“HURRICANE COMBAT” – AUTHOR: WING COMMANDER K.W. MACKENZIE DFC, AFC

Extract taken from Pilot’s Combat Report for 7 October 1940

“…At about 1335 hours I saw 8 Me109’s coming across the coast from the East about 1,800 feet above me. I attacked the three nearest machines in vic formation from beneath and a fourth enemy aircraft doing rear-gaurd flew across the line of fire and he developed a leak in the glycol tank. He rolled and dived towards the coast. I followed him, and his aircraft was only about 200 yards and so was easy to catch. I emptied the rest of my ammunition into him from 200 yards but he still flew on and down to 80, to 100 feet off the sea. I flew around him and signalled him to go down, which had no result. I therefore attempted to ram his tail with my undercarriage but it reduced my speed too low to hit him. So flying alongside I dipped my starboard wing-tip onto his port tail plane. The tail plane came off and I lost the tip of my starboard wing. The enemy aircraft spun into the sea and partially sank…”

One of the outstanding fighters of WWII with many more victories than the Spitfire during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

A total of 2,750 MkI and MkII Hurricanes were built locally, by Gloster Aircraft, between 1939 and 1941. Many of them served in the Battle of Britain, when the Company achieved a production rate of five aircraft per day.

Our Hurricane is an accurate external replica built at Pinewood Studios for the 1969 film Battle of Britain directed by Guy Hamilton.

It bears the British Aviation Preservation Council Number of BAPC72.

The replica was restored by us as Mac’s own Gloster-built Hurricane V6799 of 501 (County of Gloucester) (Not …shire) Squadron and proudly bears his signature on the nose, a souvenir of his visit to the museum in the late 90s. He was a Patron of Jet Age Museum until his death in June 2009.