Hurricane OO-HUR
Year built
1943
Aircraft
Hurricane Mk.IV
Base
Tocna Airport
Hurricane Mk.IV OO-HUR was build in 1943 and issued to RAF No 6 Squadron in which service it saw combat in Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia. After the war, it saw service in Nicosia and Palestine, until it was abandoned in 1947 in what we now call Israel.
In 1983 it was recovered from Jaffa scrapyard by Doug Arnold and returned to the UK. In 1991 it received the registration G-HURY but it would take until 2001 (after it was acquired by Stephen Greys' The Fighter Collection) before restoration would start by Hawker Restorations, followed by a successful first post-restoration flight in 2003.
In early 2006 it was sold to Vintage Wings in Canada and transported by ship to Montreal. On June 9th, 2006 it received a Canadian Certificate of Airworthiness as CF-TPM. During its stay in Canada, it changed hands a few times until it was offered for sale in 2018.
On August 13th, 2018 it was registered on the Belgian Civil Register with the appropriate registration OO-HUR. After reassembly by the Fast Aero team at Brasschaat, it made its first flight under Belgian skies on November 4th, 2018 and is now based at Deurne Airport.
On May 20th, 2021 made its first flight in a new livery from Brasschaat, Belgium and was flown to the new owner Aviation Museum in Tocna near Prague in the Czech Republic.
On Sunday the 14th of August 2022 the aircraft crashed during its display at the Aviation Days in Cheb a town in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. Sadly it was confirmed that the pilot was tragically killed in the accident.
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Hawker Hurricane Mk.IV
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by the Supermarine Spitfire's role during the Battle of Britain in 1940, but the Hurricane inflicted 60 percent of the losses sustained by the Luftwaffe in the engagement and fought in all the major theatres of the Second World War.
The Hurricane originated from discussions between RAF officials and aircraft designer Sir Sydney Camm about a proposed monoplane derivative of the Hawker Fury biplane in the early 1930s. Despite an institutional preference for biplanes and lack of interest from the Air Ministry, Hawker refined their monoplane proposal, incorporating several innovations which became critical to wartime fighter aircraft, including retractable landing gear and the more powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. The Air Ministry ordered Hawker's Interceptor Monoplane in late 1934, and the prototype Hurricane K5083 performed its maiden flight on 6 November 1935.
In June 1936, the Hurricane went into production for the Air Ministry; it entered squadron service on 25 December 1937. Its manufacture and maintenance were eased by using conventional construction methods so that squadrons could perform many major repairs without external support. The Hurricane was rapidly procured prior to the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, when the RAF had 18 Hurricane-equipped squadrons in service. The aircraft was relied on to defend against German aircraft operated by the Luftwaffe, including dogfighting with Messerschmitt Bf 109s in multiple theatres of action.
The Hurricane was developed through several versions, into bomber-interceptors, fighter-bombers, and ground support aircraft as well as fighters. Versions designed for the Royal Navy known as the Sea Hurricane had modifications enabling operation from ships. Some were converted as catapult-launched convoy escorts. By the end of production in July 1944, 14,487 Hurricanes had been completed in Britain, Canada, Belgium and Yugoslavia.
Hurricane Mk IV was the last major change to the Hurricane. It included the introduction of the "universal Wing", a single design able to mount two 110 or 230 kg bombs, two 40 mm Vickers S guns, drop tanks or eight "60 pounder" RP-3 rockets. Two 7.7 mm Brownings were fitted to aid the aiming of the heavier armament. Despite persistent reports actually fitted with the same Merlin XX as the mark II. All Merlin 27 were modified to Merlin 25 and used in Mosquitoes, there were only 16 production Merlin 24 by the time over 300 mark IV had been delivered. The individual aircraft cards held by the RAF museum reports the final mark IV had Merlin XX. The radiator was deeper and armoured. Additional armour was also fitted around the engine. 524 built by Hawker between December 1942 and March 1944.
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