Flying a legend Hawker Hurricane

Flight Journal, Aug 1999 by Griffith, Dan

Hurricane! What a wonderful name; it evokes the symbolism of the word itself and

the feeling of history it recalls. It's the airplane that-even more than the muchvaunted Spitfire-kept the Luftwaffe at bay during the desperate summer of 1940. The Hawker Hurricane and its pilots were more than central players in the drama known as the Battle of Britain; they were essential safeguards of the freedom we now enjoy.

As you walk out to such a rare piece of history with the intention of actually flying it, a thousand historic images tumble thruugh your mind and make it difficult to describe your thoughts. The excitent starts as you begin to take in the Hurricane's beautiful lines. The walk around is completed in a blur; you stop only to consider its wartime appearance.

Getting into the cockpit is tricky; without a fold-down door (like the Spitfire's), you almost feel as if you have to scale Mount Everest to get in. Once in the cockpit, however, it has a good feel: not too much room, familiar instruments and a comparatively good view over the nose (for this class of aircraft). The rearward view is rather limited because of the fuselage's characteristic rear "hump." The cockpit has no noor, so a look down gives a good view of the gear wheel wells and the fuselage's inside. Mounted in the tops of the wheel wells are two very useful windows that allow you to watch the function of the gear. Looking behind the seat, you can see inside the fuselage rear, and you marvel at the glorious, intricate wooden construction as it fills out the steel-tube structure to give the fuselage its very characteristic shape.

After completing a left-to-right cockpit check to make sure that all the switches and controls are in the right places, you prime the engine (seven to nine pumps), select the "mags" on and press the booster coil for two seconds before also pressing the starter button. As that big prop grinds around in a halting dance, your left arm is busy vigorously pumping the priming pump. After three to five pumps, the Merlin bursts into song. There is nothing like the sound of a Merlin; in the Hurricane, it has a distinctively harsh soundsubtly different from its sound in a Mustang or Spitfire because of the shape of its exhaust stacks. The engine takes some time to warm up, and that allows the after-start checks to be completed and the brakes' pneumatic pressure to build up sufficiently to taxi. When you're sure the brakes are solid, you check the engine with two men sitting "on the tail" because the Hurricane has a tendency to nose over at a high power setting. When taxiing, a gentle weave is required to get a good view of the path ahead.

The brake system is similar to most of the British designs of the day. Its operation involves using a brake lever on the control grip to apply brake pressure to the wheels. This pressure is applied to the wheels in varying amounts, depending on the position of the rudder bar! If the rudder bar is central, pressure is applied to both wheels; if the rudder is displaced, say, to the left, more brake pressure will go to that wheel, and the aircraft will turn in that direction.

The most important pre-takeoff check is to set the rudder trim to full right; this, along with the offset fin, helps to counteract the nose swing on takeoff. Once lined up for takeoff, it is time to final-check the pressures and temperatures and see that all controls have been set properly.

Opening the throttle unleashes the roar of the Merlin, which, at 2,850rpm plus 42 to 44 inches of boost (a P-51 uses 55 to 61 inches in the same situation), is quite mesmerizing. The power from the Merlin accelerates the aircraft rapidly, particularly as it weighs only approximately 6,700 pounds at takeoff (compared with as much as 9,000 pounds for a P-51). During the takeoff run, the aircraft is surprisingly easy to control; the tremendous vortex produced by the propeller allows the tail to be lifted at about 40mph (55mph in a P-51), and the aircraft is airborne at approximately 80mph (110mph in a P-51).

Once airborne, you need to quickly get the gear up before you reach the 120mph VLE limit. This brings into play another very unusual piece of Hurricane equipment: the gear and flap selector. This is shaped like a large "H" and has a single selector lever that can be moved around the H cut-out-similar to the gearshift in a Corvette or another sports car. The "H"'s inboard vertical is the gear selector, and its outboard vertical is the flap selector. This is an ingenious way of preventing a pilot from using two hydraulic services at once and thereby ensuring satisfactory results from the hydraulic system. The particular unit fitted in the restorationdesignated G-HURR-was from the remains of an aircraft that flew in the Battle of Britain, and as such, it is of great sentimental value.

Climb speed is 140mph (175mph in a P-51) with 2,400rpm and 40 inches of boost. During the takeoff, and until the speed is increased and the power reduced, the aircraft is only marginally stable in pitch. Particularly during your first flight, this demands intense concentration and the utmost care. The technique does, however, quickly become natural, and the difficulty goes unnoticed during later takeoffs.