The Imperial War Museum has produced a super film all about the Hurricane.
I know there has been an ongoing debate about the virtues of both the Spitfire and the Hurricane, I think this film is a well-balanced view.
I am fortunate in that I worked with a WWII Hurricane pilot. He was engaged in bombing enemy merchant shipping and gained the nickname “it blew up before I got there sir”. He was following a squadron of other Hurricanes about third or forth in line towards an enemy ship, when suddenly the was an enormous explosion. What the smoke from the blast had cleared, the ship was completely destroyed, just planks of wood and other debris floating in the water. He never dropped his bomb.
His piloting career came abruptly to and end with a crash. He had no idea of the cause. He said there was just a loud bang, the plane stated shaking and vibrating. He said he knew he had to land, so headed for a small island. With no landing gear, he was skidding along the ground crashing though vegetation. He said his biggest fear was the plane hitting a rock and turning over. Fortunately, it didn’t but as it stopped it burst into flames and he was on fire.
As he was struggling to get out of the cockpit, he saw a very large angry looking man with a great big knife running towards him, he thought he was a goner. Luckily, the guy was a partisan who cut his harness free and pulled him straight out of the cockpit. Most of his upper torso was badly burned with the exception of where his harness was. He spent several week in hospital. The partisans eventually smuggled him home.
I can clearly remember the scars all over his arms and neck. He was a very nice, modest and friendly guy, quite unassuming for someone who had been though so much.
I know there has been an ongoing debate about the virtues of both the Spitfire and the Hurricane, I think this film is a well-balanced view.
I am fortunate in that I worked with a WWII Hurricane pilot. He was engaged in bombing enemy merchant shipping and gained the nickname “it blew up before I got there sir”. He was following a squadron of other Hurricanes about third or forth in line towards an enemy ship, when suddenly the was an enormous explosion. What the smoke from the blast had cleared, the ship was completely destroyed, just planks of wood and other debris floating in the water. He never dropped his bomb.
His piloting career came abruptly to and end with a crash. He had no idea of the cause. He said there was just a loud bang, the plane stated shaking and vibrating. He said he knew he had to land, so headed for a small island. With no landing gear, he was skidding along the ground crashing though vegetation. He said his biggest fear was the plane hitting a rock and turning over. Fortunately, it didn’t but as it stopped it burst into flames and he was on fire.
As he was struggling to get out of the cockpit, he saw a very large angry looking man with a great big knife running towards him, he thought he was a goner. Luckily, the guy was a partisan who cut his harness free and pulled him straight out of the cockpit. Most of his upper torso was badly burned with the exception of where his harness was. He spent several week in hospital. The partisans eventually smuggled him home.
I can clearly remember the scars all over his arms and neck. He was a very nice, modest and friendly guy, quite unassuming for someone who had been though so much.
