New (to me) Hawker Hurricane Survivor

I suppose you can’t really blame Bristol and Rolls-Royce if they preferred to fit Rotol props, after all they did own the company. 🙂

Not that I have any idea if that was the case. Could there be a preference for wooden blades on a fighter for any reason?

RO (lls Royce) (Bris)TOL

Good team

Cheers

Cees

That was my guess too Mike, although like you I’ve no idea if it makes sense.

I suppose you can’t really blame Bristol and Rolls-Royce if they preferred to fit Rotol props, after all they did own the company. 🙂

Not that I have any idea if that was the case. Could there be a preference for wooden blades on a fighter for any reason?

Despite de Havilland pulling out all the stops, it looks like the designers favoured the Rotol propellers after the Battle of Britain, and so later designs including Spitfire V, Hurricane II and subsequent got Rotol props. DH supplied many of the bomber props, including Halifax, Lancaster, Mosquito and so on. It may have been that they needed to split up propeller production somewhat.

Interesting, when did the small pointy DH spinners get replaced by the stubbier Rotol spinners then? Never heard about that before, i’ll include it on my personal study for A level about the Battle of Britain, bet that’ll impress the examiners

I recently read that in the 6 weeks prior to the Battle of Britain, de Havilland changed the entire fleet of Spitfires and Hurricanes over to constant speed propellers – one of the reasons that ensured we arent all speaking German now….

Bruce

They didn’t have contract cover for the job either. They didn’t know for certain when they started if they would ever get paid!

If you have a Rotol prop, you have a Rotol Spinner, If you have a DH prop, you have a DH spinner….

DH props are unobtainable – a pity; I recently read that in the 6 weeks prior to the Battle of Britain, de Havilland changed the entire fleet of Spitfires and Hurricanes over to constant speed propellers – one of the reasons that ensured we arent all speaking German now….

Bruce

You have a Hurricane? Nice! Would be nice if they made some repro spinners, especially the DH ones as i think they look real nice on a Hurricane, too bad the only ones preserved with DH spinners are at the Science Museum in London, and one in Finland in Finnish markings.

Apparently Hawker Restorations has three Hurricanes under restoration, and these will be brought back to Mk I status as they were in the Battle of Britain according to their website, does this mean they will also be fitted out with early DH or Rotol spinners?

Yep, that willbe fun to source. ROTOL hubs are also a pig to split/rebuild. That is why lazy old me got a Watts!!! Also, 12v ‘electrics’ are very difficult to find/get.
It is great to see more Hurricanes ‘reach for the sky’. 🙂

didnt Peter V have problems finding a servicable DH and had to opt for the later one…. or was that prop and hub assemblies….. ????

Apparently Hawker Restorations has three Hurricanes under restoration, and these will be brought back to Mk I status as they were in the Battle of Britain according to their website, does this mean they will also be fitted out with early DH or Rotol spinners?

thats fantastic news that another hurricane is on the production line. does anybody know how many hurricanes are in the pipeline in the uk and around the world?

Sweet, another Hurricane! Is this one of the ones Hawker Restorations are rebuilding? I think they have about 3/4 Hurricanes under restoration/waiting to be restored.

Edit – just saw on the link that it’s at Hawker Restorations, really must think before i type 😮