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In the battle zone it was one to one. Priority for the Hurricanes was the bombers, but they mixed it with the Messers and could come out on top. At bomber interception height there was very little performance difference between a Messer and a Hurricane. The Hurricanes had 100 octane fuel and boost, the Messers didn't.
Resp:
The extra boost only worked at low altitudes. It made absolutely no difference over 16-17,000ft. The closer you got to 10-11,000ft the more difference it made and from there down to sea level the difference between 100 octane and 87 (or the difference between 6lbs and 12lbs ) was pretty much constant.
I think you're find that the Hurricane I could do 285 mph at sea level for 5 minutes, the Bf 109E the same for one minute but with the radiator closed. Up to about 15000 feet there was little to choose between them in speed which surprised the Germans. The Hurricane had a better roll rate and turning circle, the Bf 109E, a better dive speed, but the Bf 109E can't run away if its going to defend its bombers. So its game, set and match to the Hurricane. Otherwise, I'd agree.
You can run away from a fight you're not going to win or you can break off an engagement because you're at bingo fuel.
Typically, the term "run away" means flee or retreat - Monty Python's classic "run away" might be a good example.
Resp:
I think you'll find that one out of six Bf 109E's lost was due to running out of fuel. Our fighters were sent in to destroy the bombers and were ordered not to follow fleeing Messers as we couldn't afford to lose our fighters and definitely not our pilots.
The Spitfire was the fighter with the best long term development potentential and could dive with a Messer which the Hurricane could not. The Hurricane was hard pressed to catch the Ju 88, which with bombs dropped could reach 326 mph in level flight, likewise the Do 215 recce bomber. Anything else the Hurricane could handle. The Merlin XX gets the Hurricane II almost up to the top speed of the Spitfire II, 342 as opposed to 355 mph which I sure you'll agree is a marginal speed difference so neither plane would be at a speed disadvantage against the Bf 109E equipped with the DB 601N which did about 307 mph on the deck and 357 mph at altitude. Once the Bf 109F arrives in numbers then the Hurricane II has a problem, but few were available in the Winter of 1940/41 and those they had did have a habit of shedding their wings in dives and violent manoeuvres. Once the Spitfire Vb comes along in Summer 1941 then clearly the Hurricane II can be withdrawn from front line fighter duties. There's only so much that you can do to improve its performance. In 1942, 16 lbs boost was introduced for the Merlin XX, so in the Western Desert and up against the Macchi 202 Folgore it performance is comparable at 2000 to 3000 metres as an escort fighter.
Resp:
Really? That's a good statistic?
For running out of gas, yes!
Okay lets take this from another angle, from 1939 to 1945, Fighter command lost 3690 killed, 1215 wounded and 601 POW, 4790 were aircraft were lost. We know that RAF claims in the BoB were 1.7 kills per Spitfire and 1.1 per Hurricane. Overall claims were over twice the number of aircraft shot down than in reality. In the Air Offensive over France in 1941/42, Spitfire claims were three times reality. According to the 10500 overall claims for the RAF in the ETO of which a third were by Spitfires, then the Spitfires downed 3500 or about 700 p.a. from 1940 to 1945, which is a plausible figure for claims, they claimed 711 in 1941 in the France air offensive, 236 from all causes in reality, so an over claimed kill ratio of 3 to 1. So the Spitfire figure seems reasonable. I've got to log in for work, so I'll come back to this one later and edit this post.
