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Just thought I would check....
Lumsden has the 24 being built in 1944 and 1945.
Take-off: 1610hp @ +18psi boost.
MS Gear: 1630hp @ 2,500ft, +18psi boost.
FS Gear: 1510hp @ 9,250ft, +18psi boost.
You expecting your "cleaned up, thin wing" Hurricane will still be in production in 1944/45?
The Merlin 24 was in production in 1943, but I don't know the exact dates.
The Hurricane was in production until Aug 1944. There's no reason that an improved version wouldn't last even longer.
The Canadians also set up production of the Mosquito with speed/ease - simply means that the Canadians were efficient. 1,400 Hurricanes were buillt in Canada, starting late 1939, so at peak pace about 334 Hurricanes a year, so gosh wow. Interesting that the Hurricane was superseded at Canada car Foundry by the SB2C Helldiver...If Canadian Hurricane production had continued at it's peak pace, instead of being terminated in early 1943 then the number would have been very close. The speed and ease which Canada set up production of the Hurricane suggests that it was easy to build
...I haven't been able to find any reference to Camm predicting 466mph for the Tornado, ...
One place is the article The "More Violent Hurricane" in Air Enthusiast/August 1972 pp. 91 - 98, exact page 97. Because no writer is given it's a product of the editors Green Swanborough.
Juha
It's a bit strange that it only appears in obscure sources. I presume that it is referenced?
Obscure source??? Its an aviation magazine article, so no notes. But to say that Air Enthusiast/Air International is an obscure source is IMHO odd. Or Green and Swanborough.
Juha
Yes, a 41 year old magazine, with no supporting references is a pretty obscure source - I'd don't even know where I would begin to look for it. Without references, we can't verify the accuracy of the claim. It is odd that it is not mentioned by Mason or Darling
Old yes, but obscure no. The Warbirds series in old Air Enthusiast/Air International was very good, some articles were excellent. Of course G S made errors and also we have learned much new during the passing 40 years, especially on LW.
Juha
Just got a copy of The Typhoon Tempest Story (Thomas and Shores) - no mention of Camm expecting 466 mph for the Typhoon and it would be hard to find a better researched book on the Typhoon/Tornado/Tempest series. It may well be that Camm was expecting 466 mph for the Typhoon II aka Tempest I, in which case his expectations were met.
Just got a copy of The Typhoon Tempest Story (Thomas and Shores) - no mention of Camm expecting 466 mph for the Typhoon and it would be hard to find a better researched book on the Typhoon/Tornado/Tempest series. It may well be that Camm was expecting 466 mph for the Typhoon II aka Tempest I, in which case his expectations were met.
This "improved Hurricane" you keep talking about would have been a lame duck which might have been used in quieter theatres or sent to the Russians. It would have been of no use to 2 TAF from 1944 on.
The Canadians also set up production of the Mosquito with speed/ease - simply means that the Canadians were efficient. 1,400 Hurricanes were buillt in Canada, starting late 1939, so at peak pace about 334 Hurricanes a year, so gosh wow. Interesting that the Hurricane was superseded at Canada car Foundry by the SB2C Helldiver...
The intensity of the air battle, whether air-to-air or air-to-ground, and the burden carried by the Typhoon squadrons are starkly revealed in the statistics for the period 6 June to 1 September 1944.
Type Losses engaged %lost initial force % lost
Spitfire:804 1954 41 1166 68
Hurricane: 4 31 13 29 12.9
Mustang: 229 462 49.6 233 98
Mosquito:128 398 32.8 282 35.4
Typhoon: 491 1783 28 874 56.2
Bickers, Hawker Typhoon,p59-60
...Given the nearly complete air superiority enjoyed by the Allies over France after D-day, the Hurricane IV would have been quite useful if needed, as it could still carry a formidable weapons load.
Volume production couldn't begin until the Packard Merlins came online and that didn't happen till early 1942. Production was terminated in March 43 so the bulk of Cdn HH production occurred in a one year period:
Toronto Aviation History - Authors - Canadian Hurricanes
Small numbers of Hurricane IVs were used in Italy into 1944 and in France after D-Day:
Given the nearly complete air superiority enjoyed by the Allies over France after D-day, the Hurricane IV would have been quite useful if needed, as it could still carry a formidable weapons load.
And its noticable that neither the British nor the Canadians insisted on further production - the Canadians chose to replace the Hurricane with the SB2C Helldiver.
Small numbers is right because the Hurricane was not up to the job, particularly in 2 TAF territory; it was far too slow and far too vulnerable to flak and fighters, as the small number of operations flown by 2 TAF Hurricanes showed. Plus the Typhoon could carry a better weapons load and could still fight 190s and 109s once the weapons were dropped. Overall there was no good reason to bother with the Hurricane post D-Day.
Canada didn't choose to replace it with the SB2C, since that aircraft never flew operationally with the RCAF, rather the USN contracted with CCF to build the SB2C in the CCF factory. No one has ever claimed that the Hurricane should have stayed in production without major mods to it's wing design and by the time the CCF plant stopped building Hurricanes, there was a good flow of aircraft from both the USA and UK that surpassed it in performance, although to be fair it was still being used as a front line aircraft in 1943/44 in Europe and until 1945 in the SEATO.
Again, you simply state the obvious - as though anyways disagrees that the Typhoon was a far superior aircraft. However, the Hurricane IV could have been used if needed especially as the Luftwaffe was no longer a factor and the HH IV was very well armoured against flak.