Hurricane Mk II D

    Following the Battle of Britain, the Hurricane's days as a front-line fighter came to a close, but it continued to serve proudly as a night-fighter, reconnaissance platform and ground-attack plane in a number of different variations for the rest of the war. It was in this latter role, that a number of unique and effective modifications were seen.
    Perhaps the most impressive of these was the mounting of 40mm machine cannons to turn the plane into a «tank-buster,» similar to the GermanJu87G. This was the Hurricane Mk.ID. The plane had one Vickers «S» 40mm cannon - one of the largest-caliber weapons ever mounted on an aircraft - slung from each wing and covered with a fairing. In addition, the plane retained one 7.7mm Browning machine gun in each wing to be used to fire spotting rounds for the cannon, which could carry just 15 rounds each. Although the large cannon slowed the aircraft's top speed down to around 275 mph, it proved extremely successful and these big guns were seen on later models of the Hurricane as well.
    The type first served with No. 6 Squadron in the Western Desert of Africa against tanks commanded by Rommel on June 6, 1942. As the Mk.ID was assumed to be facing desert-use, it was generally produced in the Trop. configuration with a Volkes filter installed on the carburetor air intake. Nevertheless, the Mk.ID saw service in non-desert environments in the Mediterranean and Far East as well. One of these was Burma, where it proved a feared enemy of lightly-armoured Japanese tanks when they moved out of the cover of the jungle.
DATA: Crew: 1;
Wingspan: 12.192m;
Length: 9.81m;
Height: 3.987m;
Max Gross Weight: 3,560.8kg;
Engine: Merlin XX (1,280hp);
Max Speed: 434kph @ 3,658m;
Armament:40mm cannon × 2, Browning 7.7mm machine gun × 2