HAWKER RESTORATIONS LTD

In November 2005 Hawker Hurricane BW881/G-KAMM made it first post-restoration engine runs at Hawker Restorations in Suffolk.  MELVIN HISCOCK was there, and provides photographs and details of the unusual colour scheme chose by the Flying Heritage Collection for the World War Two-vintage warbird.

The large number of panels on the Hurricane can create headaches for the painting team, as all the panels need to be sprayed to match the overall camouflage pattern

As with all Hawker Restorations projects, the interior shows a remarkable attention to detail. Here the cockpit of the Hurricane gleams like a factory-fresh example

The undercarriage doors carry the aircraft's

squadron code letter, in this case the rather unusual "Z"

Taken in September 2005, before painting had begun, this photograph shows the full set of Browning 0.303in-calibre machine-guns installed in the wings. Again, not the extremely high quality of the workmanship

Hurricane BW881/G-KAMM is painted in the markings of a Canadian Car & Foundry-built Mk XII, 5429, which operated with 135 Sqn RCAF between July 1942 and May 1944, when the unit converted on to Curtiss KittyhawkMk IVs. An unusual feature of the unit's Patricia Bay-based Hurricanes was the use of a brighter red on the fin-flash and roundels

THE PEACE AND QUIET of the Suffolk countryside was shattered at the end of November 2005 by the first engine runs of Hawker Hurricane BW881/G-KAMM, being restored for the Seattle-based Flying Heritage Collection.  It is the fifth Hurricane to have been completed by Hawker Restorations, and is painted in the colours of 135 Sqn RCAF, a Home Defence unit based at Patricia Bay, British Columbia, from 1942 to 1945.
The choice of such a squadron was simply down to the fact that none have been represented by a flying Hurricane.  A photograph of Hurricanes at Patricia Bay showed various roundel and fin-flash styles, and the decision to represent “Z” was down to the fact that with A-type roundels on the upper wings and the code letter repeated on the undercarriage doors it was a little unusual, and few aircraft are flying with the code letter quite that late in the alphabet! 
Known as the Bulldog Squadron, 135 Sqn painted appropriate artwork on the noses of its aircraft.  Monochrome photographs of this are relatively easy to come by but getting the colours right was a little harder, until a call to Canadian model aircraft decal manufacturer Flightdec resulted in some colour artwork.  The company6 had produced a decal set that included a 135 Sqn Hurricane, and had based their artwork on an original quadroon cloth badge showing the Bulldog in colour.  A pleading phone call to Flightdec resulted in the artwork being offered free of charge as owner Joe Osmulski was eager to help anyone who was planning to represent a Canadian-based Hurricane.
Provided that any problems found in the engine runs are only minor, the Hawker fighter should be ready for its first flight early in the new year and will make an interesting – and slightly unusual – addition to the ranks of the world’s airworthy Hurricanes.