Hurricane - glide rate

[Revi16]

Originally Posted by Christer Engdahl

Well, it was but in the disguise of low drag. The lower the drag is, the better is the range, the climb ratio and also the glide ratio.

These aircraft were designed to "fight" and while low drag was a goal for speed, range, climb, etc., the glide ratio wasn't a huge concern in the performance realm. It just ends up being whatever it is after the other performance goals are met. These aircraft glide like the relative brick when they lose power and have a big prop acting as a barn door out front.

The goal was fighting, if the engine quits, get it on the ground or bailout. How far one could glide wasn't much of a concern in the development process.