|
General Specifications
Wingspan: 12.192 m (40 ft.) Length: 9.75 m (32 ft.) Height: 3.99 m (13 ft. 1 in.) Weight: 2,567 kg. (5,658 lb.) Engine: Rolls-Royce Merlin XX V-12 liquid-cooled Horsepower: 1,280 hp. Guns: Four 20 mm Hispano cannons _________________________________________________________
Originally conceived as a Fury monoplane with a Goshawk engine, the Hawker Hurricane was redesigned in 1933 to accommodate a more powerful Merlin PV-12 engine, retractable landing gear, and an unprecedented eight machine guns. The airframe was predominantly covered with fabric, but the design featured some real innovations, too: fully retractable landing gear and a sliding cockpit canopy. Six hundreds units were ordered in 1936, and the Hurricane became the RAF's first enclosed cockpit monoplane. By the start of the war, 500 had been delivered to 18 squadrons, and Hurricanes would go on to account for nearly half the enemy aircraft downed in the first year of the war. Until the latter part of 1941, the Hurricane was the most numerous of the RAF's combat aircraft. The Hurricane was Britain's front line of defense during the Battle of Britain, and led the charge against Luftwaffe aircraft in the battles over France.
The Hurricane IIC featured metal skin over the fuselage, and carried four 20mm Hispano cannons in place of the eight machine guns found on earlier Hurricanes.
|
