Hawker Hurricane Mk.I of FARR

Hi everybody.

My name is Honza Matejny and I live in the Czech Republic in Ostrava- city.
I am enthusiast for small air forces from 1935 to 1945. I have two problems-questions for you.
1) Had Hawkers Hurricane I of FARR with numbers from 1 to 12 (from Hawker – British production) fabric-covered wing or metal wing?
2) Had Hawkers Hurricane I of FARR with numbers from 13 to 15 (from Zmaj – Yugoslavian production) fabric-covered wing or metal wing?

I am glad, that you answer me soon.

Best regards, Honza from the Czech Republic.

Honza, a quick search through the forum for the word 'Hurricane' reveals several threads already dedicated for the Hurricane in ARR (not FARR!) service, notably this one: http://www.worldwar2.ro/forum/index.php?sh...57&hl=hurricane

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on November 14, 2008 01:36 pm

Hi Honza
The story of the "fabric versus metal wing" Hurricanes was discussed a while ago on this forum. see the links posted by Denes.
1) Hawker Hurricanes 1 to 12 had metal wings. A very good indicator to identify fabric versus metal wings is to look in photos for the position of the landing light in the leading edges of the wings. On fabric wings, the landing light is very close to the gun ports. On metal wings, the landing light is further outboard. The distance between the outermost gun port and the light is roughly the same as the distance between the first and fourth gun port. Most photos of Romanian Hurricanes show the leading edges quite well and it is very evident that the light is far outboard.

2) Hawker Hurricanes 13 to 15 are very camera shy. There is a known photo of one of these airplanes burnt out and you can see that the wings are fabric covered.
Now, this tell us that at least one was fitted with fabric wings.

HTH
Radu

PS Aeronautica Romana was not a "small airforce" but rather a "belittled airforce".

And on this foto is Hawker-Zmaj Hurricane of ARR??

Very thanks for all answers.H.M.

The metal wing for the Hurricane was the same as that that had been envisaged for Henley dive-bomber variant. The first Hurricane with metal wings (L1877) was flown on 28th April 1939. Production was slow and the last fabric wing Hurricane left Brooklands as late as March 1940. By August 1939 only 12 sets of metal wings had been built. Production did not begin to increase until September 1939. As the 12 Hurricanes exported to Rumania were prepared for shipment in August 1939 it is highly unlikely that any of these were fitted with the few metal wings available at the that time QED.

It match with the number exported to Romania.

Likely or unlikely all 12 Romanian Hurricane had metal wings there is no more argue about this.
Only the 3 Zmaj built Hurricanes were with fabric wings.[B]

This post has been edited by Cantacuzino on November 15, 2008 02:29 am

As Cantacuzino said above, there is overwhelming evidence that proves without any shadow of a doubt that the 12 Hurricanes purchased from the UK had metal wings. There are photographs that clearly show the position of the landing light, rivets, chipped paint revealing the metal underneath and the distinctive shape of the gun bay covers. You do not have to take our word for it, please have a look for yourself here:







All photos are from the link posted above.


Honza wrote: And on this foto is Hawker-Zmaj Hurricane of ARR??

Here is the photo



It is from this thread: http://www.worldwar2.ro/forum/index.php?sh...66&hl=zmaj&st=0

Hope this helps,
Radu