World War II in View: Hawker Hurricane Album #1

 

Hawker Hurricane Mk I Trop V7476 painted with Temperate Land Scheme, Photo was taken on 29 August 1941 over Laverton/Melbourne. Pilot: Group Captain Allan Leslie “Wally” Walters.

Testing radio of a Hawker Hurricane.

Hawker Hurricane Mk. I serial number P3757 codes YO-G of No. 401 Squadron RCAF in a rather unglamorous pose. The pilot was an American citizen, Flying Officer E. de P. Brown of Coronado, California. He later transferred to the USAAF.

Hawker Hurricane YO-J of No. 401 Squadron RCAF.

Pilots of No. 33 Squadron, at Larissa, Greece, with a Hawker Hurricane Mark I serial V7419 in the background, circa 1941. Squadron code letters were NW; the aircraft code letter is not visible. (Imperial War Museum photo ME(RAF) 1200)
Standing (left to right);
Pilot Officers W Winsland
R Dunscombe (p.o.w 22 May 41)
C A C Chetham (k.i.a. 15 April 41)
P R W Wickham
Flying Officers D T Moir
H J Starrett (died of burns 22 April 41)
Sitting (left to right)
Flying Officer E J "Timber" Woods (k.i.a. 17 June 41)
Flying Officer F Holman (k.i.a. 20 May 41)
Flight Lieutenant A M Young
Flying Officer V C "Woody" Woodward
Squadron Leader M St J "Pat" Pattle (Squadron Commanding Officer, k.i.a. 20 May 41)
Flying Officer E H "Dixie" Dean
Flight Lieutenants J M "Pop" Littler
G Rumsey (Squadron Adjutant)
Pilot Officer A R Butcher (p.o.w. 22 May 41)

A Hawker Hurricane tank buster fighter aircraft flying above a shot up self-propelled anti-tank gun in Tunisia. May 1943.

At a Royal Air Force air station (Northolt) west of London, pilots rush out to their Hawker Hurricanes of No. 504 (City of Nottingham) Squadron during a practice for the great exercises which began on August 8, 1939. Nice scene, staged for the press. Lots of light colored pre-war flight suits, which you'd expect. Eleven of the squadron's pre-war pilots had been killed in action by mid-September 1940, so there's a good chance that roughly half the pilots in that photograph would be dead in a year or so. Biplane just visible at left is possibly a Gauntlet

A newly delivered Hawker Hurricane Mk I being armed at an RAF airfield in the UK, probably North Weald, April 1940. A Blenheim Mk IF of No. 25 Squadron can be seen in the background.

Aircraft of Fighter Command displayed at Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, during a visit by Scottish newspaper correspondents. In the foreground is a Hawker Hurricane Mark I of No. 315 Polish Fighter Squadron RAF based at Speke, Liverpool; in the background a Bristol Blenheim Mark IF of No. 23 Squadron RAF based at Ford, Sussex, while, overhead, three Supermarine Spitfires, flown by the flying instructors of No. 58 Operational Training Unit based at Grangemouth, prepare to give a flying demonstration.

An air convoy of Hawker Hurricane Mark IIs led by a Bristol Blenheim Mark IV 'mother' aircraft, in flight along the West African Air Reinforcement Route to Egypt. Note the long-range fuel tanks fitted to the Hurricanes. Aircraft reinforcements for the North African theatre were shipped to Takoradi, in Gold Coast Colony, assembled there, then flown in stages along the coast line of the Gold coast and French Dahomey, across Nigeria, French Equatorial Africa and Sudan to Khartoum, before following the course of the River Nile to Cairo. (Imperial War Museum ME(RAF) 3540)

Hawker Hurricanes being assembled for dispatch to the North African and Mediterranean theatres, at Takoradi, Gold Coast. In the foreground Hawker Hurricane fuselages are pulled by civilian laborers from their packing crates for assembly, after being shipped from the United Kingdom. Behind them are parked aircraft in various stages of assembly. In the background, a line of completed Hurricanes, with white recognition panels painted on the tops of their fuselages, wait by the main runway before being ferried to Egypt, headed by two similarly painted Bristol Blenheim Mark IV 'mother' aircraft which will guide them along the West African Air Reinforcement Route. (Imperial War Museum CM 3022)

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. (Imperial War Museum C 851)

A Republic P-47D Thunderbolt of the 80th Fighter Group, 10th USAAF, taxies past Hawker Hurricane Mark IIC, s/n LB395 'L' of No. 34 Squadron RAF, at Palel, Burma.

Commer Q2 vehicle tenders of No. 53 Repair and Salvage Unit, transport salvaged Hawker Hurricane fuselages through the Western Desert for repair at the Hurricane Repair Section, Helwan, Egypt.

Personnel of No. 53 Repair and Salvage Unit brew tea and stretch their legs in the Western Desert while transporting salvaged Hawker Hurricane fuselages to Helwan, Egypt. A Commer Q2 with trailer is in the background.

Five Royal Navy Hawker Sea Hurricanes and a single Supermarine Seafire lined up in the hangar of HMS Argus (I49), with several mechanics working on them.

Although the Royal Australian Air Force used Hawker Hurricane fighters during the Second World War, only one aircraft of this type was delivered to Australia. It was Hawker Hurricane Mk.I Trop/V7476 and was shipped there in 1941, when this version was found obsolete and Hawker Hurricane Mk.II with Rolls Royce XX engine was replacing its older brother.

The beginning of V7476 history in Australia started at the beginning of 1941 when the Prime Minister of Australia,  Robert Menzies, during his visit in London expressed his fears about defense abilities of his homeland. Great Britain treated Australia as a source of recruits and training center for units later sent to fight the Third Reich. Unlike Winston Churchill, Menzies saw the threat posed by more and more aggressive Japan. That is why he wanted Great Britain to equip RAAF fighter squadrons in Australia with modern fighters. He even suggested sending modern fighters to RAF squadrons in the Far East. But Churchill did not want to listen to this and claimed that Australia could only be the training center for RAAF squadrons in Africa and Europe. He also told them to abandon the idea of forming fighter squadrons as they did not have commanders and pilots trained well enough to serve in such units.

Finally the government in London decided to send one aircraft to Australia. It arrived on 23 August 1941 and was sent to Central Flying School in Camden near Sydney. The Royal Australian Air Force Command wanted to show its pilots, who had never seen and flown modern fighter planes. It may sound strange but at that time the air defense of Australia was based on Bristol Bulldogs and CAC Wirraways (a training aircraft converted into a “fighter”).

Flying Officer P N McGregor in the cockpit of his Hawker Hurricane in Tunisia. McGregor was one of the New Zealand pilots supporting the NZ Division fighting in the Tabaga Gap. May 1943.

A low-flying RAF Hawker Hurricane escorts rolling trucks of a New Zealand unit on the move in Egypt on August 3, 1942.

Hawker Hurricane Tac. R Mark I, Z4641, of No. 451 Squadron RAAF, in flight during a reconnaissance sortie over Libya, with another aircraft of the Squadron acting as a 'sweeper' in the background. The pilot is Flight Lieutenant G F Morley-Mower.

Sergeant R G Goldberg of No. 451 Squadron RAAF delivers his report to an Army Liaison Officer at a landing ground in the Western Desert, after completing a tactical reconnaissance sortie. Behind them, Goldberg's Hawker Hurricane Tac. R Mark I, Z4771, is being serviced by the Squadron's ground crew.

Hawker Hurricane (V6844) piloted by American Col. Loren Hillsinger, Eagle Sqn, Hendon, England. 

Hawker Hurricanes of No 1 Squadron, Royal Air Force, based at Wittering, Cambridgeshire, followed by a similar formation of Supermarine Spitfires of No 266 Squadron, during a flying display for aircraft factory workers, October 1940. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 1561)

Czechoslovak pilots of No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF and their British flight commanders grouped in front of Hawker Hurricane Mark I, P3143 'NN-D', at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, 1940. They are (standing, left to right); Pilot Officer S Janduch, Sergeant J Vopalecuy, Sergeant R Puda, Sergeant K Seda, Sergeant B Furst and Sergeant R Zima: (sitting, left to right); Pilot Officer W Goth, Flight Lieutenant J Maly, Flight Lieutenant G L Sinclair, Flying Officer J E Boulton, Flight Lieutenant J Jeffries (who commanded the Squadron in January-June 1941, having changed his name by deed poll to Latimer), Pilot Officer S Zimprich, Sergeant J Kaucky, Flight Lieutenant F Rypl, Pilot Officer E Fechtner and Pilot Officer V Bergman. (Imperial War Museum photo CH 1299)

Another view of the same salvage convoy carrying Hawker Hurricanes, nearing Cairo, Egypt.

Fordson tractor with bomb trailers bombing up a Hawker Hurricane.

RAF bowser refueling a Hurricane Mk I of 331 Squadron, RAF Catterick.

French Hurricane I Trop. Weathering and partial repainting of aircraft surface is clearly visible. Groupe de Chasse 1 “Alsace”.

"Back Them Up!" wartime poster with a painting of "Hurricanes" of the Royal Air Force co-operating with the Russian Air Force.

Original wartime caption: The American Eagle Squadron is now an operational squadron. A pilot officer of the Eagles climbing into his Hurricane for a practice flight. Imperial War Museum photo CH 2411.

Sea Hurricane and Martlet fighters with Swordfish torpedo bombers on the deck of a British aircraft carrier escorting a Malta convoy.

Hurricane Mk I Trop V7476 at the end of her service, 1945/46. Note serial number without a bar (as it was when she wore camouflage). In the background is a P-40N, in similar late war livery. There is one more interesting thing in this history. Unlike other aircraft sent to Australia during the war, V7476 never received Australian serial number. It kept its original serial number.

Hurricane Mk I trop V7476 RAAF: In September 1944 it came back to 1 Aircraft Depot where it stayed until the end of the year and probably was serviced and repainted according to new instruction from May 1944 which required all fighter planes wear no camouflage. Fabric parts were painted silver and paint from metal parts was removed, although according to the instruction appendix it should be painted Foliage Green.

In Camden V7476 stayed until the middle of 1942 when it was transferred to 2 Communication Flight and in July 1942 to 1 Aircraft Depot in Laverton. There it underwent some modification to test the pneumatic anti-G suit designed by Prof. Frank Cotton. After a few months of testing it was allotted to 1 Communication Flight in Laverton where it stayed until the end of December 1944. In January 1945 V7476 was sent back, for a short time, to Central Flying School, that time in Point Cook , Victoria. This time it was as a curiosity (at that time the RAAF used more modern Spitfires, Mustangs and P-40s). In 1946 V7476 was scrapped.

Illustration: In the second half of 1942 Hurricane V7476 was repainted and the new scheme was, most probably, Foliage Green and Earth Brown on upper surfaces and Sky Blue. For many years it has been shown and described as painted Foliage Green but the RAAF General Aircraft Instruction No. C11 from July 1942 required all operational aircraft being painted Foliage Green and Earth Brown. As at that time V7476 was in 1 Aircraft Depot implementing this instruction is logical. Although existing photos are not very clean they reveal demarcation lines between the two camouflage colors. What is interesting, during repainting the original camouflage B Pattern was changed to A Pattern. The Hurricane also received Australian national markings. As camouflage color faded quickly under the Australian sun  Sky Blue turned to almost white, also contrast of Foliage Green and Earth Brown faded (Brown faded less). According to available information there were no roundels on the lower wings.