Hurricane
From Battleground Europe Wiki
Contents |
Hawker Hurricane Mk I
| |
| Hawker Hurricane Mk I | |
|---|---|
| Specifications | |
| Type | Fighter |
| Armament | 8 x .30 cal Machine Guns |
| Crew Positions | 1, pilot |
| Weight | 2,894 kg |
| Top Speed | 511 km/h |
History
The Hurricane was the only modern British fighter available in quantity at the beginning of the war. As Britain's first low-wing monoplane fighters design it was a huge leap forward for RAF's Fighter Command in 1938. Highly maneuverable the Hurricane enjoyed initial combat success as a pure fighter, but as the more advanced German fighter designs became operational the Hurricane was found to be better suited as a ground attack aircraft once it was outclassed in the pure air to air combat role. Always in the shadow of its more glamorous sister the Supermarine Spitfire, Hurricanes actually shot down twice as many aircraft during the Battle of Britain as the Spitfires did. It’s evenly spaced 8 machine gun armament works well for what is basically a light machine gun specification, and produces generally better results than the staggered gun spacing to be found on the Mk I Spitfire. The RAF sent more than a dozen squads of Hurricane fighters to France with many other aircraft, to try and stop the German advance, but lost almost all of them as France fell to the overwhelming German onslaught.
Game Play
The Hurricane Mk I is the basic AASF (Advanced Air Striking Force or RAF branch of the BEF) fighter plane in the early days of a campaign in Battleground Europe. It isn’t particularly fast and doesn’t climb as well as the more advanced Spitfire Mk I, but it does have some advantages in combat. It is a stable and good turning aircraft that doesn’t suffer the aileron reversal that occurs at high speeds in dives like the Spitfire does. Also, as noted elsewhere, a lot of less experienced pilots have an easier time getting the limited ammunition of these early warplanes onto target with the Hurricane than the Spitfire because the guns are all grouped evenly and cover less wing area than the guns that are spread out further along the Spitfire’s wing span.
The Hurricane, while a little slower than the Spitfire can turn tighter for longer in a novices hands because it is less likely to black out the pilot in a sustained tight turn without dedicated throttle control, which the less experienced pilot always forgets (or doesn’t yet know) to employ in his maneuvering tactics.
In both these early campaign British fighters (Hurricane I and Spitfire I) you have the advantage of turning better than the Bf-109s the enemy has, but they can out-climb you and have some limited 20 mm cannon to bring to bear while you have only machine guns, although you do have eight of them to their two cannons. While your total ammunition load equals approximately 12 seconds of fire (the enemy only has 6 seconds of his two 20 mm cannons in the Bf-109). The Bf-110 carries a lot more (18 seconds or so) but you should easily be able to out-fly any of those that you meet.
Fly in groups with a wingman and you will learn the ins and outs of air combat faster while staying alive longer and it’s more fun to fly and fight in a co-coordinated group too.
Hawker Hurricane Mk IIb
| |
| Hawker Hurricane Mk IIb | |
|---|---|
| Specifications | |
| Type | Fighter Interceptor |
| Armament | .303 cal (7.7 mm) Browning light machineguns (12) |
| Crew Positions | 1 (pilot) |
| Weight | 3,190 kg |
| Top Speed | 533 kph |
History
Frustrated with limited results with a standard Hurricane against the Luftwaffe's bombers, the RAF tried to find out why and build a solution. It was discovered that the Browning .303 (7.62 mm) simply did not have the mass to do much damage to attacking aircraft. In an attempt to increase the firepower, four more guns where installed with over 1000 more rounds of ammo (4606 total!) in the Hurricane.
Game Play
The Hurricane Mk IIb is much like the Mk I, so the advice above applies. What is important is knowing your convergence, so all that awesome fire power will actually hit the target! It can also be very effective strafing soft ground targets, but again, the weak .303 will do nothing to armored targets.
Doc's Notes
The Hurricane IIb, the "12 gun shotgun," was almost identical to the heavily-armed Hurricane IIc, employing four additional .303 machine guns - 50% more than its earlier variation, the venerable Hurricane I. Since the anticipated Hispano 20 mm cannons had experienced problems and delays in equipping the RAF's aircraft, some form of firepower upgrade was needed. It also had increased horsepower from its Merlin XX engine, which gave it a handy increase in speed and climb ability over the earlier Hurricane I.
Contributing its fighting ability was its somewhat legendary durability as a result of the old fashioned tubular steel truss fuselage construction covered with a streamlining wooden stringer and fabric fuselage cover, which by this stage of the war made it rather unique but easy to produce construction. Still, it is not very fast, but pilots who love the idea of TWELVE machineguns for some shotgun-like bullet coverage may grow to love their Hurricane IIb's.
Hawker Hurricane Mk IIc
| |
| Hawker Hurricane Mk IIc | |
|---|---|
| Specifications | |
| Type | Fighter / Bomber |
| Armament | 4 x 20 mm Cannon, 2 x 500 lb Bombs |
| Crew Positions | 1, pilot |
| Weight | 3,220 kg |
| Top Speed | 518 km/h |
History
The Hurribomber was a ground attack variant of the venerable Hurricane airframe, packing four of the hard hitting Hispano 20 mm cannons, and two 500 pound bombs. It was a development of the venerable and highly durable Hurricane airframe that grew out of a need for ground attack fighters and the Hurricanes lack of ability to keep up with the speeds and performance profiles that newer fighter designs were proving capable of.
It also had increased horsepower from its Merlin XX engine which arguably extended the life span of the airframe beyond that which might otherwise have been anticipated. Additionally, experimentation with increasingly heavy load outs gave the Hurricane the punch it needed to fight both armor and shipping and gave it a new lease of life as a ground attack and support fighter bomber. Contributing to this was its somewhat legendary durability as a result of the old fashioned fuselage construction which by this stage of the war made it rather unique, and blessed it with the ability to absorb a lot of small caliber weapons fire.
Game Play
The Hurricane Mk IIc or “Hurribomber” as it was often known represents the first British fighter bomber to enter a Battleground Europe campaign. It’s not very fast and it doesn’t climb very well but pilots who love to bomb tanks and shoot four 20 mm Hispano guns at other aircraft love their Hurricane II’s. The usefulness of this design, especially later in a campaign when it becomes available, is the sheer delight of the firepower of four 20 mm cannons tearing enemy aircraft apart in seemingly the blink of an eye. Not until the Germans get the Fw-190, generally later in the campaign does this kind of firepower make itself known to fighter pilots, and on the Allied side this kind of firepower will never be experienced outside of the Hurricane IIc until the French are flying P-38s.
Use the Hurricane IIc to kill enemy tanks, particularly go hunting for the dangerous Tiger tanks if the Axis forces have already managed to get them into battle through their production process later in a campaign. You have the guns to defend yourself very adequately if attacked by enemy fighters, but you have no speed against the later fighters they will be flying and your turn rate will be bad if you still have your bombs on board.
A lot of the better pilots in Battleground Europe will use the Hurricane IIc like a slow Fw-190 and after using the bombs on a ground target like a tank etc. will then leave the area and climb to higher altitude where they can use the ability to dive down to build speed in an attack and boom and zoom their unknowing opponent in the faster aircraft. The four 20 mm cannons will make short work of the enemy aircraft if you are good and accurate. This aircraft still turns well when unhampered by a bomb load but can be difficult to do well in unless you have the skills and experience to compensate for its lack of speed and climbing ability.
