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Talk of 1942 is pointless; Wilfrid Freeman killed the Whirlwind in May, 1940. By July, 1941, Westland were producing the Spitfire I; by December 1941 it was the Spitfire V.
Mocking the Hurricane, in hindsight, is very easy, but a single Merlin XX, in the IIc, carried exactly the same firepower as two would have done on the Whirlwind,
and Hawker, Gloster, and the Canadian Car Foundry could produce more than one per week; Luftwaffe pilots might have been contemptuous of the Hurricane, but I doubt that the Wehrmacht, Italian, and Japanese armies enjoyed being on the receiving end of four cannon and a battery of rockets, to say nothing of the 40mm cannon on the IId.
Edgar
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Hurricane production finished, in the U.K., in 1942, but the "anachronism" was still supporting the British Fourteenth Army, in Burma "cab-rank" sorties, in 1945.
Yes, sorry about that; my fat finger hit the wrong button.Wasn't the production of the Hurricane IV started in spring 1943?
The Hurricane had to remain in production, due to the prolonged delays with the Tornado Typhoon.Heavy firepower was, what, the only bright spot of the Hurri IIC. The plane (all -IIs) were decimated both by Germans Japanese up until 1943, complete with pilots - the greatest asset of any airforce.
I don't see any reason that a Merlin-engined (2 engines per plane) couldn't mount anything Hurri managed, being one day a fighter plane, other a tank buster, then bomber etc. And have performance range to spare.
Hundreds, maybe, and better something with which to fight rather than 6 factories lying idle. The Maltese were delighted to see Gladiators, then Hurricanes, doing their best to defend them. The Typhoon had already started production, in fact the first Squadron was formed in September 1941, but had been found to be unsuitable for overseas use.That sounds for me that pilots were flying an under-performer just in order to have Hawker build something, in thousands that is.
Power egg, or not, liquid-cooled engines still need radiators.By choosing 'power egg' engine configuration, the inner wing is free for a fuel tank - doubling the 134 imp gals of Whirly I.
Power egg, or not, liquid-cooled engines still need radiators.
Heavy firepower was, what, the only bright spot of the Hurri IIC. The plane (all -IIs) were decimated both by Germans Japanese up until 1943, complete with pilots - the greatest asset of any airforce.
Not exactly true, though I do agree the hurricane was retained in production after it had passed obsolescence. In the med, the hurri was able to deal with most oppsition quite effectively. It generally enjoyed the upper hand over RA fighters until the second half of 1942. it was reckoned, on balance to be "about equal" to the primary italian fighter the Mc 202, because of that superior firepower. In the med, the primary frontline fighter for the LW was the me 109e, until April 1942, when it was supplanted by (f) and (g) sub types, finally. Against the "e" the Hurricane was adequate, if a little outclassed. Again, this is reflected in the loss figures for both sides, so I dont know where this notion that the hurricane was "decimated" in the med comes from. It wasnt. It actually dished out more than it received.
Like the Ju87, it was easy meat for any dedicated fighter.
If Hurricane production had been abandoned in 1941, after the boB, Britain would have been without a dedicated ground attack aircraft in any numbers for more than two years. Typhoons were still under development, and Spitfires were not as good at GA as the Hurri, plus inevitably a changeover from Hurricane to Spitfire would have cost money and lost production. Given that it would have been a retrograde step anyway, such a switch would have been a waste and a loss of capability for the RAF.
Hundreds, maybe, and better something with which to fight rather than 6 factories lying idle. The Maltese were delighted to see Gladiators, then Hurricanes, doing their best to defend them.
The Typhoon had already started production, in fact the first Squadron was formed in September 1941, but had been found to be unsuitable for overseas use.
The Hurricanes made in 1943 were not defending Malta.
Gradually switching production of 3 from those 6 factories to produce Spits makes more sense IMO, than all of the 6 further producing Hurricanes. That's from late 1941, perhaps?
Power egg, or not, liquid-cooled engines still need radiators.
Indeed, but here those are out of wing, where we claim space now and mount the fuel tanks.
Whirlwind's wing was too short front to back (cord) to get the radiators in back of the Cg by much. Not without loosing flap area and the Whirlwinds landing speed was high enough already.
By saying 'radiators as in Spit', I was referring to a general position; more precisely, I'd have them just under previous location.
Just a note OT. the alone 109 Emil units in medit were AFAIK 7/26 (ritired in 9/41), I/27 (converted to F in 12/41). the hurricane not get good result versus 109 Emil and neither versus the M.C. 202. The top of the CW fighter unit in the desert get the Curtiss fighter.