|
Re: Hurricane with tip tanks - 1940 - Battle of France?
Yes, it was a fixed tank, only removable on the ground. I believe that it was used on combat sorties on a few occasions, perhaps in the Middle East, but was unpopular because of the drag and effect on agility. I have not seen any reference to its use in the Blitz but I agree that it could have been useful. By then of course the Mk.II was becoming more common in front-line units.
The droppable tank came into use partway through (fairly early) the Mk.IIB production, when the standard bomb carrier was fitted into the wing replacing one of the four machine guns.
The fixed tank was used on dedicated night fighters later in the war, where one of the pods was used to carry radar. Hurricanes with these fitted were initially based at Alexandria. They were sent to Calcutta as a night defence, but were launched against the Japanese daylight raid and (unsurprisingly) suffered severely at the hands of the Zero escort.
|