Editing Hawker Hurricane (section)

===Production===
[[File:Women assembling Hawker Hurricanes 1942.jpg|thumb|Hurricane production line, 1942]]
In June 1936 the Air Ministry placed its first order for 600 aircraft.<ref name="mason 5" /> On 26 June 1936 the Air Ministry approved the type name of "Hurricane" that had been proposed by Hawker, and an informal naming ceremony occurred the following month during an official visit by [[King Edward VIII]] to Martlesham Heath.<ref name="mason 5">Mason 1967, p. 5.</ref><ref>{{citation |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1936/1936%20-%201976.html |title=The King Inspects his Air Force |work=[[Flight International|Flight]] |date=16 July 1936 |page=83 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010211309/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1936/1936%20-%201976.html   |archive-date=  10 October 2017  }}.</ref>

It was significantly cheaper to produce than the [[Supermarine Spitfire]] and took 10,300 man hours per airframe to produce, compared to 15,200 for the Spitfire, which had many parts formed by hand, with [[English wheel]]s.<ref name="postan">Postan 1952, p. Chapter IV, footnote 89.</ref> As war was looking likely, and time was of the essence in providing the RAF with an effective fighter, the authorities expected there to be problems with the more advanced Spitfire, while the Hurricane made use of well proven manufacturing techniques.<ref name="postan" /> The service squadrons were also already experienced in maintaining aircraft structurally similar to the Hurricane.<ref name="postan" /> A fabric-covered wing was initially adopted in order to accelerate production, while a higher-performing stressed-skin metal wing was introduced in late 1939.<ref name="mason 5" />

The first production Hurricane I first flew on 12 October 1937, flown by Flight Lieutenant Philip Lucas and powered by a Merlin II engine. While a contract for 600 Hurricanes was received on 2 June 1936, deliveries lagged by roughly six months due to a decision in December 1936 to replace the Merlin I with the improved Merlin II, which resulted in many detail alterations.

[[File:Royal Air Force Training Command, 1939-1940. C851.jpg|thumb|Trainee aircraft fitters working on instructional Hurricanes 1939–1940]]
Merlin I production ended after 180 were built. This engine had been prioritised for the [[Fairey Battle]] light bomber and the [[Hawker Henley]], a failed competitor to the Battle briefly adapted as a target tug which shared common elements with the Hurricane design.<ref name="mason 5" /> By the following December, the first four aircraft to enter service with the RAF had joined [[No. 111 Squadron RAF|No. 111 Squadron]], stationed at [[RAF Northolt]]. By February 1938, No. 111 Squadron had received 16 Hurricanes.<ref name="mason 5" /> Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, over 550 Hurricanes had been produced equipping 18 squadrons, with 3,500 more on order.<ref>Bader 2004, p. 41.</ref><ref name="mason 7" />

During 1940, [[Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook|Lord Beaverbrook]], the [[Minister of Aircraft Production]], established the [[Civilian Repair Organisation]] through which a number of manufacturers were to repair and overhaul battle-damaged aircraft including Hurricanes. Some of these were later sent to training units or to other air forces. Factories involved included the [[Austin Motor Company|Austin Aero Company]]'s [[Cofton Hackett#Austin Aero Works|Cofton Hackett plant]] and David Rosenfield Ltd, based at [[Barton-upon-Irwell|Barton]] aerodrome near [[Manchester]].{{cn|date=August 2023}}

The [[Canadian Car and Foundry]] of [[Fort William, Ontario]], Canada was a major Hurricane manufacturer, producing them from November 1938 after receiving their  initial contract for 40 Hurricanes. The facility's chief engineer, [[Elsie MacGill]], became known as the "Queen of the Hurricanes".<ref name="mason 7" /> The initiative was commercially driven, but was endorsed by the British government. Hawker recognised that a major conflict was inevitable after the [[Munich Agreement|Munich Crisis]] of 1938 and drew up preliminary plans to expand Hurricane production at a new factory in Canada. Under this plan, samples, pattern aircraft, and design documents stored on [[microfilm]] were shipped to Canada. In 1938/39 the RCAF ordered 24 Hurricanes to equip one fighter squadron, 20 of which were delivered, and two were supplied to Canadian Car and Foundry as pattern aircraft but one probably did not arrive, while the other was returned to Britain in 1940. The first Hurricane built at Canadian Car and Foundry was completed in February 1940.<ref name="mason 7" /> Canadian-built Hurricanes shipped to Britain participated in the [[Battle of Britain]].<ref name="mason 7" />

Overall, some 14,487 Hurricanes and Sea Hurricanes were produced in England and Canada.<ref name="Thetford 1994, p. 232">Thetford 1994, p. 232</ref><!--page ref may be wrong since I have 1982 edition--> The majority of Hurricanes, 9,986 were built by Hawker (who produced the type at Brooklands from December 1937 to October 1942 and Langley from October 1939 to July 1944), while Hawker's sister company, the [[Gloster Aircraft Company]], constructed 2,750. The Austin Aero Company completed 300 Hurricanes. Canada Car and Foundry produced 1,451 Hurricanes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ingeniumcanada.org/aviation/collection-research/artifact-hawker-hurricane-xii.php|title=Hawker Hurricane XII – Canada Aviation and Space Museum|website=ingeniumcanada.org|language=en-CA|access-date=2018-05-21}}</ref> However those shipped to Britain were often incomplete airframes and about 80% were delivered without an engine.

In 1939, production of 100 Hurricanes was initiated in [[Yugoslavia]] by [[Zmaj aircraft|Zmaj]] and [[Rogožarski]].<ref name="mason 6 7" /> Of these, 20 were built by Zmaj by April 1941. Recognising that the supply of British-made Merlin engines might not be guaranteed, it was decided to fit one of the Yugoslavian Hurricanes with a [[Daimler-Benz DB 601]] engine instead. This aircraft was flown in 1941.<ref name="mason 7" /> In 1938, a contract for 80 Hurricanes was placed with Fairey's Belgian subsidiary [[Avions Fairey]] SA for the [[Belgian Air Force]], and it was intended to arm these aircraft with four {{cvt|13.2|mm|2}} [[M1919 Browning machine gun|Browning machine guns]]. Three were built and two flown with this armament by the time of the [[German invasion of Belgium (1940)|German invasion of Belgium]] in May 1940, with at least 12 more constructed by Avions Fairey armed with the conventional eight rifle calibre machine gun armament.<ref name="mason 7" /><ref name="Half pt 4 p34">''Air International'', July 1987, p. 34.</ref>