Royal Air Force Hurricane Mk II escorts rolling trucks of a New Zealand unit on the move in Egypt on 3 August 1942 at well under 100 feet.
Although the Spitfire gets all the love, the plucky Hawker Hurricane, with more than 14,000 examples built between 1937-1944, performed yeoman service on all fronts throughout WWII. In North Africa, however, they did face not only the wrath of late model German Bf 109E and F-variants, but also of the very zippy Alfa-Romero-powered Macchi C.202 Folgore (Thunderbolt) of the Italians, all of which could outperform the Hurricane. As such they were relegated to supporting troops as an attack plane, as shown in the above image, a role they excelled in.
Today only 50 or so Hurricanes survive around the world, with about a dozen airworthy examples. As for their Italian foe in North Africa, only two Folgores remain, one at the Italian Air Force Museum near Bracciano, and the other at the Smithsonian. So there’s that.
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Let me introduce myself. I am a bit of a conflict junkie. I am fascinated by war and warfare, assassination, personal protection and weaponry ranging from spud guns and flame throwers to thermonuclear bombs and Soviet-trained Ebola monkeys. In short, if it’s violent or a tool to create violence it is kind of my thing.
I have written a few thousand articles on the dry encyclopedia side for such websites as GUNS.com, Univesity of Guns, Outdoor Hub, History Times, Big Game Hunter, Glock Forum, Firearms Talk.com, and Combat Forums; as well as for print publications like England Expects, and Strike First Strike Fast. Several magazines such as Sea Classics, Military Historian and Collector, Mississippi Sportsman and Warship International have carried my pieces. Additionally I am on staff as a naval consultant and writer for Eye Spy Intelligence Magazine.
Currently I am working on several book projects including an alternative history novel about the US-German War of 1916, and a biography of Southern gadfly and soldier of fortune Bennett Doty. My first novel, about the coming zombie apocalypse was released in 2012 by Necro Publications and can be found at Amazon.com as was the prequel, Chimera-44. I am currently working on book two of that series: "Pirates of the Zombie Coast."
In my day job I am a contractor for the US federal government in what could best be described as the ‘Force Protection’ field. In this I am an NRA-certified firearms, and less-than-lethal combat instructor.
