When did the last Hurricanes operate?

Hurricanes

Two Hurricane Mk. IVs, KZ191 and KZ321, were recovered from a scrapyard in Israel during the late 1970s or early 1980s. There’s brief mention of this in the AE 6 sqdn feature.

TT, I for one would be very surprised if the Israeli AF operated any Hurricanes. Also, I’ve never seen any reference to Hurricanes in Ecuador. CW has it that they received P-47D Thunderbolts post-war, which were replaced by Meteor FR.9s. The only Latin-American Hurricane connection that I’m aware of, is that at least one Hurricane was sold to Argentina around 1946/47ish.

Regards,

Jan

I saw those Hurricanes in the Israeli scrapyard in 1974, or rather I saw one of them; I believe the second was right next to it but obscured from our view.
What I saw was a bare fuselage,with the Merlin engine still attached.My chum and I didn’t gain access to the yard, the owner was just locking up and didn’t look very friendly. Now I wish we’d asked him…

The yard was in Jaffa (Jafo?) by the way, in the southern suburbs of Tel Aviv. We stumbled across it whilst getting lost trying to find the old harbour at Jaffa.

I’ve read somewhere that the identities of these wrecks were a bit uncertain; can anyone confirm or deny this? And where is the second airframe, the one that remains unrestored? I’d love to see it again after all these years.

Jan,

Thanks for the links and info.

TT, you are welcome!

regards to all

Jagan

Jagan,

am grateful as ever – and probably should have asked you in the first place!

TT

Jagan,

A short piece on the Iranian Hurricanes can be found here: http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/baugher_other/hurri_iran.html

The two-seat conversion seems interesting, IIRC there was a photo or two of it in a recent issue of Flypast. One who might know more about the Iranian Hurricanes is Tom Cooper of www.acig.org.

As for any remaining Hurricanes in Iran, not likely, but there is an aviation museum at the Tehran Aerospace Exhibition Center at Mehrabad airport. Photos of their aircraft exhibits, including a Douglas A-26 Invader and a DHC-2 Beaver, can be found on www.airliners.net.

Regards,

Jan

But over at Air of Authority, Malcolm Barrass refers to replacing “the last Hurricanes in late 1946”. You probably know Malcolm, but just in case, he’s very helpful and if you want to know his source you can raise him on malcolm.barrass AT btinternet.com

The RAF Squadron history isn’t detailed enough to say one way or the other, nor is the 6 Squadron site or its History page. You might have more luck with the Association: try Ken Hopper, Newsletter Editor through SixSqnAsso AT aol.com

Or you could try at RAF Commands, if you haven’t already.

Fun & rewarding though it is, I’m trying to take a big break from the 211 Squadron research slog, and quite enjoying myself! So you won’t find me here much at all…
Warmest regards as always!

Don,

thanks for the tips. I will check out the leads you have given.

Hope your break from 211Sqn research is only temporary and you get back to it soon!

Jan,

Yes, I would be interested to know about the Persian Hurricanes, wonder how long they were used. Anyone want to ask the Iranian presidente about thier whereabouts?

TT,

By all accounts, the IAF stopped using them in 1946. The last regular IAF Hurricane unit ws No.6 Squadron IAF (another No.6!!) which changed its Hurris for Spits around Jun 46. No.1 SFTS also was using the Hurricanes about this time and probably gave up about the same time.

Going by Colin Cummings book – the following five Hurri accidents occured in India in the whole of 1946.

16 Mar 46 Hurricane II F Fg Offr Shamim Ul Zafir Khan* 1SFTS KZ523 Jullunder – struck tree during unauthorised low fl
29 Mar 46 Hurricane IV F Plt Offr Zafar Ali Syed* 1SFTS KZ676 Ambala – eng fail onTO pilot turned around to FL b
11 May 46 Hurricane II 22 AACU LE796 Orella- Pilot forecleanded in a field expecting b
30 Jul 46 Hurricane II F Kohat CommFlt LD408 ac landed heavily damaging U/C
02 Dec 46 Hurricane II F LE704 Peshawar u/c dam in initial ldg Pilot went around

The last accident happened during an exercise that took place from 2-14 Dec. apparently the hurricanes were long in the tooth by that time and were literally falling apart.. The condition of the ac was apparantly so bad, that they would have gone straight for the scrap heap. So I guess the final answer for the IAF’s last date of Hurri ops is 14 Dec 46.

Thanks Jan and all – I guess thats how my brain made the link with ‘hurricane’ and ‘israel’

When did the Indian Air Force cease using them?

TT

Have just looked on IMDB and noted that ‘Angels One Five’ dates from 1953. If the Hurricanes were returned to Portugal after the making of the film, and I don’t know how many were used, they would presumably still be classed as active a/c in 1953 rather than 1951.
Were they stored in 1951 and hung around on an airfield in Portugal until required for film work, which was possibly a year before the release of the film, any Portugese Hurricane experts out there, bondias.

Two Hurricane Mk. IVs, KZ191 and KZ321, were recovered from a scrapyard in Israel during the late 1970s or early 1980s. There’s brief mention of this in the AE 6 sqdn feature.

Recovered by Robs Lamplough IIRC, KZ321 ending up restored to airworthy, and just recently sold by TFC to a Canadian collector.

Another possibility is Iran, which received Hurricane IIs post-war.

Regards,

Jan

Two Hurricane Mk. IVs, KZ191 and KZ321, were recovered from a scrapyard in Israel during the late 1970s or early 1980s. There’s brief mention of this in the AE 6 sqdn feature.

TT, I for one would be very surprised if the Israeli AF operated any Hurricanes. Also, I’ve never seen any reference to Hurricanes in Ecuador. CW has it that they received P-47D Thunderbolts post-war, which were replaced by Meteor FR.9s. The only Latin-American Hurricane connection that I’m aware of, is that at least one Hurricane was sold to Argentina around 1946/47ish.

Regards,

Jan

I would be surprised if the Israelis didnt operate them at some stage, after granting of the state they hoovered up just about anything with wings to defend themselves – am sure I’ve seen pics of Israelu hurrisplats. Will google.

TT

edit: can’t find anything concrete on the IAF using them, but some sites suggest that the Ecuadorian Air Force may have used Hurricanes- true or googlecrap?

TT

There are articles on 6Sqn in Palestine in this and the last Air Enthusiast. Don’t have them with me at the moment so cannot say what their view is, anybody else have them handy?

Paul

The Yugoslav AF operated about 20 Hurricane Mk. IVs. They were withdrawn from use in 1951. http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/yugo/types/hurricane.htm

Regards,

Jan

Most of 6 Sqn’s Hurricanes were U/S during 1947 (THey were also operating Spitfire LF IXe’s as well during the period to make up the numbers), they could not get the Tempest VI fast enough.

more confusion

http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/hurri9.html says

the last unit so equipped was No. 6 Sqn based in Palestine who finally surrendered their Mark IVs in October 1947

I dont have my copy of FINAL FLIGHTS handy with me, but I remember not seeing even one Hurricane loss in 1947.. – Either they had excellent safety record / or did not fly the hurris at all / had a stroke of luck and did not lose even a single aircraft in 1947?

Also from the same [age

Forty reconditioned Hurricanes were sold to Portugal and remained operational until 1950. Several of the surviving machines returned to the UK, where they became movie stars in the 1951 film Angels One Five.

And ofcourse some bits about Hurris being delieverd to the Persian Air Force after the Second World War. Any guesses as to how long those lasted in service?

According to the book “hurricane” by Adrian Stewart.

The last Hurricanes left RAF service on 15th January 1947 when No6 Squadron re-equipped with Tempests at Nicosia in Cyprus. The Vampires did not arrive until 1949.

Huuricanes were in service in Portugal until 1951.

Thanks, so this is the definite answer i guess. But did Portugal really keep its hurris flying till 1951? 😮

Also a little clarification is needed. Did No.6 get Tempests on 15 Jan 47 or that they actually flew the last Hurri sorties on 15 Jan 47 . The former might mean that the Hurricanes were grounded much earlier.

According to the book “hurricane” by Adrian Stewart.

The last Hurricanes left RAF service on 15th January 1947 when No6 Squadron re-equipped with Tempests at Nicosia in Cyprus. The Vampires did not arrive until 1949.

Huuricanes were in service in Portugal until 1951.

Perhaps the last Hurricanes in service may have been operated by the Portugese Air Force, as I think it was these which were sourced for the movie ‘Angels One Five’ ( ‘Septic Calling’ and all that).

The Soviets also had plenty of Hurricanes, and may well have operated a few into the 1950’s, at a guess.

What was the last sortie flown by RAF Hurris?

You could say the other at Coningsby where either ‘363 or ‘865 flew…. 😀

But yes, 6 Sqn as mentioned above were the last front line RAF Hurricane squadron, the recently sold TFC MkIV being one of those last operational aircraft serving with 6 Sqn.

All I can offer (I believe from a reliable published source but cannot say which one) is that in December 1946 the last RAF Hurricanes retired when No. 6 Sqn in Cyprus re-equipped with Vampires. I too would be interested to see more precise details.