Editing Hawker Hurricane (section)

===Battle of Britain===

At the end of June 1940, following the fall of France, 31 of Fighter Command's 61 fighter squadrons were equipped with Hurricanes.<ref name="mason 12 13">Mason 1967, pp. 12–13.</ref> The [[Battle of Britain]] officially lasted from 10 July until 31 October 1940, but the heaviest fighting took place between 8 August and 21 September. Both the Supermarine Spitfire and the Hurricane are renowned for their part in having defended Britain against the Luftwaffe; generally, the Spitfires intercepted the German fighters, leaving Hurricanes to concentrate on the bombers, and, despite the undoubted abilities of the "thoroughbred" Spitfire, it was the "workhorse" Hurricane that scored the higher number of RAF victories during this period, accounting for 55% of the 2,739 German losses, according to Fighter Command, compared with 42% by Spitfires.<ref name="forgotten">Bywater, Michael. [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/our-forgotten-freedom-fighter-why-the-unsung-hurricane-is-the-true-ace-of-the-battle-of-britain-2022105.html "Our forgotten freedom fighter: Why the unsung Hurricane is the true ace of the Battle of Britain."] ''The Independent,'' 17 January 2011.</ref> On 8 August 1940, Hurricanes of [[No. 145 Squadron RAF|No. 145 Squadron]] were recorded as having fired the first shots of the Battle of Britain.<ref name="mason 12">Mason 1967, p. 12.</ref> The highest scoring Hurricane squadron during the Battle of Britain was the [[No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron]]. This squadron also had the distinction of having the highest ratio of enemy aircraft destroyed to own losses suffered.<ref>Olson and Cloud 2003</ref><ref>Zaloga and Hook 1982, p. 15.</ref><ref name="Gretzyngier and Matusiak p. 25">Gretzyngier and Matusiak 1998, p. 25.</ref>
[[File:Hurricane I 1 Sqn RAF at RAF Wittering 1940.jpg|thumb|Hurricane I of [[No. 1 Squadron RAF|1 Squadron]] flown by Plt Off A.V. Clowes.]]
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| quote = Another thing we did was to devise a manoeuvre which was aimed at getting us out of a difficult corner if we ever got into one. This may sound very extraordinary, probably, to practising pilots today, but it consisted of putting everything into the left hand front corner of the cockpit. If you saw a 109 on your tail, and it hadn't shot you down at that point, you put on full throttle, fine pitch, full left rudder, full left stick and full forward stick. This resulted in a horrible manoeuvre which was, in fact, a negative ''g'' spiral dive. But you would come out of the bottom with no 109 on your tail and your aeroplane intact.
| source = [[Roland Beamont]] describing how a Hurricane can get away from a Bf 109.<ref>Merlin In Perspective p136, Alec Harvey-Bailey, Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust.</ref>
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As a fighter, the Hurricane had some drawbacks. It was slightly slower than both the Spitfire I and II and the Messerschmitt Bf 109E, and the thicker wing profiles compromised acceleration; but it could out-turn both of them. In spite of its performance deficiencies against the Bf 109, the Hurricane was still capable of destroying the German fighter, especially at lower altitudes. The standard tactic of the 109s was to attempt to climb higher than the RAF fighters and "bounce" them in a dive; the Hurricanes could evade such tactics by turning into the attack or going into a "corkscrew dive", which the 109s, with their lower rate of roll, found hard to counter. If a 109 was caught in a dogfight, the Hurricane was just as capable of out-turning the 109 as the Spitfire. In a stern chase, the 109 could evade the Hurricane.<ref>Bungay 2000, pp. 264–267.</ref>

In September 1940, the more powerful Mk.IIa series 1 Hurricanes started entering service, although only in small numbers.<ref>Ramsay 1989, pp. 415, 516, 526, 796.</ref> This version was capable of a maximum speed of {{cvt|342|mph}}.<ref>Mason 1991, pp. 279, 300.</ref> The Hurricane was a steady gun platform and had demonstrated its ruggedness as several were badly damaged yet returned to base.<ref>Bungay 2000, p. 82.</ref> The Hurricane's construction made it dangerous if it caught fire; the wood frames and fabric covering of the rear fuselage allowed fire to spread through the rear fuselage structure easily. The gravity fuel tank in the forward fuselage sat right in front of the instrument panel, without any form of protection for the pilot. Many Hurricane pilots were seriously burned as a consequence of a jet of flame which could burn through the instrument panel. This became of such concern to [[Hugh Dowding]] that he had Hawker retrofit the fuselage tanks of the Hurricanes with [[Linatex]], a self-expanding rubber coating.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1945/1945%20-%201890.jpg |title=Archived copy |access-date=13 October 2013 |archive-date=9 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109032417/http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1945/1945%20-%201890.jpg |url-status=dead }}</ref> If the tank happened to be punctured by a bullet, the Linatex coating expanded when soaked with petrol and sealed it.<ref>Bungay 2000, pp. 77, 197–198.</ref> However, some Hurricane pilots felt that the fuel tanks in the wings, although they were also protected with a layer of Linatex, were vulnerable from behind, and it was thought that those, and not the fuselage tank, were the main fire risk.<ref>Bungay 2000, p. 198.</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1945/1945%20-%201890.PDF Wilkinson Rubber Linatex advert] 27 September 1945</ref>

[[File:The Battle of Britain HU57450.jpg|thumb|left|Groundcrew refuelling a Hurricane Mk.I of [[No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron RAF|32 Squadron]], [[London Biggin Hill Airport|RAF Biggin Hill]], [[London Borough of Bromley|Bromley]], [[London]], August 1940]]
From 10 July to 11 August 1940, RAF fighters fired at 114 German bombers and shot down 80, a destruction ratio of 70%. Against the Bf 109, the RAF fighters attacked 70 and shot down 54 of these, a ratio of 77%. It has been suggested that part of the success of the British fighters was possibly due to the use of the [[Incendiary ammunition#World War II|de Wilde incendiary round]].<ref>Bungay 2000, pp. 200–201.</ref> The Hurricane with the highest number of kills during the Battle of Britain was P3308, a Mk.I, flown between 15 August and 7 October 1940 by RAF (auxiliary) pilot [[Archie McKellar]] of 605 Squadron.<ref>Holmes, Tony. (1998) Hurricane Aces 1939–1940. Osprey Publishing. London. p. 128 {{ISBN|978-1-85532-597-5}}</ref> He is credited with 21 kills, 19 of those in a Hurricane during the Battle of Britain. On 7 October he is credited with shooting down five Bf 109s, making him one of only two RAF pilots (the other being [[Brian Carbury]] of New Zealand) to become an [[List of aviators who became ace in a day|"ace in a day"]] during the Battle of Britain.<ref>Holmes 1998, p. 106</ref><ref>Shores, Christopher and Williams, Clive. (1966). Aces High. Neville Spearman. p. 226. No ISBN</ref> During his brief fighting career, McKellar earned the [[Distinguished Service Order|DSO]],<ref>Baker, E.C.R (1962). The Fighter Aces of the RAF. p. 95. William Kimber.</ref> [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)|DFC]] & [[Medal bar|Bar]].<ref>Baker 1962, p. 134</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34945 |page=5487 |date=13 September 1940}} Retrieved 2008-01-07.</ref> McKellar has remained in relative obscurity in Battle of Britain history, as he was killed in action one day after the date set by the War Ministry (after the war) as the official end date for the Battle of Britain. He died on 1 November 1940 while taking on a superior number of Bf 109s.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35001 |page=6753 |date=26 November 1940}} Retrieved 2008-01-07.</ref>{{failed verification|reason=not in cite given|date=November 2021}} As in the Spitfire, the Merlin engine suffered from negative-G cut-out, a problem not cured until the introduction of [[Miss Shilling's orifice]] in early 1941.

[[File:Pilots of No. 303 (Polish) Squadron RAF with one of their Hawker Hurricanes, October 1940. CH1535.jpg|thumb|[[No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron|303 squadron pilots]]. L-R: F/O [[Mirosław Ferić|Ferić]], F/Lt Lt Kent, F/O Grzeszczak, P/O Radomski, P/O [[Jan Zumbach|Zumbach]], P/O Łokuciewski, F/O Henneberg, Sgt Rogowski, Sgt Szaposznikow (in 1940).]]
The only Battle of Britain [[Victoria Cross]], and the only one awarded to a member of Fighter Command during the war,<ref>Ramsay 1989, p. 306.</ref> was awarded to Flight Lieutenant [[James Brindley Nicolson]] of [[No. 249 Squadron RAF|249 Squadron]] as a result of an action on 16 August 1940 when his section of three Hurricanes was "bounced" from above by Bf 110 fighters. All three were hit simultaneously. Nicolson was badly wounded, and his Hurricane was damaged and engulfed in flames. While attempting to leave the cockpit, Nicolson noticed that one of the Bf 110s had overshot his aircraft. He returned to the cockpit, which by now was in an inferno, engaged the enemy, and may have shot down the Bf 110.<ref>Ramsay 1989, pp. 306–313, 362.</ref><ref name="mason 13">Mason 1967, p. 13.</ref>{{refn| As far as can be determined, no Messerschmitt Bf 110 crashes on land for 16 August 1940 could be attributed to Nicolson, although Nicolson himself believed the 110 crashed into the sea.<ref>Ramsay 1989, p. 311.</ref>|group=N}} Afterward, he parachuted to safety, although he was mistakenly shot at by the Home Guard after landing.