Tag Archives: Hawker Hurricane north africa

Supero

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Sergeant Pilot F. H. Dean of No. 274 Squadron RAF examines belts of .303 ammunition before they are installed in his Hurricane at Sidi Barrani, Egypt, circa early 1941.

IWM (CM 868)

In the background, one of the groundcrews attaches a trolley accumulator to Hawker Hurricane Mark I, P2638, sporting the yellow lightning flash emblem (later changed to blue) which became 274 Squadron’s unofficial insignia at about this time.

F/Sgt Frank Henry Dean, 565551, RAF, MID, was shot down and killed on 15 May 1941, age 26, when his section of Hurricanes fought with Messerschmitt Bf 109s near Halfaya at the start of Operation Brevity.

As for No. 274 Squadron, it later upgraded to Spitfire IX Fs for air defense over England before switching to the Hawker Tempest Mk V to engage V-1s after August 1944. The squadron was disbanded in September 1945. Its motto is Supero (“I overcome”).

A desert Hurricane, 75 years ago today

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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.