British Air Power in World War II Album

Devastating Strike: Mosquito Mk. VIs from 143 Squadron, part of the famous Banff Strike Wing, delivering a blistering strike on a pair of large enemy ships off the Norwegian coast in early 1945. Artist: Robert Taylor.

 

Publicity shot purporting to show the captain of a Boeing Fortress Mark II of Coastal Command holding a final conference with his crew before taking off. Original color photograph. The photograph was taken at Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides in front of a Fortress Mark II, FL462 'W' of No. 220 Squadron RAF. The 'crew' were, in fact, an ad hoc group drawn from No. 206 Squadron RAF, and the 'captain' (third from right, wearing SD Cap) was Flying Officer L W Taylor RAAF, an Air Ministry public relations officer.

 

 

Martin Baltimore IIIa, FA342 ‘P’, No. 223 Sqn RAF, taking off from Luqa, Malta, August 1943.

 

Local Arabs and their Camelus Dromedarius’ pass by Bristol Beaufighter Mark VIF, X8166 'E', raised by its tail while undergoing gun maintenance and harmonization, on their way to wherever they were going, at Castel Benito, Libya.

 

Test pilot George Bulman in the cockpit of the prototype Hawker Hurricane, K5083, circa 1935.

Hawker Hurricane K5083.

K5083, the prototype Hawker Hurricane, photographed prior to its first flight.

Prototype Hawker Hurricane, K5083.

Hawker Hurricane prototype K5083.

Prototype Hawker Hurricane, K5083.

Hawker Hurricane K5083 with landing gear extended.

Hawker Hurricane Mk.I L1547.

Hawker Hurricane K5083.

 

No. 111 Squadron was responsible for the introduction of the Hurricane to the RAF with the first aircraft arriving at Northolt in December 1937, in advance of the official acceptance date of 1 January 1938. The CO, S/Ldr John Gillan, flew L1555 in record time from Edinburgh to Northolt on 10 February 1938.

A cutaway of a Hawker Hurricane.

 

Hurricane over Windsor, September 4, 2012.

 

A Royal Air Force Hawker Hurricane IIC of No. 42 Squadron RAF based at Kangla, Manipur,India, piloted by Flying Officer "Chowringhee" Campbell, diving to attack a bridge near a small Burmese settlement on the Tiddim Road. The bombs of the previous aircraft can be seen exploding on the target. May 1944.

 

Mock-up of fuselage of Hawker Hurricane prototype - showing installation of Merlin Engine and synchronized Vickers machine gun (later deleted). 1935.

 

K5083, the prototype Hawker Hurricane at Brooklands prior to its maiden flight. Construction of the first prototype, K5083, began in August 1935 incorporating the PV-12 Merlin engine. The completed sections of the aircraft were taken to Brooklands, where Hawker had an assembly shed, and re-assembled on 23 October 1935. Ground testing and taxi trials took place over the following two weeks, and on 6 November 1935, the prototype took to the air for the first time, at the hands of Hawker's chief test pilot, Flight Lieutenant P.W.S. Bulman.

 

A Royal Air Force Hawker Hurricane Mark IIC (s/n BE500, 'LK-A', "United Provinces Cawnpore") being flown by Squadron Leader Dennis Smallwood, the Commanding Officer of No. 87 Squadron RAF based at RAF Charmy Down, Somerset, early 1942. No. 87 Squadron was one of the first RAF night fighter squadrons. Sqn Ldr Smallwood led the squadron in 1941-42, when most intercepts were made entirely without on-board radar. The aircraft is painted in an overall black scheme known in the RAF as "Special Night". BE500 subsequently served with No. 533 Squadron RAF and finally in the Far East. Original wartime color photo.

 

Ground crew of No. 274 Squadron RAF overhaul Hawker Hurricane Mark I (V7780 "Alma Baker Malaya") at LG 10/Gerawala, Libya, during the defense of Tobruk. 1941.

 

A mechanic attaches the cable of a trolley-accumulator to a Hawker Hurricane Mark IIB of No. 81 Squadron RAF on the waterlogged airfield at Vaenga, as a section of three Hurricanes flies overhead.

 

No. 488 Squadron Hurricane BM899 with ground crew. Singapore. January 1942.

 

Hurricane V7476 sent to Australia in May 1941, arriving in August, was the only Hurricane based in Australia during the Second World War. The tropicalized Vokes air filter, which was fitted to many types operating in the Pacific, is visible under the nose.

 

Six Fleet Air Arm Hawker Sea Hurricanes operating from Yeovilton, flying in formation.  9 December 1941.

 

A Royal Air Force Hawker Hurricane Mk IIC (BD867 'QO-Y') of No 3 Squadron RAF based at Hunsdon, Hertfordshire (UK), in flight.

 

A Hawker Hurricane Mark IID (BP188, JV-Z), of B Flight, No. 6 Squadron RAF, based at Shandur, Egypt, in flight. Two 40mm Vickers anti-tank cannon are fitted under each wing. These anti-tank aircraft were nicknamed "Flying Can Openers".

 

A Royal Air Force Hawker Hurricane Mark IV fighter-bomber in flight, August 1945. This aircraft is fitted with a deeper radiator and armed with rocket projectiles. The Hurricane Mark IVs utilized the 1460 hp Rolls Royce Merlin 20, 22 or 27 engine.

 

A Hawker Sea Hurricane Mk IA on the catapult of a CAM [Catapult Armed Merchant] Ship at Greenock.

 

A group of pilots of No 303 Polish Fighter Squadron RAF walking toward the camera from a Hawker Hurricane after, purportedly, returning from a fighter sortie. Left to right, in the front row are; Pilot Officer Mirosław Ferić, Flight Lieutenant John A Kent (Commander of 'A' Flight), Flying Officer Bogdan Grzeszczak, Pilot Officer Jerzy Radomski, Pilot Officer Witold Łokuciewski, Pilot Officer Bogusław Mierzwa (obscured by Łokuciewski), Flying Officer Zdzisław Henneberg, Sergeant Jan Rogowski and Sergeant Eugeniusz Szaposznikow. In the center, to the rear of this group, wearing helmet and goggles is Flying Officer Jan Zumbach.

 

Ground crew refueling a Hawker Hurricane Mk I of No. 32 Squadron from a refueling truck whilst the pilot waits in the cockpit, Biggin Hill, August 1940.

 

Pilot Officer A.V. 'Taffy' Clowes of No. 1 Squadron RAF, climbing into his Hawker Hurricane Mark I (P3395 'JX-B'), in a revetment at RAF Wittering, Huntingdonshire (UK). Note Clowes' personal 'wasp ' emblem under the engine exhausts, in October 1940. P3395 was passed on to No. 55 Operational Training Unit on 8 November 1940. Transferred to No. 5 Flying Training School, it was written off after a wheels-up landing at Ternhill on 24 March 1942.

 

Mechanics servicing the engine of a Hawker Hurricane Mark I of No. 501 Squadron RAF at No. 1 Repair Centre, Reims-Champagne.

 

Hawker Hurricane Mk I of the 46th Squadron RAF during the Norwegian campaign, May 1940. This aircraft was abandoned in Norway.

 

Sergeant G "Sammy" Allard of No. 85 Squadron RAF being congratulated on his return to Lille-Seclin in France on the evening of 10 May 1940, after shooting down the second of two Heinkel He 111s claimed by him that day. Behind him, ground crew are busy refueling and rearming his Hawker Hurricane Mark I, N2319 'VY-P'.

 

Group Captain “George” Bulman flying the final Hawker Hurricane, PZ865, "The Last of the Many!", a Mk.IIc.

 

P.W.S. Bulman with PZ865, "The Last of the Many!", July 1944.

 

The final Hawker Hurricane, a Mk.IIc, PZ865, “The Last of the Many!”

 

Hurricanes under construction.

 

Women workers sewing the fuselage of a Hurricane.

 

A Hurricane Mk II on the factory airfield. Note the barrage balloons over the factory.

 

Workers assembling a Hurricane.

 

Hurricane (MW336) at its final stage of assembly.

 

Inside main Hawker's assembly shed.

 

 

Langley Field. Hawker’s factory played an important role in World War II.

LAST OF THE MANY: this Langley-built Hurricane fighter still flies today'

Hawker Hurricanes at Brooklands.

Royal Yugoslav Army Air Force (Zrakoplovstvo vojske Kraljevine Jugoslavije = VVKJ) Hawker Hurricane Mk I, 6th Squadron, April 1939.

Royal Yugoslav Army Air Force (Zrakoplovstvo vojske Kraljevine Jugoslavije = VVKJ) Hawker Hurricane Mk. I.

Royal Yugoslav Army Air Force (Zrakoplovstvo vojske Kraljevine Jugoslavije = VVKJ) Hawker Hurricane Mk. I.

Hurricane I of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force (Vazduhoplovstvo Vojske Kraljevine Jugoslavije, VVKJ). Note the distinctive VVKJ roundels, which ceased to exist in 1941.

A Hawker Hurricane Mk IV of No. 351 Squadron RAF at the Museum of Aviation in Belgrade 

Loading rockets onto Hurricane Mk IV (RP) serving with No 351 (Yugoslav) Squadron.

Hurricane Mk IV (RP) serving with No 351 (Yugoslav) Squadron.

Hurricane Mk IV (RP)s serving with No 351 (Yugoslav) Squadron.

Yugoslavian pilot Tugomir Prebeg stands by his Hawker Hurricane damaged during a ground attack mission in 1944.

A Hurricane Mk IV of No. 351 Squadron, 1945.

 Yugoslav ground crew wheel a trolley of 3-inch rocket projectiles past re-armed Hawker Hurricane Mark IVs of No. 351 (Yugoslav) Squadron RAF in their dispersals at Prkos, Yugoslavia. 1945.

Yugoslavian Hurricane Mk. IV.

Ground staff play with a ball next to a No 85 Squadron Hurricane at Lille-Seclin, November 1939. Note the fabric-covered outer wings characteristic of early-production aircraft. These were initially chosen to ensure a faster rate of production, but were soon substituted for stressed-skin metal wings. Visible also is the Watts fixed-pitch wooden propeller and the gas detection patch painted below the cockpit.

Trainee airframe fitters are taught repair procedures on Hawker Hurricane instructional airframe, 1359M, in a hangar at No. 2 School of Technical Training, Cosford, Shropshire. The Hurricane (formerly L1995) flew with No. 111 Squadron RAF before crashing during a forced landing in January 1939. More instructional airframes, including Bristol Blenheim Mark Is and a Fairey Battle, can be seen in the background.

Hawker employees Winnie Bennett, Dolly Bennett, Florence Simpson and a colleague at work on the production of Hurricane fighter aircraft at a factory in Britain, in 1942.