Replies

The original armament of the new Hawker monoplane consisted of two .303-caliber Vickers Mark V machine guns mounted in the fuselage, and two .303-caliber Browning machine guns in the wings. But when Dowding decided that eight guns would be needed to destroy an enemy bomber, Camm changed his design. Just as Mitchell had done with his Spitfire, Camm incorporated eight Browning machine guns in his new fighter, four in each wing. But while Mitchell spaced the guns across the wing's leading edge, Camm grouped four guns together on each wing; this made for a tighter and more destructive concentration of fire.

When the Hawker plane made its first test flight on November 6, 1935, it was still without a name-the Air Ministry did not approve "Hurricane," the name suggested by the manufacturer, until June 1936. The Hurricane's maiden flight impressed the Air Ministry, but there were still some who had their doubts about such an "unconventional" airplane-one that had eight machine guns and an enclosed cockpit. The first order of 600 Hurricanes was not placed by the Air Ministry until seven months after the initial test flight.

Enclosed cockpits, retractable landing gears and other features that would become standard for World War II-era airplanes were considered too unorthodox by many authorities, even as late as the mid-to-late 1930s. High-ranking officers who had flown during World War I were accustomed to open cockpits, fixed wheels, struts and supporting cables. Wood and fabric biplanes were familiar; monocoque monoplanes were new and strange to them. And the "old school" types had a good deal of influence in the pre-1939 RAF.

Some World War I pilots even insisted that the monoplane would always be outclassed by the biplane, because a biplane could always outmaneuver any monoplane. If those officers had had their way, the RAF would have faced the Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt Bf-109s with obsolete Gloster Gladiators in the spring and summer of 1940. It was that line of thinking that made Dowding's job of upgrading and modernizing the RAF more difficult.

The first RAF unit to be equipped with the Hawker Hurricane was No. 111 Squadron, which received its new fighters late in 1937. Production went into high gear during the following year, after the Air Ministry realized that the coming conflict was not far off. By the time war was declared, just under 500 Hurricanes had been delivered. Eighteen squadrons had been equipped.

Although it may appear from their close completion dates that the Hurricane and Spitfire were developed in parallel, the fact that they appeared on the scene at roughly the same time was purely coincidental. Work on the Spitfire design actually began several years before the Hurricane, but because it was a more complex and innovative airplane, it took longer to develop. Eventually, 14,000 Hurricanes would be built and 22,000 Spitfires (including Royal Navy Seafires).

During the Battle of Britain, between July and September 1940, 19 squadrons of Supermarine Spitfires (372 aircraft at peak on August 30) and 33 squadrons of Hawker Hurricanes (709 aircraft on August 30) faced the Luftwaffe from airports throughout southern England. Other fighters were also employed, such as the grossly underpowered Boulton Paul Defiant, which was no match for the Messerschmitt Bf-109 in spite of its four-gun power turret (neither was the twin-engine Bristol Blenheim). A squadron of Gloster Gladiator biplanes was actually assigned to defend the Royal Naval dockyards at Portsmouth. But the brunt of the fighting was taken on by the Spitfire and the Hurricane.

The Luftwaffe had tried to destroy the RAF, especially the RAF Fighter Command, during the Battle of Britain and had conspicuously failed. This failure was almost entirely due to the "unconventional" creations of Reginald J. Mitchell and Sidney Camm. Dowding's insistence upon equipping the RAF with these two fighters while he was still attached to Supply and Research paid large dividends in the skies over the south of England during the summer of 1940. But the question persists as to which was better, the Hurricane or the Spitfire. Pilots have been making comparisons between the two airplanes for more than 50 years. Wing Commander Robert Stanford-Tuck said the Spitfire was like "a fine Thoroughbred racehorse, while the dear old Hurricane was rather like a heavy workhorse."

"After many years of reflection," said a former Spitfire pilot during the 1980s, "I take the view that it took both of them to win the Battle of Britain, and neither would have achieved it on its own.

For attacking formations of bombers, the Hurricane offered better visibility and much greater steadiness for shooting. The Spitfire was a slightly higher performance airplane-faster, a better rate of climb, and much more responsive to the controls, according to StanfordTuck. In other words, each had its good points and bad points. Or, as another pilot said, "The Spitfire and the Hurricane complemented each other."

A former pilot of No. 65 (Spitfire) Squadron observed that the Hurricane inflicted greater damage on the enemy bombers than did the Spitfire; but without the Spitfire squadrons to fight the Messerschmitts, the Hurricane-inflicted casualties might not have been enough to win the battle.

By 1939, the Spitfire was significantly faster and had a higher rate of climb, according to Dennis Richards and Richard Hough in The Battle of Britain, and they noted, "In handling, there was little to choose between the two," The authors went on to point out that the Hurricane's twin batteries of four Brownings closely grouped together in the wings was preferred to the "widely scattered' guns in the Spitfire's wings. Squadron Leader Douglas Bader, who became an ace in spite of losing both legs in an air accident, added that the Hurricane "had more room in the cockpit and a better view, and the Spit's much trickier to land ... on that little, narrow undercarriage."

Peter Townsend, who flew both Spitfires and Hurricanes, said that Spitfires were "faster and more nimble, the Hurricane more maneuverable at its own speed and undoubtedly the better gun platform." One of Townsend's fellow Battle of Britain pilots defended the Spitfire: "Our Spits were so well balanced they would fly themselves. Many pilots owe their lives to this property .... If a pilot passed out through lack of oxygen, the Spitfire would fall away in a dive and correct itself" But another of Townsend's contemporaries spoke up for the Hurricane: " [It] was built with the strength of a battleship, had an engine of great power and reliability, and was throughout an excellent and accurate flying machine." Some of the Hurricane's detractors (or Spitfire's defenders) point to the Hawker fighter's wood-and-fabric construction as one of its failings. But author Len Deighton claimed that this "old-fashioned" construction was actually one of the airplane's advantages. He noted that the exploding cannon shells of the Messerschmitt Bf- 109, which inflicted heavy damage to metal skin, had less effect on any sort of girder work-in the same way that bomb blasts so often failed to topple the skeletal British radar towers. He pointed out that the RAF had very few men who understood the complexities of the Spitfire's stressed-metal construction, but that its airframe and flight mechanics had spent their lives servicing and rigging wood-and-fabric aircraft like the Hurricane. In consequence, many seriously damaged Hurricanes were repaired in squadron workshops while badly damaged Spitfires were being written off.

Deighton also noted that the Hurricane had a tighter turning radius than the Spitfire-800 feet for the Hurricane compared with 880 for the Spitfire. This meant that the Hurricane could turn inside the Spitfire, like a sports car outmaneuvering a sedan--a vital attribute in air combat.

Additional Sources:

www.circlecity.co.uk
www.artworkoriginals.com
www.eagle.ca
www.raf.mod.uk
aerostories.free.fr
www.vflintham.demon.co.uk
www.silverstatenews.com
www.aoqz76.dsl.pipex.com
www.museumofflying.com
1000aircraftphotos.com
www.brooksart.com

One This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on January 27:
1546 Joachim III Frederick elector (Brandenburg)
1556 Abbas I "the Great", shah of Persia (1587-1629)
1756 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Austria, musical prodigy/composer (Figaro)
1808 David F Strauss Germany, theologist (Jesus' Life)
1822 Thomas Leiper Kane Brevet Major General (Union volunteers),died in 1883
1826 Richard Taylor Lieutenant-General (Confederate Army), died in 1879
1828 Samuel Allen Rice Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1864
1830 William Henry Fitzhugh Payne Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1832 Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], author (Alice in Wonderland)
1834 Robert Sanford Foster Brevet Major General (Union volunteers)
1850 Samuel Gompers (labor union leader: 1st president of the American Federation of Labor [AFL])
1859 Kaiser Wilhelm II Potsdam, German emperor (1888-1918)
1885 Jerome Kern New York City NY, Broadway composer (Showboat, Roberta)
1900 Hyman G Rickover US Admiral (father of modern nuclear navy)
1901 Art Rooney NFL team owner (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1908 William Randolph Hearst Jr newspaper publisher (Hearst Publishing)
1918 Elmore James musician (Dust My Broom)
1919 David Seville [Ross Bagdasarian], Fresno CA, (Alvin & Chipmunks)
1921 Donna Reed Denison IA, actress (From Here to Eternity, Wonderful Life)
1930 Bobby "Blue" Bland Rosemark TN, blues singer
1934 Julian Ogilvie Thompson CEO (De Beers)
1936 Troy Donahue New York City NY, actor (Surfside Six, Cockfighter, Hawaiian Eye)
1940 Brian T O'Leary Boston MA, astronaut
1945 Mairead Corrigan-Maguire North Irish peace activist (Nobel 1976)
1964 Bridget Fonda Los Angeles CA, actress (Scandal, Single White Female)
1981 Jon "Kid Jonny" Lang Fargo ND, blues musician

Deaths which occurred on January 27:
0672 Vitalianus pope (657-72)/saint, dies
0847 Sergius II pope (844-47), dies
1164 Abraham ibn Ezra poet/philosopher, dies
1731 Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori Italian piano builder, dies at 75
1816 Samuel Hood 1st Viscount Hood/admiral, dies
1851 John James Audubon conservationist (Audubon Society), dies at 65
1901 Giuseppe Verdi Italian composer (Rigoletto/Traviata/Aïda), dies in Milano at 87
1954 Paul-Marie Masson composer, dies at 71

1967 Roger B Chaffee astronaut, dies at 31 in Apollo I fire
1967 Virgil I (Gus) Grissom astronaut, dies at 41 in Apollo I fire
1967 Edward Higgins White II Lieutenant-Colonel USAF/astronaut (Gemini 4), dies in Apollo I fire at 36

1972 Mahalia Jackson gospel singer (He Got the Whole World), dies at 60
1983 Paul "Bear" Bryant US football coach (Alabama), dies at 69
1986 L Ron Hubbard novelist/founder (Church of Scientology), dies at 74
1993 Andre "the Giant" Roussimoff WWF wrestler, dies of heart attack at 49
1994 Claude Akins actor (Rio Bravo, Lobo), dies of cancer at 75
1994 Eddie Calhoun jazz Bassist, dies at 72

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1968 CORDOVA ROBERT J.---BOYS TOWN NE.
1969 CONGER JOHN E.---LEBANON OH.
1973 HALL HARLEY H.---VANCOUVER WA.
[KIENTZLER TOLD HALL KILLED REMAINS RETURNED 6/95]
1973 KIENTZLER PHILLIP A.---POWAY CA
[03/27/73 RELEASED BY PRG]
1973 MORRIS GEORGE W. JR.---ALHAMBRA CA.
["GOOD CHUTE, POSS VOICE CONTACT"]
1973 PETERSON MARK A.---CANTON OH.
["GOOD CHUTE, POSS VOICE CONTACT"]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0672 St Vitalian ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0847 Sergius II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1302 Dante becomes a Florentine political exile
1593 Vatican opens 7 year trial against scholar Giordano Bruno
1662 1st American lime kiln begins operation (Providence RI)
1671 Pirate Henry Morgen lands at Panama City
1785 1st US state university chartered, Athens GA
1823 President Monroe appoints 1st US ambassadors to South America
1864 Battle of Fair Gardens, Tennessee
1870 1st sorority (Kappa Alpha Theta) (DePauw University in Greencastle IN)
1880 Thomas Edison patents electric incandescent lamp
1888 National Geographic Society organizes (Washington DC)
1891 Mine explosion kills 109 at Mount Pleasant PA
1894 1st college basketball game, University of Chicago beats Chicago YMCA 19-11
1900 Social Democrat Party of America (Eugene V. Debs party) holds 1st convention
1902 5 workers killed on explosion during IRT subway construction (New York City NY)
1915 US Marines occupy Haiti
1916 Communist party "Spartacus Letters" 1st published in Berlin
1918 "Tarzan of the Apes", 1st Tarzan film, premieres at Broadway Theater
1924 Lenin placed in Mausoleum in Red Square
1926 US Senate agrees to join World Court
1927 Harlem Globetrotters play their 1st game
1940 -17ºF (-27ºC), CCC Camp F-16, Georgia (state record)
1941 Peruvian agent Rivera-Schreibér warns of Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor
1942 -19ºF (-27.4ºC), Netherlands' coldest day since 1850
1943 1st US air attack on Germany (Wilhelmshafen)
1944 Leningrad liberated from Germany in 880 days with 600,000 killed

1945 Russia liberates Auschwitz & Birkenau Concentration Camp (Poland)

1948 1st tape recorder sold
1951 US begins 126 nuclear tests at Nevada Test Site
1961 "Sing Along with Mitch" [Miller] premieres on NBC TV
1963 Sam Rice, Eppa Rixey, Elmer Flick, & John Clarkson elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1964 "Introducing the Beatles" album released in US
1964 Margaret Chase Smith (Senator-R-ME) tries for Republican Presidential bid
1965 1st ground station-to-aircraft radio communication via satellite

1967 Apollo 1 fire kills astronauts Grissom, White & Chaffee

1967 Treaty banning military use of nuclear weapons in space, signed
1969 14 spies hung in Baghdad
1969 9 Jews publicly executed in Damascus Syria
1973 US & Vietnam sign cease-fire, ending longest US war
1976 Morocco-Algeria battles in Westerly Sahara
1985 15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 returns to Earth
1988 Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves nomination of Judge Anthony M Kennedy to US Supreme Court

1990 Dissolution of Polish communist party (what days we live in)

1991 Nadine Strossen is 1st female president of the ACLU
1992 Mike Tyson goes on trial for rape (he is found guilty)
1992 Presidential candidate Bill Clinton (D) & Genifer Flowers accuse each other of lying over her assertion they had a 12-year affair
1996 Germany celebrates its 1st Holocaust Remembrance Day
1998 Shaken by scandal, Pres. Clinton made his State of the Union address and proposed bolstering Social Security with the current surplus, improving schools by reducing class size and building more, raising the minimum wage, and making child care more available for low-income families before cutting taxes or increasing spending. He also issued a warning to Sadam Hussein of Iraq and asked Congress to support NATO expansion.....an end to traffic jams, hard butter, and phone calls while you're in the shower.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Mauritius : Cavadee
Vietnam : Vietnam Peace Day (1973)
Scotland : Up Helly Aa'
US : "Weird Al" Yankovic Day
National Retail Bakers Month

Religious Observances
Buddhist-Laos : Buddhist Holiday
Christian : Devote of Monte Carlo
Lutheran : Commemoration of Lydia, Dorcas & Phoebe
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Julian
Anglican, Old Roman Catholic : Commemoration of John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Angela Merici, virgin (opt)
Moslem : A Night of Remembrance (Sha'ban 14, 1414 AH)

Religious History
1343 Clement VI's bull "Unigenitus" officially ratified the belief that Indulgences owed their potency to the Pope's dispensation of the accumulated merit of the Church. (In 1518 Cardinal Thomas Cajetan accused German reformer Martin Luther, 32, of challenging the validity of this Catholic doctrine.)
1774 Pioneer American Methodist bishop Francis Asbury wrote in his journal: 'If my labours should be in vain for the people, the Lord gives me a gracious reward in my own soul.'
1839 Birth of John Julian, famed English authority on sacred music. His undoubted masterwork is the monumental "Dictionary of Hymnology" which he published in 1892 (later revised, updated and reissued in 1957).
1842 Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'Call upon the name of the Lord. Your time may be short... The longest lifetime is short enough. It is all that is given you to be converted in. They are the happiest who are brought soonest to the bosom of Jesus."
1972 In Columbia, the white and black United Methodist conferences of South Carolina -- separated since the Civil War -- voted in their respective meetings to adopt a plan of union.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality."