The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force (RAF).

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The 1930s design evolved through several versions and adaptations, resulting in a series of aircraft which acted as interceptor-fighters, fighter-bombers (also called "Hurribombers"), and ground support aircraft. Further versions known as the Sea Hurricane had modifications which enabled operation from ships. Some were converted as catapult-launched convoy escorts, known as "Hurricats".

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More than 14,583 Hurricanes were built by the end

of 1944 (including at least 800 converted to Sea Hurricanes and some 1,400 built in Canada by Canadian Car and Foundry). There are 12 still flying.

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At the time that the Hurricane was developed, RAF Fighter Command consisted of just 13 squadrons, each equipped with either the Hawker Fury, Hawker Demon, or the Bristol Bulldog, all biplanes with fixed-pitch wooden propellers and non-retractable undercarriages.

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Sydney Camm started work on a cantilever monoplane with a fixed undercarriage armed with four machine guns and powered by the Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine. Detail drawings were finished by January 1934, but failed to impress the Air Ministry enough for a prototype to be ordered. Camm's response was to further develop the design, introducing a retractable undercarriage and replacing the unsatisfactory Goshawk with a new Rolls-Royce design, the PV-12, later to become famous as the Merlin. In August 1934, a one-tenth scale model was made and sent to the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington. A series of wind tunnel tests confirmed the aerodynamic qualities of the design were in order, and in September Camm approached the Air Ministry again. This time, the response was favourable, and a prototype of the "Interceptor Monoplane" was ordered.

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RAF trials of the aircraft at Martlesham Heath began in February 1936. Sammy Wroath, later to be the founding Commandant of the Empire Test Pilot School, was the RAF test pilot for the Hurricane: his report was favorable, stating...

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"...The aircraft is simple and easy to fly and

has no apparent vices"

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...and going on to praise its control response. The type name "Hurricane" proposed by Hawker was approved by the Air Ministry on 26 June; an informal christening ceremony was carried out the next month when King Edward VIII paid a visit to Martlesham Heath.

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Though faster and more advanced than the RAF's current front line biplane fighters, the Hurricane's constructional design was already outdated when introduced. It used the traditional Hawker construction techniques.

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One of Camm's priorities was to provide the pilot with good all-round visibility. To this end, the cockpit was mounted reasonably high in the fuselage, creating a distinctive "hump-backed" silhouette. Pilot access to the cockpit was aided by a retractable "stirrup" mounted below the trailing edge of the port wing. This was linked to a spring-loaded hinged flap which covered a handhold on the fuselage, just behind the cockpit. When the flap was shut, the footstep retracted into the fuselage. In addition, both wing roots were coated with strips of non-slip material.

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An advantage of the steel-tube structure was that cannon shells could pass right through the wood and fabric covering without exploding. Even if one of the steel tubes were damaged, the repair work required was relatively simple and could be done by groundcrew at the airfield.

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Damage to a stressed skin structure, as used by the Spitfire, required more specialised equipment to repair. The old-fashioned structure also permitted the assembly of Hurricanes with relatively basic equipment under

field conditions.

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An advantage of the steel-tube structure was that cannon shells could pass right through the wood and fabric covering without exploding. Even if one of the steel tubes were damaged, the repair work required was relatively simple and could be done by groundcrew at the airfield.

Hawker Hurricane assembly in 1942

Repairs in the desert

1941. Hurricane's in Russia

Sea Hurricane on it's catapult

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