Steve Atkin brings us the story of the re-build of the Hangar 11 Collection’s Hawker Hurricane IIB, with pictures by Darren Harbar.
Despite its legendary status the Hawker Hurricane is something of a rare sight in the air today. With only twelve examples in flying condition (and half of those UK based) it may come as a surprise to learn that six of these flyers have been restored by just one company, UK based Hawker Restorations Ltd (HRL).
Co-founded by New Zealander Sir Tim Wallis and Tony Ditheridge in 1994, the company made a significant investment in tooling, historic technical information, materials and salvaged original parts. This allowed them to be able to re-engineer the complex (some might say over-complex) core structure of the aircraft. In contrast with the relatively simple monocoque structures of her contemporaries, the Hurricane’s structure is pure early thirties Hawker bi-plane technology. Strong, rugged and at the time, straightforward to repair in the field, the mechanically jointed alloy and steel braced tubular core, together with its fabric, plywood and timber outer structure and complex centre-section and spar structures today represent a huge engineering challenge. This manifests itself in the Hurricane taking around 28,000 man hours to re-build, about twice that of a typical Spitfire project.
The first completed product of the company, Hurricane P3351, was restored in partnership with Air New Zealand and flew following its restoration in January 2000. A further five airworthy restorations followed over the next eight years, culminating in the restoration of a 1942 Mk.IIB ‘Hurri-bomber’, G-HHII, the subject of this article, which took to the air again in January 2009.
This Mk.IIB had been a ‘back-burner’ project for HRL, having been acquired from Canada in the mid nineties as a fairly complete, although very dilapidated, airframe. It was worked on in time around other projects, but by 2006 was fairly advanced. The centre-section and fuselage tubular structure was restored and awaiting installation of systems, ancillaries and the timber formers that provide the distinctive ‘hump-back’ Hurricane fuselage shape. This was a Canadian Hurri, one of 1,451 Hurricanes made by Canadian Car & Foundry Company with constructor’s number CCF/R20023 and was originally supplied to the RCAF to served with Canadian based fighter units until the end of the war. In common with most surviving RCAF Hurricanes, in 1946 she was refurbished and sold to a farmer as a potential source of much needed hardware. After languishing on a farm until the mid nineties she was eventually purchased by Tony Ditheridge and shipped to England.
Tony decided to take the project on as an in-house exercise to be worked on when time allowed. However the course of events altered dramatically when, in early 2006, Tony received a call from London businessman Peter Teichman, owner of the North Weald based Hangar 11 Collection. Peter’s extensive flying background had begun in general aviation but had, over a period of ten years, moved towards historic and warbird types, initially with the purchase of a Beech Staggerwing and in 2002, the purchase of a P-51D Mustang. The embryonic collection was established under the Hangar 11 Collection banner and by 2006 the unique Spitfire PR.XI, PL965 and a Curtiss P-40M Kittyhawk had been added. Peter wished to complete his collection with a fourth warbird but wanted something which would naturally complement the others and would also be unique in its own right. It was not long before a Hurricane became the obvious candidate. When one has decided on the purchase of a Hurricane, HRL is an obvious first port of call. Following negotiations a contract with HRL was signed in December 2006 and the CAA civil registration of the Hurricane was changed shortly afterwards to G-HHII (‘Hawker Hurricane II’ or ‘Hurricane Hangar 11’!) to reflect her new ownership.
HRL, in addition to their own dedicated engineers, have an extensive network of specialist parts and component suppliers and orders were soon in place for all the major items that would have to be restored or newly manufactured to complete the project. The engine, a Packard Merlin 29, which had been obtained with the airframe, was discovered to be in poor condition and looked far from promising as a restoration candidate. Fortunately a chance offer from a Duxford based operator resulted in the purchase of a surplus Merlin 29 which was immediately despatched to Eye Tech Engineering in Eye, Suffolk, UK for overhaul. Founded by Maurice Hammond the company works closely with HRL and has become a leading supplier of restored vintage aero engines, and machined aircraft components, not to mention restorers of two superb P-51 Mustangs which Maurice flies and displays himself.
A Hamilton Standard metal prop was already overhauled and with the project, and by spring 2007 significant progress had been made on almost every aspect of the restoration. Coolant and oil lines were installed, a new radiator and oil-cooler were sourced from New Zealand and new fuel tanks were being fabricated. At the same time the wooden ‘dog-house’ section around the cockpit was being fabricated in HRL’s own wood-working shop. In contrast to the Spitfire, the design of the Hurricane is formed around a centre section upon which the undercarriage and all systems are installed so the outer wings are independent, bolt-on structures which do not contain any systems. With the undercarriage installed the airframe can be moved around - even the engine can be run without the wings being fitted!
At this time, Peter, in conjunction with the author, started to give some thought to the final presentation of the finished aircraft, particularly in terms of scheme and markings. What was needed, we felt, was something ‘different’ that had not been done before and would be relevant to this as a Mk.IIB. The answer was revealed in Chaz Bowyer’s book ‘Hurricane at War’ – a Hurri-Bomber! Based on the Mk.IIB airframe with the twelve-gun wing, the fighter-bomber version of the Hurricane was developed in late1941. Hawker upgraded and strengthened the wing of the Hurricane to allow a pair of modified Air Ministry bomb carriers to be mounted below the main gun-bays and covered by a streamlined fairing. These carried two 250LB General Purpose (GP) and later two 500LB GP bombs.
We were drawn towards a shot of a particular 174 Squadron RAF example which was depicted with its Australian pilot, Sgt. Charles Bryce Watson, standing proudly in front of his mount. What attracted us to this aircraft was the unusual kangaroo nose art and the adornment of the name ‘Pegs’ on the cowling, something rare for UK based RAF aircraft of the period but certainly distinctive and eye catching. So we now had our ‘theme’ and a vision for the appearance of the finished restoration.
Presuming that the location of suitable bomb carriers would be relatively straightforward we looked into the possibility of constructing very realistic replica bombs which would complete the appearance of the aircraft and we wondered if it might even be possible to convince the UK CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) to allow us to fly the aircraft with them attached. A call to the RAF Museum revealed that they had stored and deactivated examples of the main bomb casing and tail assembly and that we could borrow them to copy. Following discussion with our friends at the Sywell Aviation Museum in Northamptonshire an agreement was made for them to manufacture replica tail cones from the original and a specialist mould maker was contracted to make fibre-glass casings taken from the borrowed original. The mould maker did an excellent job and once united with the tail section and painted in the distinctive mustard yellow typical of early war British bombs, the result was alarmingly realistic.
However the bomb carriers themselves remained frustratingly elusive, no original examples seem to have survived either in isolation or attached to any of the museum preserved Hurricanes around the world. HRL once again came to the rescue and found copies of many of the original Hawker drawings and a chance e-mail to Elliot Smock, Whitley bomber aficionado, revealed he was shortly to acquire an example of the early type of bomb carrier which was suitable for our project and that he already had examples of the hook release and sway arms which he generously shared with us. HRL, in conjunction with Eye Tech, were than able to assemble two complete Hurricane bomb carriers by manufacturing the additional reinforcing plates as well as the internal wing strengthening plates. The final touch was the streamlined fairings which were skilfully fabricated from original drawings.
The magnificently restored Merlin 29 engine was received in February 2008 and installed straight in to the waiting engine bearer frame of the Hurricane which really gave the project team a boost. Early summer saw another milestone when, with the arrival of finer weather, the delicate Irish linen fabric covering was applied to the fuselage and tail section, multiple coats of dope being applied to provide a superb taught finish with a final coat of silver dope to maintain light tightness and a base for the final paint finish.
By September HRL had painted the airframe and applied the large, distinctive XP-L code letters carried by the original BE505, and the aircraft was then ready for engine ground running. At the same time, final detailing and fabrication of the landing-gear doors and fitment of gun bay ammunition containers and tracks was carried out to provide an exceptional level of authenticity . With the arrival of the outer wings and a successful test fitting they were painted in Dark Green and Ocean Grey camouflage and detail stencilling applied to the entire airframe supplied by the author’s company, Warbird Colour Services with the fonts faithfully replicating HRL’s original Air Ministry brass stencils set.
By the end of 2008 the aircraft was substantially finished and a first flight was close. Following road delivery of the aircraft to North Weald on 15 January there was little more than final detailed assembly and rigging of control surfaces to be completed. On 21 January full power engine runs were undertaken and by 23 January the aircraft was signed off and ready to fly. Unfortunately the weather was not quite good enough but on the 26th the team satisfied themselves that the ground handling was satisfactory by taxiing the Hurricane for the first time moving under her own power, an exciting event in its own right for everyone involved in the project. The following day the prospects finally looked much better with bright sunshine and a light wind. HRL use two test pilots to fly their restorations, Stuart Goldspink and Peter Kynsey. Both are internationally known and respected and have extensive experience on the type and, of course her contemporaries, and have flown displays in warbirds in many parts of the world. Stuart, being the Chief Pilot, ‘pulled rank’ and elected to make the first flight. After carefully taxiing out and gradually warming up the Merlin the brakes were released and she was airborne at 13.59 from runway 20. We were all surprised at how quickly she got into the air, almost as though she was making up for the lost years prior to her restoration! After initial checking of the operation of the flying controls and trim, all the time carefully monitoring temperatures and pressures, Stuart flew a little further from the airfield but always stayed in sight. After twenty minutes he brought her back to North Weald for a perfect landing to be greeted by a delighted Peter, Tony, Maurice and the entire restoration team, not to mention a bottle or two of Champagne! Stuart reported she flew straight ‘hands off’, a testament to the quality of the workmanship and the Merlin 29 was sweet and smooth running.
Following the completion of five hours flying, when the chilly UK February weather allowed, the testing programme was finally completed and a full Permit to Fly was issued by the CAA in time for the 2009 show season. The first public display was carried out on 25th July and was appropriately named the English Heritage Festival of History. The crowds on that perfect sunny day were treated to the sight of a Hurricane fighter-bomber gently looping and rolling over the English countryside and were probably the first people to witness this unique example of the Hawker fighter in flight in over sixty years.
As a footnote, the collection’s website is at www.hangar11.co.uk and Peter Teichman has just launched a Supporters Club to allow people closer access and information on fascinating activities that go on behind the scenes to keep four pristine warbirds in flying condition.
