Building The Vintage Model Company Hawker Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane was designed by Sydney Camm of the Hawker Aircraft Company to comply with specifications issued by the British government as it reacted to the re-armament of the German Luftwaffe prior to World War 2. The other aircraft designed to meet these specifications was the more famous, and arguably more glamorous, Supermarine Spitfire. Both aircraft used the now legendary Rolls Royce Merlin engine, but had little else in common. Unlike the complicated Spitfire, the much larger Hurricane used basic and established production techniques that made them simple and relatively cheap to manufacture, as well as making them easier to repair by ground crew in the field. Although the faster more elegant Spitfire took more of the plaudits, the Hurricane was the workhorse and in truth it downed more enemy aircraft in total than the Spitfire. In the fight against Luftwaffe bombing raids on Britain the two planes were an effective combination with the Spitfires attacking the fighter escort and the Hurricanes attacking the bombers themselves. Over 14,500 Hurricanes had been manufactured at the Hawker Aircraft Company and in shadow factories in the UK and Canada by the time production ceased in 1944. This example with the markings P2992 was used by 527 (Calibration) Sqn, RAF for gun calibration. This model took me around 80 hours to complete.