drake Bullet', which was the star (at least aircraft wise) of the movie, was a Seversky, possibly a P-35, but also possibly one of the myriad other variants.