Hurricane plane of the second world war. "Hurricanes" on the Soviet-German front. "Hurricanes" in Russia

G. V. Zimin, commander of the fighter regiment

It was January 1942.

The regiment was still without aircraft. There were many promises in this regard, but the matter did not move forward. Our wait was becoming agonizing.

The prospect of receiving cars, so clear and close at first, was now, as it were, shrouded in a fog of uncertainty. We began to understand that if we did not remind ourselves in the most decisive way, we would sit for who knows how long. Therefore, on the instructions of the regiment commander F.I. Shinkarenko, in the second half of January, I went to Moscow “for reconnaissance” with instructions to act at my own discretion, but certainly to achieve clarity.

Arriving in the capital, I, without wasting any time, went to Major General of Aviation Alexei Vasilyevich Nikitin, who at that time was the head of the formation and staffing department of the Red Army Air Force.

I was accepted immediately, without any delays, although at that time people in the departments were working under a huge load. From the very first minutes, I felt the general’s sincere interest and began to openly and in detail talk about everything that I considered important. Alexey Vasilyevich immediately became interested in the order and work in the reserve air regiment and the mood of the pilots. He already knew about the results of our combat work.

My report seems to have completely satisfied the general. I learned from him that the reasons for the vibration of the propellers on the “lags” have not yet been established, but now a competent Air Force commission, which includes experienced aviation engineers, has gone to the plant to assist the production workers.

So, the general believed, the defect would soon be eliminated and the aircraft would begin to arrive in the regiments.

Then I suddenly noticed that the general changed the topic of conversation. Looking at me, Alexey Vasilyevich began to tell me that there was a fighter regiment in Ivanovo that was finishing retraining on English Hurricane aircraft. The vehicles have been received, and the regiment will soon go to the front.

In general, everything suited me. And a new command position, which implies greater independence and responsibility in combat work, and the prospect of soon being at the front again. But it happened very unexpectedly: I came to sort out the affairs of the regiment, and then there was such a turn...

I told the general about all this. However, I noticed that I was sorry to leave my 42nd fighter, where there was an excellent combat team, a good commander, where I had many loyal friends. This, as is easy to understand, was a natural reaction to the upcoming separation from comrades. What officer in my place would refuse the position that was so unexpectedly offered?

I understood that my flight destiny was changing dramatically, so I sincerely thanked A.V. Nikitin for his trust and for the opportunity to get to the front again in the near future.

The general said that the regiment that I was about to join already had combat experience, fought well, but suffered heavy losses and is now staffed mainly with young people from flight schools. However, the fighting core was preserved.

Everything was clear to me at that moment. The only thing I didn’t know then was the British Hurricane fighters on which the regiment was to fight.

When Alexey Vasilyevich asked what questions I had in general, I took the opportunity to talk about many of the things I was thinking about at the front. By this time, I was firmly convinced that it was necessary to change the organizational structure of the squadrons and introduce paired battle formations, so I spoke about the unjustified losses that we were suffering due to adherence to outdated canons. The general listened very carefully, and then noticed that until now, it seems, no one had raised such a question, that this problem was serious and he would study it, ask for the opinion of the units and the front air force command, after which a decision would be made. And I also remember that I spoke then about the poor fire training of fighter pilots in aviation schools and units, that almost all young pilots arriving at the front are weak shooters and that they need to be taught how to shoot at real targets, at aircraft of all classes with using photo-machine guns and systematic training.

A. V. Nikitin wrote down all this, saying that the schools would be given the necessary instructions, and, wishing me success, gave the farewell order:

On February 16, 1942, I was given orders to arrive at Air Force headquarters. Having said goodbye to my fighting friends, the next day I left for Moscow by train. The train was overcrowded and only went to Gorky. I didn’t sleep a wink the whole way: there was nowhere to sit, let alone lie down. I decided to be quicker in Gorky and get to Moscow with greater convenience. But as soon as I got to Gorky, all my dreams about them instantly disappeared. The train on which I was to go to Moscow was leaving from another station, and I had to get there in time.

On the advice of knowledgeable people, I went from one station to another on foot, straight across the ice-bound Oka. I caught the train on time, pushing out my neighbors, and had difficulty finding a seat. The carriages were not heated, but these, in the end, were already trifles: the main thing is that I was not stuck in endless queues and crowds at the station.

And from Moscow, having received an order there, on the holiday morning of February 23, I flew to Ivanovo on a U-2 communications plane.

A military man gets used to unexpected changes in his destiny. These changes do not pass without leaving a trace. Your old friends, habits, especially when it comes to front-line life, everything you previously experienced brings you mentally back to your previous regiment, with which you have already parted. During such periods, even a person of strong character finds himself face to face with the future and can no longer count on the support of his old friends. I also had the opportunity to experience all this when parting with them. However, since pre-war times, I have taught myself to cut off all nostalgic emotions - everything that softens a person’s soul with memories of the past at the moment when it has already passed away irrevocably, and the present requires from you the utmost composure and ability to act.

The first thing I noticed was the absence of fighters. There were only “silts” all around. Like any combat pilot, I had great respect for these machines, although I had never seen them in such numbers.

And I noted to myself with satisfaction that in our reserve air regiments, attack aircraft - scarce and very necessary - are appearing en masse. Therefore, soon there will be many of them at the front. But I was primarily interested in fighters, but they were not visible at the airfield. And I immediately asked Akulenko where they were.

The lieutenant colonel, grinning, was immediately dumbfounded by the answer:

Here they are.

But these are “Ilyushins”! - I was surprised, not understanding anything.

No,” Akulenko answered, still grinning. - These are the Hurricanes.

Then I took a closer look at the cars. Yes, these were not “silts”. But at first, a quick glance and from a great distance, it was almost impossible to discern the differences between one aircraft and another. A large wing area, all the visible relationships of the most important parts of the vehicle, and even - a characteristic feature of an attack aircraft - the pilot's cabin, raised above the fuselage by a noticeable “hump”. There was nothing joyful in this discovery for me.

In these first minutes I was so disappointed that Lieutenant Colonel Akulenko stopped smiling and began to look at me with understanding and sympathy. However, something else was clear to both of us: there were no other planes yet. Until the enterprises evacuated to the east organize mass production of the military equipment we need, we will have to fight with this junk. “Well, allies! - I thought with bitter irony. “This is help!..” But I knew that the English Spitfires and American Airacobras were quite decent fighters. But I didn’t see the first ones at all during the war years, and the “Air Cobras” arrived in very limited quantities. But they supplied us with all sorts of junk - “Kittyhawks”, “Tomahawks” and these “Hurricanes”, which could have been written off with peace of mind even before the war, for pure gold... In a word, from the very first minutes of our stay at the Ivanovo field airfield I realized that it was necessary to very carefully prepare the regiment for difficult battles.

The regimental headquarters officers and squadron commanders made a good impression on me.

Commander captains V.G. Lazarev and M.V. Gabrinets were well-trained pilots and had combat experience. The regiment's navigator, Major B.P. Kondratyev, who before my arrival served as commander of the 485th Fighter Aviation Regiment, was also a good pilot. The chief of staff of the regiment, Captain A.T. Grishin, had only recently been to the unit, but already knew the personnel well. Recently, regimental commissar A. A. Voevodin was also appointed to the post of regimental commissar.

The regiment was well equipped with pilots, but, as General A.V. Nikitin had warned, the majority were recent school graduates. This didn't bother me too much. It is important to have a fighting backbone, the rest is a matter of profit.

I gathered the entire flight crew of the regiment and told about myself, about where and how I fought, then I began to talk with pilots who had already been in battle. There were few of them, and each of them had little experience. The war had been going on for more than six months, but the 485th Air Regiment fought for only about two months: from the end of July to the end of August as part of the Moscow air defense forces, then for about a month on the Leningrad Front, after which it was sent for replenishment. In almost two months of combat work, the pilots made 650 combat sorties, conducted 12 air battles, in which 3 enemy aircraft were shot down. At the same time, its own losses amounted to 4 vehicles. Anyone who imagines how tense the situation in the air was in the summer and autumn of '41, it is clear that this is a more than modest result. In other, more important areas, pilots of fighter regiments at that time had to make 4–5 combat sorties a day and, as a rule, with battles.

In my first conversation with the pilots, I tried to find out their opinion about air combat tactics. I was interested in how they were going to fight with Hurricanes.

There were a variety of opinions, including the use of paired battle formations.

At the same time, fire training classes were going on, since in this matter it was impossible not to notice omissions. I ordered that a combat aircraft be placed on the flight line at the airfield, as in the 42nd regiment, and all pilots firmly remember the projection and dimensions of the aircraft from various angles from working distances.

The pilots sat in the cockpits of their planes and developed visual memory through the sight. Such training was carried out daily.

These and other measures had to be introduced into the educational process as a matter of urgency.

Imagine a young pilot who recently graduated from school and has several dozen hours of flight time, but less than 10 hours on a Hurricane. He cannot compare, say, a Hurricane with a MiG or a Yak, since he has not flown on other machines, and regular training aerobatics in an area with aerobatics during an air battle, too, since he has not yet fought. Finally, he also doesn’t really know the capabilities of the German fighter, and what he knows is scattered and random information, sometimes far from the truth. Meanwhile, every still fragile fighter quite sincerely considers himself ready for battle - after all, he has passed all the required standards. But I know that in the very first battle the enemy will not leave him any opportunity to adapt, that strong enemy pilots can kill these Hurricanes before our guys have time to get comfortable in the air. Conclusions suggested themselves and they had to be made immediately, without wasting a single day. I myself had to first of all figure out what this “Hurricane” is, whether it has at least some capabilities to resist the “Messer”, and even if these opportunities are very few, they must be found at all costs already now, while we are not yet at the front.

And I set about studying Hurricane.

I passed all the necessary tests and then started flying. This aircraft was not very difficult to study. Some inconvenience was caused only by the inscriptions in English and the need to convert various units from one system to another: for example, miles into kilometers, feet into meters, etc. But in the end everyone got used to it. This machine also had two advantages, if we can even talk about the advantages of clearly outdated technology. It was simple and easy to control, therefore quite accessible to an average pilot, and well equipped with radio, which subsequently made it much easier for us to control in battle.

The Hurricane easily and steadily performed various horizontal maneuvers, including deep turns with extreme roll. Compared to our I-16 and Yak-1, it was bulky, reminiscent in its dimensions more of a light bomber than a fighter. I liked the cabin of the plane: spacious, bright, with good visibility. With my height, for the first time in my entire flying practice, I sat in it freely and comfortably, without bending my head. If there were no war, it would be an excellent car for tourist flights over picturesque areas. But, unfortunately, we had to evaluate it not from these positions.

This bulky slow-moving vehicle developed a top speed of about four hundred kilometers per hour, while the Messerschmitt exceeded five hundred. And even our “donkeys” had more speed. (Obviously, this means real combat speed - author's note) To this we must add that the Hurricane was poorly armed: four machine guns (perhaps there is an error here - author's note) small caliber.

In order to shoot down an enemy plane, you had to get close to it.

And a heavy bomber of the Heinkel-111 type is generally extremely difficult to shoot down with conventional machine guns: it was well protected and survivable. As for the enemy’s weapons, the Messerschmitts had a cannon, and all German aircraft had large-caliber machine guns.

Well, the most important question remained: what can the Hurricane do in battle? For this, a suitable sparring partner was needed. He was soon found. There were two Airacobra aircraft at the airfield in those days. These were fast modern fighters, and therefore they were quite suitable for a training battle with the Hurricane. I had such a battle with Lieutenant Colonel Akulenko in full view of the entire flight personnel of the regiment. Then, having appreciated all the benefits of this type of training, we decided to carry out several more battles over the center of the airfield. First, in the starting position, at the same height, then I am 500 meters higher, then he is at the same height, and finally, I am 1000 meters higher than him. From this it is clear that, first of all, I was interested in the possibilities of fighting on verticals.

I understood that in such a battle the Hurricane was weak, but I had to find out exactly how weak. It was also necessary to clarify how we could use the strengths of “our” aircraft, or rather, the best of the weaknesses.

We carried out all the planned training battles. As a fighter pilot, I gave my all in these battles. But I could just as well, alas, fight with an Airacobra while sitting astride a pterodactyl.

When pitching up, the Hurricane lagged behind, and when diving, it lagged even further. If any modern fighter at that time accelerated in a dive so that for safety reasons it would sometimes have to be held back, then the Hurricane, having a large windage, generally seemed to hover. Vertical maneuver was clearly contraindicated for him. The battle could only be fought on turns.

In Pravda of October 12, 1981, I read a message that said that in October, the English rescue ship Stefaniturm had just moored in the Murmansk seaport with a cargo of gold lifted from the holds lying on the bottom of the Barents Sea at a depth of 260 meters of the British cruiser Edinburgh, which transported gold bars intended to pay for American and British military supplies to our country during the Second World War. The cruiser Edinburgh sailed from Murmansk to England, broke away from anti-submarine defense ships and on April 30, 1942 was torpedoed by fascist submarines. The gold lay at the bottom for about forty years.

All the features of the calculations were based on the slowness and weakness of the Hurricanes’ weapons. Therefore, the separation of units in height should not exceed 400–500 meters, otherwise the units would not have time to come to each other’s aid.

The separation of pairs in a link should not exceed 100 meters in height.

Direct escort of bombers and attack aircraft had to be carried out with an excess of 50–100 meters. During the battle, it was necessary to attack from minimal distances - no more than 70–80 meters, and best of all from 30–50 meters.

For such a high-speed fighter, such as the Yak, such recommendations would be simply unacceptable, since they would limit its freedom of maneuver.

But for the Hurricanes it was necessary to compact the battle formations as much as possible, counting not by thousands and often not even hundreds of meters, but by tens and even individual meters. And under no circumstances should the system be allowed to turn into a “heap.”

In addition to everything that has already been said, our training also covered a lot of particular subtleties, including training pilots in the ability to look and see. Before the start of the battles, I wanted to highlight those pilots who can see better than others. In our studies, of course, we paid a lot of attention to radio communications, which was very important for us.

On the twentieth of March 1942, the regiment was ready to be sent to the front.

Altitude in feet, speed in miles, gasoline not in liters, but in gallons - of course, we had to get used to all this, and we got used to it. However, we could not come to terms with the Hurricane’s armament. It had twelve rifle-caliber machine guns (wing installations - six machine guns in each plane). After our Soviet cannons and heavy machine guns, we considered this insufficient. We didn't like the armored back either. It consisted of two four-millimeter plates located vertically, one above the other. And this is in the days of high-speed guns and armor-piercing shells!

Yes, you can pierce it with a stick,” said Sukhov, and we all agreed with him.

The command found out about our dissatisfaction. To replace the armored backs and weapons on the Hurricanes, he was ordered to urgently fly to Moscow.

And I also think that the name “Hurricane” (this word translated into Russian means “hurricane”) hardly corresponds to the technical data of the machine; the weapons on it are now good - two twenty-millimeter cannons and two heavy machine guns. One burst - and chips will fly from any plane. And Lagg's armored back is good. Behind her - like behind a stone one. The attitude indicator is also a great thing. You can easily fly in the clouds with it. The radio works great, like a home phone: no noise, no crackling. But speed, speed... No, this plane is far from a hurricane. It gains altitude slowly and dives poorly.

Vertical maneuver? What a maneuver! Our commissar Efimov once said correctly: “The plane is good, it’s metal, it won’t catch fire. There is plenty to shoot from. And instead of maneuver and speed - Russian ingenuity!

Information sources

Zimin G.V. Fighters. - M.: Military Publishing House, 1988.

Kaberov I. A. There is a swastika in sight. - L.: Military Publishing House, 1975.
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and primarily built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Although its fame was eclipsed by the Supermarine Spitfire, the aircraft achieved fame during the Battle of Britain, where it accounted for 60% of all RAF victories, plus served in all major theaters of World War II.


The Sea Hurricane Mk IA is a Hurricane Mk I modified by General Aircraft Limited.
As always, I use information from sites
http://www.airwar.ru
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki

By the beginning of World War II, the British Royal Navy found itself without modern carrier-based fighters. The Sea Gladiator biplanes were already completely obsolete, and the Blackburn Roc two-seat monoplanes with turret armament were too slow and clumsy.
Other English deck ships - the two-seat monoplanes "Blackburn Skua" and "Fairey Fulmar" - also did not differ in speed. With the outbreak of hostilities, there was simply no time to create an entirely new machine, and the British decided to adapt land fighters for deck service - the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire.

The Spitfire was superior to the Hurricane in speed and maneuverability, but work on the naval version of the Hurricane was the first to begin at the end of 1940. Serial production of high-speed Spitfires was just beginning and there were very few of them to fight Luftwaffe aircraft.
The Hurricane had been produced for a long time and it was not difficult to allocate several dozen or hundreds of vehicles for the fleet. In addition, the Hurricane, with its robust truss structure, was more suitable for catapult launches and rough deck landings.

The British gained their first experience of operating a Hawker fighter from the deck back in May 1940 during the Norwegian campaign. Aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious, the Royal Air Force's Hurricane 46 Squadron was sent to the coast of Norway. The ground vehicles themselves took off from the deck and landed at the Norwegian Bardufoss airfield, from where they subsequently carried out combat missions.
After the quick capture of Norway by Wehrmacht units, the British had to urgently evacuate from their bases. The remaining ten Hurricanes of 46 Squadron were to return home again on the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious. It is very difficult to land land planes on the deck without a arresting hook. Only on the second attempt was it possible to do this with great difficulty on the night of June 7, 1940, when the planes landed on an aircraft carrier in a very strong headwind.

They no longer dared to repeat the risky takeoff and landing of land vehicles on an aircraft carrier, even when HMS Glorious came under fire from the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau on the same day. The battle turned out to be unequal, and soon HMS Glorious sank to the bottom along with all the planes.
The actions of the Royal Navy against Kriegsmarine ships off the coast of Norway once again confirmed the urgent need for a modern naval fighter. For actual use on ships, Hawker specialists simultaneously began work on two deck versions of the Hurricane.

In addition to the classic deck with a brake hook, they developed a version that, with the landing gear retracted, was supposed to take off from a primitive truss catapult using powder accelerators. They were going to equip some of the ships for Atlantic convoys with ejection Hurricanes so that they could defend themselves at sea from an attack by Goering’s aces.

Fifty RAF Hurricane Mk.Is at Hamble were quickly converted to the ejection version with minor structural reinforcements. The aircraft received the official designation Sea Hurricane Mk.IA, although later the ejection vehicles were also called "Harriket" or simply "Katafayter". "Katafayter" is a catapult fighter that takes off from any ship that has a catapult. He can only land on land if it is close. If it is far away, the car becomes “disposable”; the pilot is obliged to abandon it after running out of fuel. It was believed that after the destruction of one enemy bomber or reconnaissance aircraft, the idea would pay for itself. The second way is traditional basing on aircraft carriers.

35 merchant ships of different types and sizes were prepared for ejection vehicles, which became known as CAM class ships (Catapult Aircraft Merchantman - Merchant ship with ejection aircraft).
The ships were equipped with a simple truss catapult, and several military ships were equipped with the same Harriket launch system. Interestingly, the pilots for the ejection fighters on the merchant ships were sent from the Royal Air Force, while the Katafayter warships were flown into the air by naval pilots from the Royal Navy. Another difference between military ships and merchant ships was the presence on board of two fighters, which were launched in turn.

Merchant ships with catapult installations were supposed to be part of convoys as ordinary transporters, while simultaneously serving as mini-aircraft carriers. When enemy aircraft appeared, the Sea Hurricane, with its engine roaring at full throttle and flaps extended, was fired from a 21.3 m long catapult, accelerating with the help of powder accelerators to 120 km/h with an overload of 3.5 g. After an air battle, the pilot could only land at a regular airfield.
Naturally, this was not possible at sea far from land bases. Therefore, the pilot could only parachute next to his ships and wait for help. For this purpose, all ejection vessels had a rescue team, which was always ready to come to the aid of the Harriket crew on an inflatable motor boat.

Thus, the Sea Hurricane Mk.IA was practically a one-time fighter, but the military considered that it would be justified if the pilot could shoot down at least one enemy aircraft. And the British had no other way to protect their Atlantic convoys from Luftwaffe attacks at the beginning of the war - there was a catastrophic shortage of small escort aircraft carriers.

From the beginning of the development of the ejection Sea Hurricane Mk.1A, all the shortcomings of the machine were visible and the military understood perfectly well that a full-fledged fighter was needed for operation on aircraft carriers. Therefore, at the same time, Hawker engineers worked on a modification of the Sea Hurricane 1B (our side) with a brake hook and components for launching from an aircraft carrier’s deck catapult.

Operation on ships meant increased loads, so the most important components of the land vehicle had to be strengthened, and the radio equipment had to be replaced in accordance with naval standards. To simplify the design and speed up serial production, the aircraft was not equipped with a folding wing. Subsequently, because of this, on most aircraft carriers (primarily escort ones), the Sea Hurricane could not be stored in hangars, which complicated their operation.

At the General Aircraft Limited plant, more than 300 land-based Hurricane Mk.Is were converted into deck-based Sea Hurricane Mk.1Bs, which began to enter service with British aircraft carriers from the beginning of 1941.

In addition to aircraft carriers, Sea Hurricanes have become the main defense weapon for MAC class transport ships (Merchant Aircraft Carrier). Unlike the CAM class ships with a truss catapult, these ships had a flight deck laid on top of the superstructures, from which several Sea Hurricanes could take off and land like an airplane.
On such small aircraft carriers there were no aircraft elevators or hangars. Therefore, Sea Hurricanes stood on the deck in any weather and, naturally, problems arose with corrosion from salt spray and with the operation of vehicles in the cold waters of the Barents Sea.

By the beginning of the war, the land-based Hurricane was no longer considered a new fighter, having first taken to the air back in 1935. The relatively low speed characteristics and weak armament, consisting only of rifle-caliber machine guns, rightly aroused criticism from the military.

Naturally, similar shortcomings were inherited by the deck-based Sea Hurricane Mk.IB. Therefore, along with the operation of the first versions of the naval fighter, the Hawker company was working on modifications with more powerful engines and reinforced cannon armament. But more on that another time.

The Sea Hurricane cannot be called a successful carrier-based aircraft, because the naval version was created when its land prototype itself already looked outdated. Low speed, weak weapons, poor visibility from the cockpit and short flight range reduced the effectiveness of the fighter.

Modifications with cannon armament and a more powerful engine could not radically improve the situation, but only slowed down the final decommissioning of the rapidly aging aircraft. But it was the Sea Hurricane that remained the main armament of the Royal Navy aircraft carriers until the British acquired more modern carrier-based fighters Supermarine Seafire and Grumman F6F Hellcat.

This is the cabin equipment

Traces on the sides from the exhaust pipes, still a flying plane.

Rotol RX5/5 propeller with Jablo RA.4067 blades

Main racks

The Sea Hurricane aircraft was a single-seat, single-engine, low-wing aircraft of mixed design with retractable landing gear.

The fuselage is a truss structure, a welded truss, made of steel pipes, with internal cable braces. The motor frame was an integral part of the farm. Plywood frames were mounted on the frame, in the recesses of which slats - stringers - were attached. The front part of the fuselage had duralumin sheathing, the rear part had fabric skin.

In the forward part of the fuselage there was an engine with units, behind it there was a gas tank, in the middle part of the fuselage there was a pilot’s cabin with a plexiglass multi-blanket canopy.

To access the cabin, the canopy was moved back. Behind the cabin there was a developed gargrot that completely blocked the view to the rear. There was a radiator under the cabin in a fairing bath. Behind the armored back were a battery, a radio station and oxygen cylinders.

The landing gear has a tail wheel, the main struts are retracted into a common niche by turning towards the axis of the aircraft. When retracted, the landing gear niche is partially covered by flaps. The harvesting drive is hydraulic. The tail strut is non-retractable. self-orienting.

The wing was two-spar; there were three more auxiliary spars in the consoles. Structurally, it consisted of a center section, which was integral with the fuselage, and two detachable consoles. The wing housed weapons, fuel tanks, main landing gear niches and headlights. Ailerons are aluminum, covered with fabric. The flap drive is hydraulic.

The tail unit is single-spar, with a duralumin frame and fabric covering. Under the fuselage, to improve stability on course, there was an additional narrow keel - a ridge. The rudders had horn compensation and were equipped with trimmers.

The propulsion system is a 12-cylinder in-line piston liquid-cooled Rolls-Royce "Merlin" engine of various series with a three-blade constant-speed propeller De Havilland or Rotol.

And now he is already in the preliminary stage and the assistants are removing the chocks from under his wheels.

The cabin is closed.

The plane is ready for takeoff.

Take-off run, raised the tail wheel

A little more and in the air.

The brake hook at the tail of the aircraft is visible.

Photo 36.

And now he is already flying in tandem with the Gloster Gladiator

Photo 38.

Photo 39.

Photo 40.

Photo 41.

Photo 42.

Photo 43.

Photo 44.

Photo 45.

Photo 46.

Photo 47.

Photo 48.

In the rays of the setting sun

Photo 50.

Photo 51.

Aaand diverge

Photo 53.

Photo 54.

Photo 55.

Passing by the stands

Photo 57.

Photo 58.

Photo 59.

Photo 60.

Landing

On a straight line

A little more and alignment

Photo 64.

and he keeps flying and flying

Landing available

And he also turns around and walks past us into the parking lot.

Photo 68.

In total, about 14,583 Hurricanes were built in various modifications. I have not found how many aircraft similar to ours were built.

This pilot flies more than one plane in this show.

Our aircraft is equipped with a Merlin III (RM 1S) engine with a take-off power of 880 hp. at 3,000 rpm and a combat power of 1,310 hp. at 3,000 rpm at 2,743 m (9,000 ft) with 100 octane gasoline and 1.86 at (+ 12 psi) boost (5-minute limitation). This is a modification of the Merlin II with a universal propeller hub, allowing the installation of de Havilland and Rotol propellers. Later, similar engines on the Sea Hurricane aircraft developed 1,440 hp. at 3,000 rpm, with 2.14 at (+ 16 psi) boost at an altitude of 1,676 m (5,500 ft). When using 87-octane gasoline, the power figures were the same as those of the Merlin II. The first production Merlin III was delivered on July 1, 1938.

Our Z7015 aircraft was built in Canada by Canadian Car and Foundry as the Hawker Hurricane Mk.1A and made its first flight on January 18, 1941. After being shipped to England and briefly stored, she was transferred to General Aircraft for conversion to Sea Hurricane 1B. She then entered service on 19 July on HMS Herron (RNAS Yeovilton) from where she was assigned to 880 Squadron based at St Merrin on 29 July. 1941. And together with her he went to the Orkney Islands. On October 7, the squadron left the islands to continue service on HMS Indomitable. Somewhere during the flight, our aircraft was damaged and therefore did not begin service. On April 5, 1942, our aircraft was taken to David Rosenfield ltd in Barton (Manchester) for restoration. On 7 December 1942, after restoration, it was transferred to the Naval Fighter School (759) on HMS Heron and in the autumn of 1943 transferred to Loughborough College as a training aircraft.

In 1961, Z7015 along with the Spitfire AR501 were traded for the Jet Provost prototype belonging to the Shuttleworth collection. They were going to be brought into flying condition for participation in the film about the Battle of Britain, but the work turned out to be too ambitious. It was only in January 1986 that the team was able to complete the restoration of the Spitfire after two unsuccessful attempts. And only on September 16, 1995, our plane made its first flight after restoration. At the moment it is the only flying aircraft in the world equipped with a Merlin III engine.

Performance characteristics (Hurricane Mk.IB)
Crew: 1
Length: 32 ft 3 in (9.84 m)
Wingspan: 40 ft 0 in (12.19 m)
Height: 13 ft 1½ in (4.0 m)
Wing area: 257.5 ft² (23.92 m²)
Empty weight: 4670 lb
Loaded weight: 6800 lb
Engine: 1 × Rolls-Royce Merlin III (RM 1S) liquid V-12, 1,030 hp.
Max speed: 296 mph at 16300 ft
Range: 600 mi (965 km)
Altitude: 36,000 ft (10,970 m)
Rate of climb: 2,780 ft/min (14.1 m/s)
Weapons:
Guns: 8 × 0.303 in Browning machine guns

Hurricanes were the first Allied combat aircraft to arrive in the USSR. On August 28, 1941, 24 Hurricane IIB fighters took off from the deck of the Argus aircraft carrier and then landed at Vaenga airfield near Murmansk. The vehicles were part of the 151st wing (regiment) of the British Air Force, sent to help Soviet units in the Arctic. After some time, they were joined by 15 more Hurricanes, delivered by cargo ships to the Arkhangelsk port and assembled there by the British. Subsequently, these fighters were transferred to the 78th IAP of the Northern Fleet Air Force. This handful of Hurricanes was followed by a strong flow (more than 3000) of aircraft of this type, built by British and Canadian factories.

The Hurricane fighter began to be designed at the Hawker company under the leadership of chief designer Sidney Camm in 1933. Two and a half years later, the aircraft was tested and began mass production in October 1937. For its time it was certainly a progressive design. It included almost all the features characteristic of monoplane fighters of the so-called “new wave”, the first representative of which was the Soviet I-16 N.N. Polikarpova is a low-wing aircraft with retractable landing gear and an enclosed cockpit. Of the new products of that time, Camm did not use only an all-metal structure with a load-bearing skin - the Hurricane had a fuselage frame made of steel pipes with internal braces (approximately the same design as our Yak-1). By the time it arrived in our country, the aircraft had undergone numerous changes. It was successively equipped with a ventral fin to improve spinning properties, jet exhaust pipes, and a two-bladed fixed-pitch propeller was replaced with a three-bladed automatic propeller. However, these modifications could not eliminate the gap between the Hurricane and its main opponent, the German fighter Messerschmitt Bf 109, which was revealed from the very beginning of World War II. The installation of a more powerful and high-altitude Merlin XX engine with a two-speed supercharger (instead of the Merlin) did not help either. III). Although the Hurricane was named one of the five most important aircraft types given priority in Britain in 1941, there was a clear tendency in production for these aircraft to be replaced by the more advanced Spitfires. Since the fall of 1941, the Hurricanes were gradually reoriented to the functions of fighter-bombers, attack aircraft and tactical reconnaissance aircraft; they were also used in secondary theaters of military operations far from the metropolis.

The British also considered the Soviet Union to be such a secondary theater. Following the “first signs” from the Argus, containers with more and more Hurricanes began to arrive on ships of northern convoys. Subsequently, these fighters entered our country through Iran. Total for 1941-1944 (Hurricanes were discontinued in 1944) the USSR received 3,082 fighters of this type (including 2,834 military aircraft). We were sent at least 210 vehicles of modification IIA, 1557 - IIB and similar Canadian X, XI, XII (manufactured by Canadian Car and Foundry and were partially equipped with American equipment), 1009-IIC, 60-IID and 30-type IV. Some of the Type IIA fighters were actually conversions of old Type I aircraft carried out by Rolls-Royce. In the fall of 1942, we also received one Sea Hurricane I (number V6881), the so-called “catafighter”. This aircraft ejected from the Empire Horn transport while covering the ships of convoy PQ-18 and landed in Arkhangelsk. 37 Hurricanes IIB of the 151st wing were officially transferred to the Soviet side in October 1941. And even before that, on September 22, 1941, by a commission of the Air Force Research Institute chaired by Colonel K.A. Gruzdev, the first Hurricane (number Z2899), delivered to our country “directly,” was accepted. The commission made its conclusion only on the basis of an inspection of the car, since only the next day instructions and descriptions were sent to the USSR. The report stated that the plane was far from new, it was shabby, it was missing a launch handle, a watch, and ammunition. This case was no exception - for the first batches of Hurricanes this was the norm. Specialists involved in the acceptance of British equipment noted that many fighters (unlike those arriving from the USA) needed refurbishment and repair. There were cars whose flight hours exceeded 100 hours. The Soviet workers who opened the boxes were especially outraged by even the unpainted Finnish swastika emblazoned on the sides and fuselages of some Hurricanes. Several reserve regiments and training units were involved in retraining pilots and manning Hurricane units. The first of these were the 27th Regiment, located in the Vologda area (Kadnikov airfield) and parts of the 6th Regiment, stationed in Ivanovo. At first, English pilot instructors, engineers and mechanics worked there.

The introduction of Hurricanes began in the north. There, from November-December 1941, the 72nd, 78th, 152nd and 760th regiments began combat operations, operating in Karelia and the Kola Peninsula. Their pilots mastered these machines with the help of naval aviation pilots trained by the British in the squadrons of the 151st wing.

The first cases of combat use of Hurricanes at the front revealed a large number of shortcomings. The biggest criticism was caused by the Hurricanes' armament - the 8-12 7.69 mm machine guns did not cause significant damage to armored German aircraft. Here is a typical example: in January 1942, three Hurricane IIBs from the 191st Regiment pursued a Junkers Ju 88 reconnaissance aircraft for 10 minutes, continuously pouring fire on it, but never shot it down. The reliability of the weapons was also low. In the cold, the locks of the machine guns located in the wing often froze, and the aircraft was rendered ineffective. The weakness of the weapons sometimes forced the pilots to resort to a ramming attack. So, on May 31, 1942, the future twice Hero of the Soviet Union Amet-Khan Sultan rammed a Junkers over Yaroslavl. The flight characteristics also did not cause much enthusiasm. According to tests carried out promptly at the Air Force Research Institute (the leading engineer was V.F. Bolotnikov, who participated in the acceptance of the first Hurricanes), in terms of speed, the Uragan - this is how the name of the fighter is translated into Russian - occupied an intermediate position between the I-16 and Yak-1. It was inferior to its main opponent in the North - the German Messerschmitt Bf 109E - in speed at low and medium altitudes (40-50 km/h) and in rate of climb. Only at altitudes of 6500-7000 meters did their capabilities become approximately equal. During a dive, the bulky Hurricane “parachuted,” which did not allow it to accelerate quickly. True, it could be credited with a small turning radius, which was achieved due to the low load on the wing, which made it possible to fight on horizontal planes. The Hurricane chassis was designed very poorly. Despite the fairly rear alignment, the fighter had a small hood angle - only 24°, taking into account braking (while according to the requirements of the Air Force Research Institute, at least 26.5° was required). It was even smaller in terms of ammunition and fuel consumption. When landing on the uneven ground of field airfields, the danger of crashing was very high. In this case, first of all, the wooden Rotol screw broke - unlike Soviet metal ones, it was practically impossible to repair. The Hurricane could also be turned off while taxiing. This fighter had an unpleasant tendency to raise its tail when the engine was running (a similar property was observed in Soviet Yaks). To protect the car from troubles, one or two mechanics were often placed on the rear of the fuselage. Sometimes they did not have time to jump off in time and involuntarily rose into the sky. The British also had such a case - in the 151st wing they crashed one of their Hurricanes in this way, killing two mechanics and wounding the pilot. The combat effectiveness of the Hurricanes was also declining due to a shortage of spare parts. The biggest shortage was wooden propellers. They not only broke during capping, cracked when hit by bullets, but were also damaged by stones sucked up during takeoff. At times, up to 50% of delivered aircraft were laid up due to propellers. Ultimately, in March-April 1942, the Soviet Union began producing spare blades for English propellers. At times, the loss of combat effectiveness of the Hurricanes reached terrifying levels. In the spring of 1942, due to the lack of a number of parts and components, only two of the 18 Hurricanes of the 488th IAP could take off. And in November 1942, the 122nd Air Force, covering Murmansk, could count on three combat-ready fighters out of its 69 aircraft. While mastering English cars, Soviet personnel were faced with unusual miles, feet and gallons marked on instrument dials. The “breaking” control knob was also unusual - all this took some getting used to.

However, Hurricane should not be seen only in a black light. This fighter also had certain advantages. Despite some bulkiness, the aircraft turned out to be simple and easy to fly. The load on the handle was small, and the steering trim was effective. The Hurricane easily and steadily performed various maneuvers, being quite accessible to moderately qualified pilots, which was important in wartime conditions. Our pilots also liked the spacious cabin with good visibility. A big plus was the complete radio coverage of the incoming Hurricanes (remember that on Soviet fighters of that time, transmitters were supposed to be installed on every third aircraft, but in reality this was not carried out). But the English radios were battery-powered (although batteries were also installed on the plane), and in winter, especially in the north, their charge was only enough for 1.5-2 hours of operation, no matter how our mechanics wrapped them up. It should be taken into account that a significant part of the Hurricanes arrived in the Soviet Union at the end of 1941 - beginning of 1942, when our country's Air Force was experiencing an acute shortage of aircraft. The industry evacuated to the East reduced their output and did not even cover the losses at the front. Worn-out aircraft, often already out of service, were removed from civil aviation, training units and flying clubs and sent to the front. Compared to the I-15bis and, especially, the I-5, the Hurricane was a miracle of modern technology. But even taking into account all the advantages, the result was clear - the Hurricane was significantly inferior to enemy fighters - both the old Bf 109E, which still remained the main one on the northern sector of the front, and even more so the new Bf 109F. Therefore, after receiving these machines, they began to remake them according to their own understanding, trying, if not to eliminate, then at least to mitigate the main shortcomings of the English fighter. Already in the fall of 1941, in the 78th IAP, at the suggestion of its commander B.F. Safonov, the received vehicles were converted for Soviet weapons. Instead of four Brownings, they installed two 12.7 mm BK machine guns with a supply of 100 rounds per barrel and added two holders for 50 kg bombs. Firepower was also increased with four rockets. In January 1942, in the 191st IAP on the plane N.F. Kuznetsov was supplied with two ShVAK guns. Similar work was carried out in other units, and 4-6 RS-82 missiles were installed everywhere. The weak armor protection of the English fighter also caused criticism. Therefore, standard armored backs were often removed and replaced with Soviet ones. This was first done directly in the regiments (on the same Kuznetsov’s plane, for example, they installed a backrest from a crashed I-16), and then in the factory when replacing weapons, which will be discussed later.

In the winter of 1941-42. There were already quite a large number of Hurricanes at the front. By December 1941, the Northern Fleet Air Force alone had 70 such fighters. At the beginning of 1942, the 67th, 429th and 488th IAP were added to the regiments operating in the north in the Moscow region. The counteroffensive near Moscow was the first major operation in which Hurricanes took part. This first winter of war caused a lot of trouble for the regiments operating British fighters. It was noted that the charging fittings of the pneumatic system were clogged with dirt and ice (for some vehicles they were located in the wheel hub), ruptures or blockage of hoses and tubes, and failure of on-board air compressors. Weapons and elements of on-board equipment froze. To combat this, additional drain valves were cut into the mains, ensuring complete drainage of the cooling mixture and oil in the parking lot, and the pipelines, accumulators and batteries were insulated. The Rotol propellers that were installed on some series of Hurricanes froze at low pitch when the propeller stopped (the oil froze). To avoid this, a felt cap was placed on the screw hub under the spinner. The radiators in the parking lot were plugged with special pillows, and during the flight they blocked part of the radiator with an ordinary board, the dimensions of which were recommended to be selected “experimentally.” A number of difficulties were associated with an attempt to operate Hurricanes with water in the cooling system instead of the standard glycol mixture. To do this, a number of changes had to be made to the system: they removed the thermostat, adjusted to “glycol” and did not allow liquid with a temperature below 85 0 C to enter the radiator, removed the shunt pipe (bypassing the radiator) and turned off a number of secondary circuits, such as heating carburetor Subsequently, we switched to domestic antifreezes, which were more frost-resistant.

The massive appearance of Hurricanes on the Soviet-German front occurred in the spring and summer of 1942. They were used by naval aviation in the Northern and Baltic fleets, air force regiments operating on the Karelian, Kalinin, Northwestern, Voronezh fronts and air defense units in various regions of the country. The shortcomings of the Hurricanes were costly for Soviet pilots. The losses were very great. For example, in March 1942, on the Northwestern Front, two regiments armed with British fighters were exsanguinated by the Germans in less than a week of fighting. At the same time, the 3rd Guards suffered very heavy losses. IAP of the Baltic Fleet Air Force while covering the Nevskaya Dubrovka bridgehead near Leningrad. Insufficient speed and poor vertical maneuver characteristics forced the battle formations to be compacted as much as possible and to engage fighters only on horizontal lines. There are known cases when, when German fighters appeared, Hurricanes formed a defensive circle and did not even try to attack. In the difficult year of 1942, about 8% of the fighters lost by our Air Force were Hurricanes, which exceeded their share in the total fleet. In the hands of skilled pilots, these machines achieved significant combat successes even in conditions of numerical superiority of the enemy. For example, in April 1942, four Hurricanes from the 485th IAP under the command of Lieutenant Bezverkhny boldly entered into battle with ten Bf 109s. The result of the battle: three Germans and two Hurricanes were shot down. On June 19, seven fighters from the same regiment, led by its commander G.V. Zimin, attacked 12 Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers over the Ramushevsky corridor, which were covered by 15 Messerschmitts. Ten German planes and one of ours were shot down. However, the skill and heroism of the pilots alone was not enough. In March 1942, the Soviet command decided to completely modernize the Hurricanes' weapons, bringing them in line with the requirements of the time. For comparative tests, three versions of the modified Hurricane were manufactured: with four 20-mm ShVAK cannons, two ShVAK and two U BT heavy machine guns (in the turret version, which, apparently, was due to a more convenient installation in the weapons bay) and finally with four drill collars. The latter option gave a gain in weight without compromising other characteristics, but the second one was accepted as the main one, which can be explained by the lack of large-caliber machine guns in the spring of 1942. The Hurricane's weapons modernization program also provided for the installation of bomb racks under the wings and six guides for the RS-82. Initially, it was planned that modifications to the Hurricane would be carried out in Gorky. But the local aircraft plant was fully loaded with Lavochkin fighters, so conversion to domestic weapons was carried out at the Moscow aircraft plant No. 81 (pilots received the aircraft directly at the central airfield) and in the Moscow region, in Podlipki, in the workshops of the 6th IAP Air Defense. There, both aircraft newly received from the British and those that had already been at the front were finalized. Brigades from plant No. 81 also carried out this operation at airfields near Moscow in Kubinka, Khimki, Monino, and Yegoryevsk. At these bases, the 6th Air Defense Forces rearmed aircraft that could not be transported to the factory due to various malfunctions. New powerful weapons expanded the Hurricane's capabilities both in air combat and in operations against ground targets. It must be said that the Hurricane was quite often used as a fighter-bomber and partly as an attack aircraft. This was facilitated by a number of its features. The Hurricane, equipped with domestic weapons and carrying two FAB-100 bombs, was easy to control; take-off performance deteriorated only slightly, and the speed decreased by 42 km/h. The plane was resilient - once A.L. Kozhevnikov’s car from the 438th IAP received 162 holes, but, nevertheless, the pilot managed to land safely at his airfield. Successful bombing attacks by Hurricanes have been noted more than once. In the summer of 1942, aircraft of the 191st IAP (which had Soviet weapons) smashed a German convoy near Novy Oskol to smithereens with cannons and missiles. And in August 1943, Hurricanes, together with Il-2s, bombed a German airfield in the Luostari area, destroying 11 fighters and one Junkers Ju 52/3m transport aircraft. Air Force fighter regiments were often involved in such operations, but in some places Hurricanes were also available in purely assault regiments, for example, in the 65th in the north. Standing somewhat apart are the “anti-tank” modifications IID and IV with 40-mm cannons in hanging containers, which arrived in our country through Iran at the beginning of 1943. We know little about their use; the authors can only add that they were used in the spring of 1943 in battles in the North Caucasus. A serious test for the Hurricanes was participation in the battles on the Don, and then on the distant approaches to Stalingrad. If in the North the Germans often used outdated equipment, then in the summer of 1942 they threw all the best they had to the south. It was there that the 235th nad was urgently transferred under the command of Lieutenant Colonel I.D. Podgorny. It first included the 191st, 436th and 46th regiments, to which the 180th IAP was later added - all of them were equipped only with Hurricanes. At the beginning of June the division was ready for combat work. The political reports neatly spoke of “the distrust of the flight personnel in the Hurricanes.” Our aviation operated in extremely difficult conditions when the enemy dominated the air. In the first five days of July, the Hurricanes, despite constant relocations, shortages of gasoline and spare parts, shot down 29 aircraft The enemy was especially distinguished by senior political instructor Kh.M. Ibatulin, who personally shot down two enemy vehicles on July 1 and did not leave the battle, although the engine hood of his Hurricane was torn off. Part of the success of the British vehicles was due to their successful interaction with Soviet aircraft and the good training of the pilots. the division lost 17 Hurricanes in July, and the enemy lost at least twice as many combat vehicles. Gradually, both fighting sides increased the quality of the aircraft they threw into battle. The most modern modifications of the Yakovlevs and Lavochkins appeared over Stalingrad. "The lack of replacements led to the fact that British fighters gradually disappeared from the fleet of the 8th Air Force. As of August 1, there were only 11 of them left, of which three were combat-ready. This phenomenon was not local, but widespread. If on July 1, 1942, the Air Force had 202 Hurricanes, then in November there were only 130 left. They continued to play a noticeable role only in the northern sectors of the Soviet-German front. With the receipt of a significant number of modern aircraft from the aviation industry, Hurricanes gradually ceased to be used at the front as fighters. A small number of them were used as scouts and spotters. "Hurricanes" were converted into reconnaissance aircraft directly in units and, like similar English conversions, the TacR II modifications carried one plan camera (usually the AFA-I type) in the fuselage behind the pilot's seat. Such vehicles were used by both special reconnaissance regiments (for example, the 118th orap in the Northern Fleet) and conventional fighter regiments (3rd Guards IAP in the Baltic). The number of Hurricane spotters in total did not exceed two dozen. They were present on the Leningrad, Volkhov, and Kalinin fronts. At the Saratov Higher Aviation Glider School (SVAPSH), Hurricanes were converted to tow A-7 and G-11 landing gliders. They made several flights with gliders to the partisans. But the main area of ​​application of Hurricanes in the second half of the war was air defense units. Hurricanes began arriving there almost in December 1941. , but from the end of 1942 this process accelerated sharply. This was facilitated by the arrival from England of PS modification aircraft with four 20-mm Hispano cannons. The first of them. presumably, there was a fighter with the number BN428. At that time, not a single Soviet fighter had such powerful weapons (a second salvo was 5.616 kg). At the same time, tests of the Hurricane IIC showed that it is even slower than the IIB modification (due to its greater weight). It was completely unsuitable for fighting fighters, but it posed a considerable danger to enemy bombers. Therefore, it is not surprising that the majority of vehicles of this type delivered to the USSR ended up in air defense regiments. They were available, for example, to the 964th IAP, which provided cover in 1943-44. Tikhvin and Ladoga highway. If on July 1, 1943, there were 495 Hurricanes in the air defense, then on June 1, 1944, there were already 711. They served there throughout the war, and they had 252 enemy aircraft in combat. Full radio coverage made it possible to effectively guide aircraft by radio. So, on March 24, 1942, a Hurricane flight from the 769th IAP was directed at a group of eight Ju 87s and ten Bf 109s heading for Murmansk. Two Junkers were shot down, and the rest randomly dropped bombs on the hills west of the city and fled. And on November 29 of the same year, Major Molteninov from the 26th Guards. IAP, according to data from the RUS-2 ground radar transmitted by radio, found and destroyed a Heinkel He 111 bomber in the Kolpino area. In 1944, some vehicles of this type were used in air defense as illumination aircraft to repel night raids. Typically, the Hurricane took two SAB-100 flare bombs and dropped them, being 2000-2500 m above the enemy bombers. The attack was carried out by a strike group. Different air defense regiments kept two to four Hurricanes for this purpose. In 1944, even German intelligence officers no longer ventured deep into the country. But in Kalmykia, the Hurricane made its last combat mission on May 23. Four pilots from the 933rd IAP were assigned to find and destroy in the steppes a German Focke-Wulf FW 200 transport plane that had made an intermediate landing there. Having flown about 270 km, they found and set fire to this four-engine aircraft, and then supported the NKVD unit with fire, which captured the crew and passengers. . Some of our Hurricanes have undergone interesting modifications. There is a known variant with a rear movable rifle mount. Several Hurricanes (among which was HL665) were converted into two-seater trainers. In England, such machines were not built during the war - their pilot training methods were different. In the already mentioned SVAPSH they tried to put one Hurricane on skis; A.E. tested it. Augul. On this machine, the skis were not retracted in flight. And at the beginning of 1942, at plant No. 81, one of the fighters of the 736th IAP, delivered for repair, was equipped with a retractable ski landing gear. It was tested from February 5 to 15 at the Central Airfield. Letal V.A. Stepanchonok from the Air Force Research Institute, as well as pilots from the 10th Guards. IAP and 736th IAP. For all their shortcomings, the Hurricanes helped the Soviet Air Force survive the most difficult time, and then brought a lot of benefits. It is interesting, for example, the indirect impact of this machine on our aviation. On this aircraft, for the first time, our engineers were able to get a close look at one of the best engines of its time - the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. Reliable and economical, it had very high specific characteristics, but required equally highly qualified mechanics, precise adjustment and very “polite” handling. When they entered our country, the tanks of British fighters, especially at first, were filled with low-grade fuel and oils. The engines periodically stalled. The pilots of the 151st wing immediately encountered this: the first flight on a combat mission was disrupted - immediately after takeoff, the engines of both fighters that took off were cut off. It's good that the pilots managed to land safely. English engines were sensitive to sand and dust getting into the carburetor air intake, and this was common on sandy airfields in the Arctic. Anti-dust tropical filters were very useful here, although they “ate up” the speed. A thorough study of the “Englishman” prompted our specialists to come up with some thoughts on improving domestic machines. The person who tested the Hurricane's propeller-motor group, M.B. Chernobylsky drew attention to the peculiarities of the selection of screws. If for Soviet aircraft they were selected based on the condition of greatest efficiency at maximum speed, then on the Hurricane they were selected to obtain the best takeoff characteristics. It was noted that the diameter of the Rotola was 3.43 m versus 3.0 m for domestic fighters. In addition, on the Merlins, in order to improve take-off conditions in forced mode, both the speed and the boost were increased, and in domestic aircraft engines - only the latter. All these differences were subsequently taken into account when modifying the famous Il-2 with the AM-38F engine, which significantly improved the take-off characteristics of the attack aircraft and made it more climbable. And the design of the Merlin itself did not leave our specialists indifferent. In particular, it turned out that the range of permissible speed modes is approximately four times greater than that of the domestic M-105. On the agenda was the task of optimal selection of the motor operating mode for each propeller position. Her solution was the creation of a step-gas machine gun, which was put into service at the end of the war.

Designed under the direction of Sidney Camm, the Hurricane became the first in a new generation of British monoplane fighters to bear the brunt of the war in the West.

The project went through a long evolution - the car was originally conceived as a relatively simple conversion of the Fury biplane into a monoplane. Conceptual changes were gradually introduced, the main ones being the introduction of a new Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, a retractable landing gear and reinforced weapons (eight machine guns). The final appearance of the new aircraft was determined by specification F.36/34, where the aircraft was described as a “single-seat fighter-high-speed monoplane.” The Hurricane had a mixed fuselage structure (steel truss complemented by plywood frames and stringers) with duralumin skin in the front part and fabric skin in the tail. The wing was originally made of wood, but since the spring of 1940, all production Hurricanes received an all-metal wing.

The Hurricane prototype first flew on November 6, 1935. The designers had to overcome a number of problems that emerged during testing: enlarge the radiator, strengthen the canopy frame, slightly change the wing mechanization, etc. Although the plane did not reach the design speed of 560 km/h, showing only 507 km/h, it became the first British airplane , exceeding 300 mph (483 km/h). Maneuverability and handling were considered good. On June 3, 1936, the Ministry of Aviation ordered the first production batch - 600 Hurricanes.

COMBAT USE

Deliveries of Hurricanes to combat units began at the very end of 1937. By the beginning of World War II, the Royal Air Force had received 497 aircraft of this type. They were flown by 18 squadrons (AE). Already in September 1939, four AEs were sent as part of an expeditionary force to France. By the time the German Blitzkrieg began in the West on May 10, 1940, there were six Hurricane squadrons in France. British fighters covered the expeditionary force's attempt to advance into Belgium, and then its retreat to the English Channel coast. By the end of the campaign, 13 Hurricane squadrons were already fighting in France, but they could not prevent the Wehrmacht’s advance. Royal Air Force losses in France amounted to 261 Hurricanes, of which approximately 2/3 were damaged and abandoned during the retreat.

During the Battle of Britain, the Hurricane continued to be the main British fighter aircraft - at the beginning of July 1940, 28 AEs were flying these aircraft. Due to the fact that the aircraft was inferior in flight performance to the German Bf 109E, the Royal Air Force sought to use Hurricanes together with Spitfires: the former broke through to the bombers, the latter engaged the Messerschmitts in battle. By the end of September, 35 squadrons were already flying Hurricanes. Hurricane pilots accounted for 57% of enemy aircraft shot down during the Battle of Britain. Since the spring of 1941, Hurricanes actively participated in raids on the enemy coast. This task remained the main one for them until 1944. Aircraft armed with cannons (Mk IIC, Mk IID, Mk IV) were especially widely involved in such raids. In North Africa, units armed with Hurricanes participated in all campaigns until the surrender of Italo-German troops in Tunisia in 1943. In January 1942, such aircraft appeared in the Far East, fighting in Singapore and Sumatra. Hurricanes were used en masse in India and Burma: in August 1942, 11 aircraft armed with such aircraft operated in this theater of operations, and by June 1943 this number increased to 16. Hurricanes fought in Burma until the end of World War II , operating as fighter-bombers and attack aircraft.

In naval aviation, Sea Hurricanes were used from mid-1941 to cover convoys from merchant ships equipped with catapults.

From March to the fall of 1942, carrier-based Sea Hurricanes operated from the aircraft carriers Eagle and Indomitable, providing cover for Maltese convoys. They were much more widely used from escort aircraft carriers that escorted convoys. Sea Hurricane Mk NS aircraft from the aircraft carriers Avenger, Beiter and Desher took part in covering the Allied landing in Algeria in November 1942.

"HARRICANE" IN THE USSR

The largest operator of Hurricanes after Great Britain was the USSR, which received 3,082 such aircraft in the period 1941 to 1944. These were mainly Mk II, but also Mk IV (30 units) and Canadian Mk X and Mk XII. The first to go into battle on these aircraft in November - December 1941 were the 72nd and 78th Air Force regiments of the Northern Fleet, as well as the 152nd and 760th Leningrad Front. Many Hurricanes have undergone modifications aimed at strengthening their weapons. The standard installation was 4 x 12.7 mm UBT machine guns or 4 x 20 mm ShVAK cannons, or a combination of 2 x UBT and 2 x ShVAK.

The main area of ​​combat use of Soviet Hurricanes was the north, but since 1942 they have also been seen on other fronts. So, from the beginning of June 1942, the 235th IAD, armed with such aircraft, fought near Stalingrad. From the second half of 1942, most Hurricanes were sent to air defense regiments - on June 1, 1944, they had 711 such vehicles. At the front, their number quickly decreased: if on July 1, 1942, there were 202 Hurricanes, then in November there were only 130 left. Hurricanes were used longer in naval aviation - their powerful small arms and the ability to hang bombs were in demand for attacks on watercraft.

The 27th IAP of the Northern Fleet Air Force flew such machines until October 1944. The Hurricane did not have high flight performance, being inferior to its main enemy - the Bf 109E/F - in speed, climb rate, and maneuverability. But the British vehicle also had positive qualities: powerful armament (especially on cannon versions), strength and maintainability of the design. Thanks to this, the Hurricane went through almost the entire Second World War, transforming from a pure fighter into a fighter-bomber and attack aircraft.

MODIFICATIONS OF THE HAWKER HURRICANE AIRCRAFT

The Hawker Hurricane was undoubtedly one of the best fighter aircraft of World War II. During the Battle of Britain they destroyed more enemy aircraft than all ground and air defense forces combined.

During the serial production of Hurricanes in England, four main modifications were introduced into production, differing in engine brand, armament composition and other details. Three more modifications, produced in Canada, differed mainly in the installation of engines manufactured by the American company Packard. Finally, the designation “Sea Hurricane” was assigned to aircraft adapted for use from aircraft carriers.

MAIN MODIFICATIONS

Hurricane Mk I - Merlin II or III engine (1030 hp). Armament: eight 7.7-mm Browning Mk 1 machine guns (338 rounds of ammunition per barrel). Deliveries began in December 1937. Some of the early production aircraft were modified with the replacement of a two-blade fixed-pitch propeller with a three-blade variable propeller, a wooden wing with a metal one, improved armor protection and other modifications.

3,774 aircraft were produced in England. In addition to Great Britain, they were also built in Canada (166 aircraft with Merlin III engines were produced by the CCF 8 Montreal plant from January 1940), Yugoslavia (60 aircraft were ordered from the Zmaj plant and 40 from Rogozharsky, but they managed to set up production only at the first of them, which built 20 cars) and Belgium (Avions Fairy managed to deliver about a dozen cars).

Hurricane Mk IIA - Merlin XX engine (1460 hp). Tested since June 11, 1940, deliveries to units began in September 1940. 451 aircraft were produced, including 418 by Hawker and 33 by Gloucester.

Hurricane Mk IIB - armed with 12 x 7.7 mm machine guns. The suspension of two 166-liter PTBs was allowed. Produced since November 1940. From mid-1941, aircraft were equipped with bomb racks for 2 x 113 kg bombs. A total of 2,948 vehicles were produced (1,781 by Hawker, 867 by Gloucester, and 300 by Austin).

"Hurricane" Mk IIC - 4 x 20-mm "British Hispano" Mk II cannons are installed in the wing (total ammunition load is 364 rounds). Small-scale production began in February 1941, with full-scale production in May. The Hawker company built 4,711 aircraft - thus, this modification of the Hurricane became the most widespread.

Hurricane Mk IID is an anti-tank variant armed with 2 x 40 mm cannons and 2 x 7.7 mm machine guns. A small batch received Rolls-Royce BF guns (12 rounds of ammunition per barrel), but the majority were equipped with Vickers S guns (15 rounds). Tests began in September 1941, and production of production aircraft began in the spring of 1942. Hawker produced 296 aircraft.

"Hurricane" Mk IV (originally designated Mk IIE) - an assault version with reinforced armor and the ability to install both a standard wing (with machine guns or cannons) and a new reinforced wing, focused mainly on external suspension (bombs, NAR, containers with 40 -mm guns). Engine "Merlin" 24 or "Merlin" 27 (1260 hp). Serially produced by Hawker from April 1943 to July 1944, 774 vehicles were manufactured.

The Hurricane Mk III version with the Packard-Merlin 24 engine was not implemented, and the Hurricane Mk V attack aircraft with the Merlin 32 engine was built in only two copies.

Hurricane Mk X is a Canadian-made variant of the Mk I with a Packard-Merlin 28 engine and an American propeller. 268 aircraft were produced, of which 243 were delivered to the UK.

Hurricane Mk XI is an analogue of the Mk X with Canadian on-board equipment instead of British. 50 units produced.

Hurricane Mk XII - Packard-Merlin 29 engine. Armament - 8 (Mk XIIA) or 12 (Mk XIIB) 7.7 mm machine guns. 967 aircraft were produced.

Sea Hurricane Mk I is the designation for the conventional Hurricane Mk I fighter aircraft assigned to naval aviation. They did not have any special equipment for use from decks or catapults; they were used only from coastal airfields.

"Sea Hurricane" Mk IA - aircraft adapted for use with catapults installed on merchant ships (CAM-ships). Equipped with a catapult grip, an inflatable rescue boat and an automatic reset device for the cockpit canopy. Since the beginning of 1941, about 50 aircraft have been converted.

The Sea Hurricane Mk IB is a full-fledged carrier-based fighter for operation from aircraft carriers. Equipped with a brake hook. Converted by General Aircraft from standard Mk I Hurricanes.

"Sea Hurricane" Mk 1C - several dozen "Hurricane" Mk I, which, when converted into a deck version, received armament from 4 x 20-mm cannons.

Sea Hurricane Mk IIB, Mk IIC and Mk IIIA are deck-based versions of the corresponding Hurricane modifications. About 200 Hurricane Mk I and Mk II were converted into PR Mk II, TacR Mk II and FR Mk II photo reconnaissance aircraft.

The Hurricanes became the first Allied combat aircraft to arrive in the USSR. On August 28, 1941, 24 Hurricane IIB fighters took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier Argus and then landed at Vaenga airfield near Murmansk. The vehicles were part of the 151st wing of the British Air Force, sent to help Soviet units in the Arctic. After some time, they were joined by 15 more Hurricanes, delivered by cargo ships to the Arkhangelsk port. Following the “first signs” from the Argus, containers with more and more Hurricanes began to arrive on ships of northern convoys. Subsequently, these fighters entered our country through Iran. In total, in 1941-44, the USSR received 3,082 aircraft of this type (including 2,834 military aircraft).

We were sent at least 210 vehicles of modification II A, 1557 - II B and similar Canadian X, XI and XII, 1009 - II C, 60 - 110 and 30 - type IV. Part II A of the Hurricanes were actually conversions of old Type I aircraft carried out by Rolls-Royce. In the fall of 1942, we also received one Sea Hurricane, ejected from one of the transports of the PQ-18 convoy and landed in Arkhangelsk. 37 Hurricanes II B of the 151st wing were officially handed over to the Soviet side in October 1941. And even before that, on September 22, 1941, the Air Force Research Institute commission chaired by Colonel K.A. Gruzdev accepted the first Hurricane (number 22899) , delivered to our country “directly”. The commission made its conclusion only on the basis of an inspection of the car, since only the next day instructions and descriptions were sent to the USSR. The report stated that the plane was far from new, shabby, and lacked a launch handle, watch and ammunition. This case was no exception - on the contrary, for the first batches of Hurricanes this was the norm.

According to tests carried out promptly at the Air Force Research Institute, in terms of speed the vehicle occupied an intermediate position between the I-16 and the Yak-1. Its main opponent in the North, the German Bf-109E, was inferior in speed at low and medium altitudes (40-50 km/h) and in rate of climb. Only at altitudes of 6500 - 7000 m did their capabilities become approximately equal. During a dive, the bulky Hurricane “parachuted,” which did not allow it to accelerate quickly. True, it could be credited with a small turning radius, which was achieved due to the low load on the wing, which made it possible to fight on horizontal planes. From the Soviet point of view, the chassis was designed very unsuccessfully. Despite the fairly rear alignment, the hood angle was only 24 degrees. taking into account braking, while our Air Force Research Institute determined a minimum of 26.5 degrees. It became even smaller as ammunition and fuel were consumed. Therefore, when landing on uneven ground at field airfields, the risk of overcrowding was very high. In this case, first of all, the wooden blades of the Rotol propeller broke; Unlike metal ones, they were almost beyond repair.

The Hurricane could also be turned off while taxiing. This fighter had an unpleasant tendency to raise its tail when the engine was running (a similar property was observed in domestic Yaks). To protect the car from trouble, one or two mechanics were often stationed at the rear of the fuselage.

The combat effectiveness of the Hurricanes was also reduced due to a shortage of spare parts. The biggest shortage was Rotol propellers. They not only broke during capping, cracked when hit by bullets, but were also damaged by stones sucked up during takeoff. At times, up to 50% of delivered aircraft were laid up due to propellers. Ultimately, in March - April 1942, the Soviet Union began producing spare blades for English propellers. However, Hurricane should not be seen only in a black light. Our pilots discovered certain advantages in this fighter. Despite some bulkiness, the plane turned out to be simple and easy to fly. The load on the handle was small, and the rudder trimmers were effective. The Hurricane easily and steadily performed various maneuvers, being quite accessible to moderately qualified pilots, which was important in wartime conditions. Our pilots also liked the spacious cabin with good visibility.

A big plus was the complete radio coverage of the incoming Hurricanes (let me remind you that on Soviet fighters of that time transmitters were supposed to be installed on every third aircraft, but in reality this was not carried out). But the English radios were battery-powered (although a battery was installed on the plane) and in winter, especially in the north, their charge was only enough for 1.5-2 hours of operation, even though our mechanics did not cover them. But even taking into account all the advantages, the result was clear - at the end of 1941, the Hurricane was significantly inferior to enemy fighters. Therefore, after receiving these machines, they began to remake them according to their own understanding, trying, if not to eliminate, then at least to mitigate the main shortcomings of the English fighter. Already in the fall of 1941 in the 78th IAP, at the suggestion of its commander B.F. Safonov, the resulting aircraft were converted to suit Soviet weapons. Instead of four Brownings, they installed two UBK 2.7 mm machine guns with a supply of 100 rounds per barrel and added two holders for 50 kg bombs. The firepower was also reinforced with four RS-82 rockets.

In January 1942, the 191st IAP was equipped with two ShVAK cannons on N.F. Kuznetsov’s plane. Similar work was carried out in other units, and 4-6 rockets were installed everywhere. The Hurricane's weak armor protection also caused criticism. Therefore, standard armored backs were often removed and replaced with Soviet ones. This was first done directly in the regiments (on the same Kuznetsov’s plane, for example, they installed a backrest from a crashed I-16), and then in the factory when replacing weapons, which will be discussed later. This first winter of war caused a lot of trouble for the regiments operating British fighters.

It was noted that the charging fittings of the pneumatic system were clogged with dirt and ice (for some vehicles they were located in the wheel hub), ruptures or blockage of hoses and tubes, and failure of on-board air compressors. Weapons and elements of on-board equipment froze. To combat this, additional drain valves were cut into the mains, ensuring complete drainage of the cooling mixture and oil in the parking lot, and the pipelines, accumulators and batteries were insulated. The Rotol propellers froze at low pitch while parked (the oil froze). To avoid this, a felt cap was placed on the screw hub under the spinner. The radiators in the parking lot were plugged with special pillows, and during the flight they blocked part of the radiator with an ordinary board, the dimensions of which were recommended to be selected “experimentally.”

A number of difficulties were associated with attempting to operate the Hurricane with water in the cooling system instead of glycol. To do this, a number of changes had to be made to the system: they removed the thermostat, adjusted to “glycol” and did not allow liquid with a temperature below 85 degrees to enter the radiator, removed the shunt pipe (bypassing the radiator) and turned off a number of secondary circuits, such as, for example, carburetor heating. Subsequently, we switched to domestic antifreezes, which were more frost-resistant.

In March 1942, the Soviet command decided to completely modernize the Hurricanes' weapons, bringing them in line with the requirements of the time. For comparison, three versions of the modified Hurricane were made: with four 20-mm ShVAK cannons, two ShVAK and two heavy-caliber UBT machine guns (in the turret version, which, apparently, was due to a more convenient installation in the weapons compartment) and, finally, with four drill collars. The latter option gave a gain in weight without compromising other characteristics, but the second one was accepted as the main one, which could be explained by the lack of large-caliber machine guns in the spring of 1942. Moreover, the first batches were produced with four ShVAKs. The Hurricane's weapons modernization program also provided for the installation of bomb racks and six guides for the RS-82 under the wings.

Initially, it was planned that the Hurricanes would be finalized in Gorky. But the local aircraft plant was fully loaded with Lavochkin fighters, so conversion to domestic weapons was carried out at Moscow plant No. 81 and in the Moscow region, in Podlipki, in the workshops of the 6th Air Defense Forces. There, both aircraft newly received from the British and those that had already been at the front were finalized. Brigades from plant No. 81 also carried out this operation at airfields near Moscow in Kubinka, Khimki, Monin and Yegoryevsk. At these bases, the 6th Air Defense Forces re-equipped vehicles that could not be transported to the factory due to various malfunctions. New powerful weapons expanded the Hurricane's capabilities both in air combat and in operations against ground targets.

It must be said that the Hurricane was quite often used as a fighter-bomber and partly as an attack aircraft. This was facilitated by a number of its features. The Hurricane, equipped with domestic weapons and carrying two FAB-100 bombs, was easy to control; take-off performance deteriorated only slightly, and the speed decreased by 42 km/h. The plane was tenacious - once A.L. Kozhevnikov’s car from the 438th IAP received 162 holes, but, nevertheless, the pilot managed to land safely at his airfield. Successful bombing attacks by Hurricanes have been noted more than once.

With the receipt of a significant number of modern aircraft from industry, Hurricanes gradually ceased to be used at the front as fighters. A small number of them were used as close reconnaissance and spotters. "Hurricanes" were converted directly in units and, like their English counterparts, carried one plan camera (usually the AFA-I type) in the fuselage behind the pilot's seat. Such
The vehicles were used by both special reconnaissance regiments (for example, the 118th Orap in the Northern Fleet) and conventional fighter regiments (3rd Guards IAP in the Baltic). The total number of Hurricane spotters did not exceed two dozen. They were present on the Leningrad, Volkhov, and Kalinin fronts. At the Saratov Higher Aviation Glider School (SVAPSH), Hurricanes were converted to tow A-7 and G-11 landing gliders. They made several flights with gliders to the partisans.

But the main area of ​​application of Hurricanes in the second half of the war was air defense units. Hurricanes began arriving there in December 1941, but from the end of 1942 this process accelerated sharply. This was facilitated by the arrival of modification II C aircraft from England. The first of them, presumably, was a fighter with the number B428. At that time, not a single Soviet fighter had such powerful weapons as four 20mm cannons. At the same time, tests of the Hurricane II C at the Air Force Research Institute reasonably showed that it is even slower than the II B due to its heavy weight. It was completely unsuitable for fighting fighters, but it could still pose a considerable danger to enemy bombers. Therefore, it is not surprising that the majority of vehicles of this type delivered to the USSR ended up in air defense regiments. They were available, for example, to the 964th IAP, which covered the Tikhvin and Ladoga highway in 1943-44. If on July 1, 1943, there were 495 Hurricanes in the air defense, then on June 1, 1944, there were already 711. They served there throughout the war, and they had 252 enemy aircraft in combat.

In 1944, some of the Hurricanes were used in air defense as illuminator aircraft to repel night raids. Typically, a vehicle of this type took two SAB100 flare bombs and dropped them while at 2000-2500 m
higher than enemy bombers. The attack was carried out by a strike group. Different air defense regiments kept two to four Hurricanes for this purpose.

Some of our Hurricanes have undergone interesting modifications. Several cars were converted into two-seater training ones. They were made in different places and almost all of them were different from each other. For example. The version, created in the 30th aircraft workshop in the Northern Fleet, had a second cabin on the site of the former gargrot. The instructor protected himself from the wind only with a bent plexiglass visor. To improve visibility, the canopy of the front cabin, where the trainee was sitting, was also removed. A variant with a rear mobile rifle mount is known. In 1943, prototypes of the cargo and ambulance Hurricanes were produced.

Considering the conditions of the Russian winter, we tried to put English fighters on skis. In the already mentioned SVAPSH, one aircraft was equipped with non-retractable skis. This machine was tested by A.E.Augul. And at the beginning of 1942, at plant No. 81, one of the fighters of the 736th IAP, delivered for repair, was equipped with a ski landing gear that was retractable in flight. It was tested from February 5 to 15 at the Central Airfield. V.A. Stepanchonok from the Air Force Research Institute flew, as well as pilots from the 10th Guards. IAP and 736th IAP. The shortage of spare Merlin engines in the first half of the war and the desire to improve the fighter’s flight performance by changing the power plant gave rise to a number of projects to equip the Hurricane with Soviet M-105, AM-37A, M88B engines. M-82A. None of them were brought to fruition.

After the victory over Germany, Hurricanes quickly disappeared from the ranks of Soviet military aviation, they were completely replaced by more modern domestic and imported fighters. For some time, British aircraft were used in the civil air fleet as high-speed mail and service aircraft, but they did not serve long in this role. This is where the story of the Soviet Hurricanes ended.