AEROPLANE Magazine October 2009

Continued

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The partly restored Fuselage and Centre Section in March 2007. On the firewall is the coolant header tank.

Getting it right

Steve Atkin, an architect by day and a Hangar 11 volunteer in his spare time, researched the paint scheme and masterminded the replica bombs.  “The bomb project was done by Hangar 11, in conjunction with Sywell Aviation Museum, who make the fins for us”, Steve says.  “An original 250lb bomb was loaned by the RAF Museum, and moulded in glass fibre for us by a specialist company. 

Hangar 11's Chief Engineer Chris Norris examining the port wing as skinning gets under way in March 2008.

Detailed stencilling on the fuselage.

The metal fittings were made by Eyetech Engineering to our drawings.  We worked closely with HRL to ‘reverse engineer’ some missing parts of the bomb carriers.  A lot of work went into getting them on to the aircraft, as no other complete original units existed.  The job was complicated by the fact that the Hurricane fitment was heavily modified from the Air Ministry standard carriers. 
“The bombs were extraordinarily realistic, with all the surface blemishes of the original, and are filled with high-density foam for correct weight distribution.  With the bomb carriers fitted one gun has to be omitted, as the fairing fouls the cartridge ejector chutes”.

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Above from left : the rear outer-wing attachment point on the centre section; a cluster joint between fuselage and centre section; the pneumatic-system air bottle which supplies the brakes and gun-cocking mechanism; the rebuilt Packard Merlin 29 engine arrives.

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Above from left : A bomb rack; the bomb-release switch panel in the lower right-hand ride of the cockpit; the starboard wing gun-bay, showing the 0.303in Browning machine guns and ammunition feeds; the unusual configuration of the two outer guns on the port wing.

In the air
The Hurricane flew again after some 60 years in January 2009 with HRL test pilot Stuart Goldspink at the controls, and Peter got to fly it soon afterwards.
“Several other pilots who have flown both the Hurricane and the Spitfire said I would find it disappointing in comparison, even pedestrian”, he says.  “Well the reality is that I find it fabulous to fly. It is the easiest of my aircraft to land, with good visibility in the three-point attitude.  It does have a few quirky systems, and the undercarriage limiting speed is very low, so I can’t come barrelling into the circuit.  It has the original-spec 1,300 h.p. Merlin 29 engine with single-stage blower and a Hamilton Standard three-bladed metal propeller.  The Hurricane loses energy quickly with its thick high-lift wing, so during low-level aerobatics you have to be thinking very hard.  But what it loses in energy it certainly gains in grace.”
And talking of grace, let’s return to the cricketing theme.  By the time this issue appears, the Hurribomber will almost certainly have made more public appearances than England’s middle-order batsmen mustered during the crushingly disappointing fourth rest,  Watch out for this superb addition to the vintage scene as Peter bowls up in it.

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