The Hurricane: From First Flight to Wartime Workhorse

The Hurricane prototype stands at Brooklands before its first flight on November 6, 1935. Hawker’s chief test pilot, George Bulman, took it into the air that day. The photograph shows the clean outline of the new monoplane, with a two-bladed propeller, before years of production changes and wartime adaptation.

Ground crew refuel Hurricane N2358 of No. 1 Squadron while checking its engine at Vassincourt in April 1940. Panels are open and men work around the aircraft. The German offensive in the West had not yet begun. Servicing like this kept the fighter force ready during the months before the retreat through France.

No. 17 Squadron’s Hurricanes are on the grass at Debden in July 1940 as another aircraft comes in to land. The scene falls within the opening period of the Battle of Britain. Dispersed fighters, airfield space and the ability to turn aircraft around for another sortie were part of the daily defense.

A Hurricane Mark I flies over Egypt in October 1940, according to the Imperial War Museums caption. Its profile is familiar from the fighting over Britain, but the setting points to a much wider service history. Hurricanes operated in North Africa as Britain fought to retain its position in the Mediterranean and Middle East.