Yes, we know all that; this isn’t a rehash of the ~yawn~ which was better than… ~yawn~ discussion (although you’ve got ME doing it above. 😀 ). That wasn’t the question. The question was (recast, and roughly) what aircraft (if any) achieved more (n.b. not ‘better’) than the Hurricane.

Well I know they aren’t of the same nationality but in real terms I suspect the Me109 series and the Il-2/Il-10 series are the real front runners.

The 109 was in it from go to whoa, but had already seen pre-war service in Spain and then was used afterwards by the Czechs, Yugoslavians and the Spanish. The Buchons were still in service in the early 60s in Spanish Sahara or whatever the place was called, when they revolted. While the Ilyushins served in Korea.

On our side the Hurricane is a pretty good candidate for widespread operational service but it’s not in their class in length of effective service terms. The humble Swordfish was still footling around on VE day equipped with radar.

Of the American aircraft I suspect that the P-51 family or Corsairs are the clear leaders (could be wrong) but they while they started rather late, they made up for it by extended post-war service in both US service (Korea) and the service of recipient countries e.g. in Central and South America.

And although not a combat aircraft per se the humble DC3/C-47 lasted from 1937 through to now, with actual armed service in Vietnam.

Now it has wandered seriously off track. 😀

The handbook for the Supermarine Stranraer notes a curtain which (rough wording) is to be “hung between the officer’s and the airmen’s quarters in the aircraft when operating away from base.”

Probably to hide the fact that the sergeants were notably better at scrounging the best tucker. 😀

I don’t know the answer to this one, but did any Spitfires serve on the Eastern Front? or in the winter and continuation wars between Russia and Finland?

Steve

Russians used Spitfires, and Hurricanes. Don’t know if they used them against the Finns – IIRC the Russians found the Spits a bit delicate for their purposes.

I’ve often wondered about the Mason statement – I wonder if, given the Hurricane’s use in ground attack, he included ducks on the water. It did serve pretty much everywhere except in the Pacific. Whereas the Spitfire in its Seafire guise served with the BPF against Japan in Japan’s home waters. After the war Spitfires e.g. 17 Squadron were in the Occupation Forces in Japan.

In Europe the Hurricane was pretty much out of it after 1942 – simply outclassed completely. Where it did survive in combat there was pretty negligible or non-existent fighter opposition. Finland being the exception but by late 1944 the Finnish ones would have been scarce due to attrition.

As for the Blenheim after 1942 its use was getting very restricted. Mostly in areas where there was no fighter opposition. Again they soldiered on in Finland. In the west the MkV was the last gasp and it was a step backwards in performance.

I tend to discount the Finnish use as a reliable barometer of aircraft utilisation because of the rather secondary nature of that theatre in comparison with what was happening further south. By 1944 Russian and German aircraft were way ahead of the Hurricane and Blenheim in all areas of performance.

In any case the Hurricane was by then out of production. Hawker had the Typhoon and Tempests to worry about, and Bristol were churning out Beaufighters – which were far better than Blenheims. While the Mosquitos and Bostons had taken over the Blenheim’s operational role.

Could I be the first to lower the tone by mentioning RAF Twatt please? :diablo:

Adrian

Is that twatt with one T or two Ts ?

Rehearsal scene from Jerry Bruckmeister’s remake of Battle of Britain.

Cast includes Britney Spears as AVM Park and the late John Belushi as ACM Dowding. Susannah York is played by Christopher Plummer.

In a press release Bruckmeister claims this will surpass Pearl Harbour in its special effects attention to detail. “It’s got planes – what else do you want?”

Auteur Bruckmeister went on to say “As Winston Whatever said never in the whatsit of thingo was so much invested for so – oh hell gotta go”

And according to our Hollywood sources this latest Bruckster Blockbuster will go faster that the Supermajig Spit climbing to intercept the whatever they were bad guys.

Interesting that the F-86 was improved but the Mig-15 didn’t…

The MiG-15 was improved – the MiG-17 was the result of that process. And that was a much better aircraft.

I believe that display also was bought to Australia. I recall seeing it way back in the 60s and IIRC it was billed as being of UK origin. It really was great fun.

It was a PR Mk41 that ditched off the Burma Coast. The Pr Mk41s were built in Australia. The dark colour leads me to suspect it was probably PR Blue.

But that is only surmise.