The Hawker Hurricane, the Forgotten Hero of the Battle of Britain, and the Airplane That Killed More German Aircraft Than Everything Else Combined

The Hawker Hurricane was the true workhorse of the Battle of Britain, credited by RAF statistics with destroying roughly 55% of all German aircraft lost to Fighter Command during the summer of 1940 - more than the Spitfire and every other cause combined. While the Spitfire earned the fame, the thicker, less glamorous Hurricane was available in greater numbers and did the heaviest fighting. It was designed by Sydney Camm at Hawker Aircraft and remained in service across every major theater of the war.

Where Did the Hurricane Come From?

The Hurricane was born in the mid-1930s, when the Royal Air Force still flew fabric-covered biplanes with open cockpits and fixed landing gear. Hawker’s chief designer, Sydney Camm, had built a reputation on elegant biplanes like the Hart, the Fury, and the Demon - but he saw that Germany was rearming and that the biplane era was ending.

In 1934, Camm began sketching what he called the “Fury Monoplane” as a private venture, without a firm Air Ministry contract. The design was a deliberate compromise, and that compromise was its strength rather than its weakness.

The Hurricane used modern stressed-skin aluminum construction for its front fuselage and wings, but the rear fuselage was fabric over a metal tube frame - an older, familiar technique. Camm knew a revolutionary aircraft nobody could repair in the field was useless. He built something ground crews could patch and return to service with hand tools.

How Many Hurricanes Were Ready When the War Started?

The prototype first flew on 6 November 1935. The Air Ministry ordered 600 aircraft just over a year later. By the outbreak of war in September 1939, Fighter Command had over 500 Hurricanes on strength.

That readiness in numbers proved decisive. When France fell and the Battle of Britain began in the summer of 1940, it was the Hurricane squadrons that were available in force. The Spitfire was superb, but there simply weren’t as many of them yet.

Why Did Hurricanes Attack the Bombers?

Fighter Command’s commander-in-chief, Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, made a deliberate tactical decision about the two fighters. Recognizing that the Hurricane was slower than the Spitfire and outmatched by the Messerschmitt Bf 109, he assigned Hurricanes primarily to attack the bombers - the Heinkel He 111s, Dornier Do 17s, and Junkers Ju 88s - while Spitfires engaged the fighter escorts.

It was a dangerous assignment. Attacking a bomber formation meant flying into concentrated defensive gunfire from dozens of aircraft at once. Hurricane pilots knew exactly what they faced on every intercept, and they went in anyway, often multiple times a day.

The aircraft was well suited to the job. It was rock-solid in a dive, its wide, stable undercarriage let it operate from rough fields, and eight Browning .303-caliber machine guns in the wings delivered a lethal broadside.

The fabric rear fuselage held a hidden advantage. When a German 20mm cannon round struck aluminum, it punched a clean hole and could trigger structural failure. When it passed through fabric, it often just passed through. Hurricanes frequently came home with tears in their tail sections that would have grounded an all-metal aircraft permanently.

What Was “Miss Shilling’s Orifice”?

The Rolls-Royce Merlin engine had one notable weakness: its float carburetor rather than direct fuel injection. In a negative-G pushover, fuel lifted away from the jets and the engine cut out for a moment. German pilots exploited this by bunting their Bf 109s into steep negative-G dives, knowing the Merlin would cough while their fuel-injected Daimler-Benz engines kept pulling. The gap cost several British pilots their lives.

The fix came from engineer Beatrice “Tilly” Shilling at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, who was also a motorsport racer. She designed a small brass restrictor disc - about the size of a small coin - with a precisely sized central hole that limited fuel flow just enough to prevent the cutout without choking the engine at full power. Officially the “RAE restrictor,” pilots affectionately called it “Miss Shilling’s orifice.”

Did the Hurricane Really Win the Battle of Britain?

During the Battle of Britain, which officially ran from 10 July to 31 October 1940, RAF statistics credit the Hurricane with destroying approximately 55% of all German aircraft lost to Fighter Command - and some sources place the figure higher when unconfirmed claims are included.

By the battle’s end, the Luftwaffe had failed to achieve air superiority over England. Hitler postponed and eventually abandoned Operation Sea Lion, the planned invasion of Britain. There were many reasons for that outcome, but the Hurricane sits near the top of the list.

Where Else Did the Hurricane Serve?

The Hurricane fought in virtually every theater of the war:

Malta: Hurricanes defended the island through some of the most intense aerial bombardment of the entire conflict.
North Africa: Pilots fitted bomb racks under the wings to attack Rommel’s tanks. The dedicated tank-buster, the Hurricane Mk IID, carried a pair of Vickers 40mm cannons - so powerful that recoil noticeably slowed the aircraft with each burst.
The Atlantic: Hurricanes launched from Merchant Aircraft Carrier (MAC) ships - converted grain tankers - and from catapult-equipped CAM ships (Catapult Aircraft Merchantmen). A catapult launch was often a one-way trip: pilots had to find land, find a ship to rescue them, or ditch in the sea.
The Soviet Union: Over 2,000 Hurricanes were delivered under Lend-Lease. Soviet pilots found them underpowered against their Yaks and strained by the extreme cold, but they served in large numbers.
The Far East: Against the nimble Mitsubishi A6M Zero, Hurricane pilots learned never to turn-fight. Their edge was dive speed and structural strength - attack, dive away, extend, and come around again.

How Many Hurricanes Were Built?

By the end of production in 1944, Hawker had built 14,533 Hurricanes. They were assembled in factories at Kingston-upon-Thames and Langley, and in Canada by Canadian Car and Foundry - often by workers on double shifts who understood that what they built stood between invasion and survival.

Sydney Camm was knighted in 1953 and went on to design the Hawker Sea Fury, the Hawker Hunter, and the Harrier jump jet. Yet in 1940, the aircraft that mattered most in his catalog was the thick-winged, fabric-tailed, eight-gun fighter the world half-forgot.

How Many Hurricanes Are Left Today?

Today there are roughly 12 to 14 airworthy Hurricanes remaining worldwide, depending on which restorations are complete at any given time. The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight in the United Kingdom operates one, and the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario flies a two-seat conversion that still carries passengers aloft.

Key Takeaways

The Hawker Hurricane downed roughly 55% of all German aircraft destroyed by Fighter Command in the Battle of Britain - more than the Spitfire and all other causes combined.
Designed by Sydney Camm, its hybrid metal-and-fabric construction made it easy to repair and surprisingly survivable against cannon fire.
Air Chief Marshal Dowding assigned Hurricanes to attack bombers while Spitfires engaged the escorting fighters.
Engineer Beatrice “Tilly” Shilling solved the Merlin’s negative-G fuel cutout with a simple brass restrictor known as “Miss Shilling’s orifice.”
Hawker built 14,533 Hurricanes by 1944; only about 12 to 14 remain airworthy today.