A while ago on a different WWII discussion forum I stated that the Hurricane was my favorite aircraft and caught a lot of flak (pun probably intended) for it. I thought I'd state my reasons why I love the Hurricane so much.
1. Those looks. To some the Hurricane might look like a hunch-backed ugly beast, but the way the entire plane flows seamlessly from the nose to the tail is what I love about it.
2. It actually shot down more Messerschmitts than the Spitfire during the Battle of Britain, and Hurricane losses were less than that of the Spit. Granted, this may have been due to limited Spitfire production and inexperienced pilots flying the Spit compared to the Hurricane, which had been in production for two years and pilots had plenty of time to learn it. Still, I am impressed that it did so well against advanced German fighters such as the Messerschmitt Bf-109E, which even bested the Spitfire in quite a few categories.
3. The range of armament: the first Hurricanes were made with eight machine-guns, EIGHT!!! Later it was increased to twelve! Even later, some Hurricanes received four 20mm cannon and kept four machine-guns! Those cannon might have been prone to jamming, but even so, that is ridiculously potent armament for an "outdated" fighter. Finally, the Mk. IID and Mk. IV received the "universal wing", which could mount twin 37mm anti-tank cannon, eight rockets, two 250kg bombs, or two drop tanks. And it still kept two machine-guns per wing if it mounted the 37mm's, or the original eight if it had anything else. In my opinion, the Hurricane was the WWII equivalent of the A-10 Warthog.
4. It was the first aircraft model I built. Last year, I built an Airfix Hurricane Mk. IIb, my first aircraft model. Granted, it was a terrible build with patches of overused glue, a too-rigid prop that broke off, an over-painted canopy, and ripped/missing pieces of decals, but I loved it nonetheless. The sense of accomplishment was enormous.
Why the Hurricane is my favorite WWII fighter
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jtemple507
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Why the Hurricane is my favorite WWII fighter
Shooting 'em down in flames!
Re: Why the Hurricane is my favorite WWII fighter
Hurricane has been always in shadow of Spitfire: more clumsy, less performance and less elegant with its lines than the slim Spit (but the last one is maybe a matter of taste).
The sad truth is that Hurricane´s technical spesification and performance was indeed somewhat second-rate like P-40 in WW2 when compared with Spit, Bf 109, FW 190 or Mustang. But like P-40 it had enourmous importance in Allied warfare and to my knowledge its versions were used more globally and at more fronts than any other fighter of WW2: Western Europe, Soviet Union, North African and Mediterranean fronts, Middle East (Syria and Iraq), Far East (Singapore, Burma) and there were Sea Hurricanes even over Madagascar against the Vichy French. And there were noteworthy users besides RAF and Commonwealth/British Empire air units: Soviet Union, Romania, Yugoslavia, Finland and Belgium. If You want, you can build interesting squadron of Hurricanes with different camos and decals (like Soviet or Yugoslav version) or a squadron representing it in different fronts of WW2 (France, Britain, Greece, Desert Air Force, Burma, Syria or perhaps even a Sea Hurricane taking over Madagaskar!). The more you build Hurricanes, better they will come and more you will learn of details. In the end you may end with a gem to be represented in some public display (a Yugo Mk I could be rather interesting there).
But still one must remember Hurricane´s limitations - it was indeed somewhat inferior to Bf 109 or A6M2 Zero, which of course did not prevent some air victories of Hurricane pilots against these machines. The experience of Malta defence in the spring 1941 was not a pleasant one for Hurricane pilots when confronting a flight (staffel) of Bf 109´s of German elite unit JG 26 - the kill/loss -rate was clearly negative and they did not manage to shoot a single Bf 109 down at that time. By the late 1941 and early 1942 Hurricane was also clearly outdated as a dayfighter over North Africa as confirmed by the verified scores of Marseille and other pilots of JG 27 - for this reason later Hurricane versions were used more for ground attacking role. Both Soviets and Finns did not like much of the plane and were rather critical on its performance in air combat - Finnish ace pilot Hasse Wind went so far that he considered Hurricane to be the "easiest fighter plane to shoot down" - when pitted against Brewster Buffalo!
There are some specialised books on Hurricane like the Osprey book on Hurricane Mk I-IV (Martin Chorlton) - but I think that it puts it too shiny focusing just in glorious sides and skipping with very little words the more negative sides of Hurricane history. I think that more balanced book on both good and bad sides of Hurricane history would be more interesting and to give more realistic picture of Hurricane history. One interesting book in my opinion is Roald Dahl´s "Going Solo" - it is not a typical wartime memory of an ace pilot but an account of a more average " reserve rookie" flying the Hurricane over Greece and Syria. I have not read the Osprey book of Soviet Hurricane Aces of WW2 (Yuriy Rubin), but it has been praised by some experts as one of the best books ever written about Soviet fighter pilots. And maybe it has also something interesting to say about both the good and bad sides of Hurricane as Soviets did not consider Hurricane as their favourite lend-lease plane.
The sad truth is that Hurricane´s technical spesification and performance was indeed somewhat second-rate like P-40 in WW2 when compared with Spit, Bf 109, FW 190 or Mustang. But like P-40 it had enourmous importance in Allied warfare and to my knowledge its versions were used more globally and at more fronts than any other fighter of WW2: Western Europe, Soviet Union, North African and Mediterranean fronts, Middle East (Syria and Iraq), Far East (Singapore, Burma) and there were Sea Hurricanes even over Madagascar against the Vichy French. And there were noteworthy users besides RAF and Commonwealth/British Empire air units: Soviet Union, Romania, Yugoslavia, Finland and Belgium. If You want, you can build interesting squadron of Hurricanes with different camos and decals (like Soviet or Yugoslav version) or a squadron representing it in different fronts of WW2 (France, Britain, Greece, Desert Air Force, Burma, Syria or perhaps even a Sea Hurricane taking over Madagaskar!). The more you build Hurricanes, better they will come and more you will learn of details. In the end you may end with a gem to be represented in some public display (a Yugo Mk I could be rather interesting there).
But still one must remember Hurricane´s limitations - it was indeed somewhat inferior to Bf 109 or A6M2 Zero, which of course did not prevent some air victories of Hurricane pilots against these machines. The experience of Malta defence in the spring 1941 was not a pleasant one for Hurricane pilots when confronting a flight (staffel) of Bf 109´s of German elite unit JG 26 - the kill/loss -rate was clearly negative and they did not manage to shoot a single Bf 109 down at that time. By the late 1941 and early 1942 Hurricane was also clearly outdated as a dayfighter over North Africa as confirmed by the verified scores of Marseille and other pilots of JG 27 - for this reason later Hurricane versions were used more for ground attacking role. Both Soviets and Finns did not like much of the plane and were rather critical on its performance in air combat - Finnish ace pilot Hasse Wind went so far that he considered Hurricane to be the "easiest fighter plane to shoot down" - when pitted against Brewster Buffalo!
There are some specialised books on Hurricane like the Osprey book on Hurricane Mk I-IV (Martin Chorlton) - but I think that it puts it too shiny focusing just in glorious sides and skipping with very little words the more negative sides of Hurricane history. I think that more balanced book on both good and bad sides of Hurricane history would be more interesting and to give more realistic picture of Hurricane history. One interesting book in my opinion is Roald Dahl´s "Going Solo" - it is not a typical wartime memory of an ace pilot but an account of a more average " reserve rookie" flying the Hurricane over Greece and Syria. I have not read the Osprey book of Soviet Hurricane Aces of WW2 (Yuriy Rubin), but it has been praised by some experts as one of the best books ever written about Soviet fighter pilots. And maybe it has also something interesting to say about both the good and bad sides of Hurricane as Soviets did not consider Hurricane as their favourite lend-lease plane.