Hawker Hurricane Mk-VIIIn 1940 there was a sense that within the Air
Ministry that the modern RAF aircraft like the Hurricane, Spitfire and
Lancaster were too dependent on the Rolls Royce Merlin engine. Any
disruption in Merlin production would put a lot of aircraft
manufacturers in trouble.
So manufacturers were asked to develop variant of
their aircraft with different engines. Hawker came up with a radial
engined Hurricane, powered by the Bristol Hercules engine delivering
1350hp.
The lower weight of the engine compensated for the
less streamlined form of the aircraft. In May 1940 full scale
production was ordered as the Hurricane Mk VII. The first unit equipped
with the radial Hurricane was 320 squadron which flew with Dutch
pilots. |