A dream to fly

Undeniably the Hawker Hurricane has suffered the fate of the less pretty sister. It is the Spitfire, at once beautiful and deadly, that is forever the star of 1940, firmly lodged in the British military pantheon, beside the longbow and HMS Victory, and the Hurricane is in the shadow. Yet it did more of the work, in greater numbers, and with more victories in the Battles of France and Britain. It too was loved and admired.

Leo McKinstry, after his definitive books on the Spitfire and the Lancaster, sets out to repair this reputational injustice. His subtitle, ‘Victor of the Battle of Britain’, states the claim clearly. Hurricanes made up 63 per cent of Fighter Command’s strength in the Battle and were responsible for 61 per cent of Luftwaffe losses: ‘Without it the thin blue line of defenders would have been too thin to hold.’

Hawker produced 14,533 Hurricanes up to July 1944.