Good book or info about Hurricane Mk I?

[GuerraCivil]

Hi,

I would be interested in book/booklet/website focusing on Hurricane Mk I (not later variants like Mk II - Mk IV).

A balanced combat history with both successes and defeats is something that I´m looking for. Some books focus too heavily on success stories ignoring or minimizing the defeats. I´m not interested of this kind of history writing as I find it too one-sided.

[Graham Boak]

I've a large collection of books dealing with the Hurricane, but those that restrict themselves to the Mk.I are technical rather than operational, and I don't know of any that meet your criteria. You would have to assemble the picture from a number of different sources.

More generally, your problem is that a book on a single aircraft type is usually written by an author with a specific interest in that type, and as such most unlikely to be impartial. In all fairness, histories that run down the Hurricane often appear no better balanced.

[GuerraCivil]

Maybe more spesific and definitive is the operational history of Hurricane Mk I units during the Battle of France. I happen to have a kit of Mk I with BoF decals (85th Squadron) waiting to be done and some inspiration would boost my efforts to deal with it.

I wonder if there are any "duel books" focusing in Hurricane Mk I vs. Bf 109 E? When it comes to that it is almost always the story of Spitfire Mk I vs. Bf 109E although there were probably as many or even more encounters between Hurris and Messers in 1940. To my knowledge it was the Hurricane which was the main fighter of RAF when it comes to numbers of planes available.

Hurricane Mk I has also some interest as a British export plane to countries outside of British Commonwealth: Belgium, Finland, Yugoslavia.

[Graham Boak]

There are two histories I know of: one is 12 Days In May, by Brian Cull, not uniquely about the Hurricane but obviously it features very predominantly. The other is a recent French book which I haven't bought yet (and can't name - perhaps it was mentioned here?) which is described as having a strongly negative approach to the type.

Eire (Ireland) was also a Hurricane Mk.I customer outside of the British Commonwealth. The Rumanian ones were more of a government gift. Poland was another customer but did not receive any in time for service.

[Graham Boak]

sorry, wrong place.

[GuerraCivil]

The Brian Cull & Co. book looks interesting - not only due to Hurricane combat history, but because it seems to give also interesting info about Bf 110 ZG units during the initial stages of Battle of France. I think that I will get this one.

The opinions about Hurricane vary - some are indeed very negative. Finns considered Brewster Buffalo to be a better plane and clearly more nimble at low altitudes. Hans Wind, the top-scoring Finnish Brewster ace gave this analysis when he instructed new fighter pilots:

"Hurricane is the easiest enemy plane to shoot down. Under 3000 metres (9000ft) it's no match for us. It's slow and very clumsy and stiff. When you meet a Hurricane, immediately start a dogfight, then it can only depend on our good will. Aim to the front part of it, then it usually flares up."

[DavidIsby]

Eire was a Commonwealth member when it ordered Hurricanes.

Gray Boak is quite right that any single-type book is likely to be biased in favour of its subject, but the Hurricane takes the proverbial biscuit with Paul Gallico's THE HURRICANE STORY.

[bearoutwest]

Hi Guerra,

Surprisingly, one of the more impartial books seems to be Paul Richey's (auto?)biography "Fighter Pilot". It describes the victory claims (which has now found to be an expected level of overclaiming due to the nature of the air fighting) but also describes the losses in reasonable detail. It predominantly covers his (No. 1) squadron, but also gives insight into No.73 Squadron.

Note: I read the more modern re-print edition - which I'm not sure, but might have more detail than the original 1941 edition.

Regards,
...geoff

[Graham Boak]

When considering the Finnish and some of the Russian negative comments, bear in mind that they did not have 100 octane fuel so were always down on power compared to other Allied use.

David: Gallico's book is very old, and certainly had access to none of the accurate data that we've become accustomed to. I don't think that he rated very highly as a historian either. However, have you never read Barret Tiltman (spelling?) books on USN types? I don't think I've ever read anything quite so biased as his Hellcat.

[Brian]

Hi guys

Thanks for the plug re 12 DAYS IN MAY.

I still have some softcover copies available at just £5.00 (plus p&p) and signed!

Cheers
Brian