[keith A]

I have been delving into my books and have discovered that apart from Fulmars, the Sea Hurricane scores as many victories as Wildcats or Hellcats and more than Corsairs. Not only that but in 1942 the Sea Hurricane claimed fourteen kills in Harpoon, twenty-four and a half on Pedestal, five (at least) on the PQ18 convoy and finally six during Operation Torch.

It's first one is claimed in 1941 (I do not include the CAM-ship victory or those credited to the RNFS in the Western desert). It's last two occur AFAIK with 835 squadron in 1944.

The Sea Hurricane has been unfairly bracketed with the Seafire in terms of naval operations but the Sea Hurricane was the supreme FAA fighter of 1942 (replacing the Fulmar) and it's tally was only matched after it had been withdrawn from front-line service.

I realise that the Sea Hurricane saw action in the most target-rich environments of 1942, but even when sharing airspace with Fulmars in Harpoon and with Fulmars and Martlets in Pedestal, and Martlets and Seafires in Torch it still performed exceptionally. It was the highest scorer in all of these. The Wildcat/Martlet comparable claims stretch from 1940 until 1945, with about half occurring against "shadowers" (lone flying boats or recce aircraft) in 1944-45.

Just a thought....