Wingleader Photo Archive 42 Hawker Hurricane Special Part One

After Wingleader sold out of WPA3 on the Hurricane Mk.I, they thought about reprinting it, but with the amount of new information and photos that they had subsequently acquired, it seemed more sensible to create an entirely new ‘Special’. However, Wingleader soon realised that there was far too much material for one book, so they decided to create two new books, rather than leave out so much new material.

Wingleader decided to do something completely different from the last one. Instead of running the photos chronologically, they decided to sort them into serial batches, which Richard Alexander did so successfully with our Spitfire Mk.I Special last year.

It was a fascinating project to work on, as ordering by serial number gives you a real understanding of the development of modifications and how and when they first appeared. You also get a clear pattern of how items like armoured windscreens were introduced and then retro-fitted to even very old airframes.

This first part covers the early Hurricanes from the L series to the first P series. So roughly 1937 to the Battle of France in terms of delivery. The second part covers the remaining P series through to the Z series.

Wingleader decided again to keep both books focused only on UK based aircraft as they plan to cover overseas Hurricane operations in a future book.