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That is exactly what I was meaning!My understanding has always been that those squadrons engaged in the BoB that operated Hurricanes and were offered Spitfires, quite understandably didn't want to change fighters during the battle.
CTC,
I would love to have 25 minutes to watch but alas I do not. Do you have a reference time we should look at?
Cheers,
Biff
The Spitfire was a manufacturing pita. The elliptical wing couldn't be mass produced so much as near hand made. Straight wings, whether a Hershey bar or with any taper, are far easier and cheaper to produce than a Spit wing.The Spitfire was a far better machine. So why expend scare resources in building the Hurricane? Especially in 1940?
It quite obviously was mass produced, it required more effort and man hours but the effort was worth it.The Spitfire was a manufacturing pita. The elliptical wing couldn't be mass produced so much as near hand made. Straight wings, whether a Hershey bar or with any taper, are far easier and cheaper to produce than a Spit wing.
Yes, I was a bit off, it was mass produced, but was very man-hours intensive. The Hurricane was much easier, and cheaper.It quite obviously was mass produced, it required more effort and man hours but the effort was worth it.
The Hurricane as it went into production could be made like "sholling peas" as my gran would say. The wings were hardly different from WW1 biplanes which Hawkers (Sopwith) were expert at. Hawkers were actually producing Hurricanes faster than the RAF could receive them which is how, in a time of national emergency they were exported. The two planes were entirely complementary, with the Hurricane providing the Early numbers and reasonable performance until the Spitfire could be made in numbers with its better performance.Yes, I was a bit off, it was mass produced, but was very man-hours intensive. The Hurricane was much easier, and cheaper.
The wing was hardly different because the Hurricane itself was hardly different. I think it was a development of the Fury, which was a biplane.The Hurricane as it went into production could be made like "sholling peas" as my gran would say. The wings were hardly different from WW1 biplanes which Hawkers (Sopwith) were expert at. Hawkers were actually producing Hurricanes faster than the RAF could receive them which is how, in a time of national emergency they were exported. The two planes were entirely complementary, with the Hurricane providing the Early numbers and reasonable performance until the Spitfire could be made in numbers with its better performance.
The Hurricanes wing was largely fabric covered until 1939-40 the metal skinning increased dive speed by 80MPH from Wiki Initially, the structure of the Hurricane's cantilever wing consisted of two steel spars, which possessed considerable strength and stiffness.[37] The wing was described by aviation publication Flight as being relatively straightforward to manufacture, employing simple vertical jigs to attach the two spars, after which the wing ribs would be installed using horizontal bolts, forming separate units between the front and rear spars. Hydraulically-actuated split trailing edge flaps were present on the inner end of the wings.[38] The original wing was predominantly fabric-covered, like the fuselage, while some use of lightweight metal sheets was made upon the exterior surface of the inner wing and its leading edge. The majority of the Flight control surfaces, such as the Frise-type ailerons, also had fabric coverings.[38]Oh come on fellas...we're stretching things WAYYYY too far now. A cantilever wing with double, rolled-steel spars and plumbed for electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic services (to support flaps, retractable undercarriage, brakes and double the number of guns per wing than many WW1 fighters could even carry) is to be equated with a wire-braced, wood-and-fabric wing with nothing more than aileron runs inside?
Yes, the Hurricane was of more familiar construction to many workers than the Spitfire, and its design made it easy for relatively unskilled workers to punch out thousands of bits that could be fastened together to make up the structure...but let's not over-state how "out of date" the Hurricane's construction was.
The Hurricanes wing was largely fabric covered until 1939-40 the metal skinning increased dive speed by 80MPH from Wiki Initially, the structure of the Hurricane's cantilever wing consisted of two steel spars, which possessed considerable strength and stiffness.[37] The wing was described by aviation publication Flight as being relatively straightforward to manufacture, employing simple vertical jigs to attach the two spars, after which the wing ribs would be installed using horizontal bolts, forming separate units between the front and rear spars. Hydraulically-actuated split trailing edge flaps were present on the inner end of the wings.[38] The original wing was predominantly fabric-covered, like the fuselage, while some use of lightweight metal sheets was made upon the exterior surface of the inner wing and its leading edge. The majority of the Flight control surfaces, such as the Frise-type ailerons, also had fabric coverings.[38]
Well that is a topic of discussion, the materials were different inside the wing but the assembly of the wing and then applying fabric covering was in principle the same and Hawkers had factories and men who had been doing it, through all the post war bi panes too. Hawkers only introduced the metal skinned wing in April 1939 and some fabric winged aircraft were in service in the BoB. The Hawker Hurricane had completely different wings between the awarding of the contract and the outbreak of war yet all these are referred to as Hurricane Mk Is.Yep...everything you stated there is factually correct. i just disagreed with your assertion that Hurricane wing was "hardly different from WW1 biplanes". Just 'cos something is fabric covered does not mean that the underlying structure is in any way comparable. Yes, covering major portions of an airframe in fabric was definitely on its way out when the Hurricane was built but comparing the structure to that of a WW1 biplane is (IMHO) several steps too far in terms of hyperbole.
The Spitfire was a manufacturing pita. The elliptical wing couldn't be mass produced so much as near hand made. Straight wings, whether a Hershey bar or with any taper, are far easier and cheaper to produce than a Spit wing.
Interestingly, outside of a few prototypes they never put the Hercules into a single engine fighter. I've often though the Bristol Type 146 would have made a good fighter for the FAA. Was it as small as it looked?The Brits did build radial engine prototype fighters pre-WW2, the Vickers Venom, the Gloster F.5/34 and the Bristol Type 146, supposedly for colonial use,