Let’s take a stroll back in time where human events continually end up on the precipice of war much like today and the similarities between the Ukraine Russian War and World War II. Leading us to the beginning of the world war and what the US and Great Britain had undertaken to reluctantly modernize their airpower in the face of Germany’s growing military designs for the rest of the world. Two prominently capable aircraft would be the only deterrent to the Axis Powers in the beginning though they were under estimated and overlooked, regardless they made a great contribution in the resistance to fascism.

New design emerges

By 1936 the British, after issuing new specifications for their first mono winged high performance fighter to replace their already obsolete Bi-plane aerial fleet would successfully test the Hawker Hurricane. This fighter aircraft would be the main tip of the spear as Nazi Bf-109’s and medium bombers flooded the skies over London in 1940. The rugged, well-armed fighting machine may not have been as elegant, nimble, or as fast as the legendary “Spitfire” but the Hurricane was the most widely manufactured and available warplane to battle the Germans with. However, as we all know history tends to be told in entertaining fashion occasionally overlooking the true workhorse elements to victory and the Hawker Hurricane was one of them.

New sheriff in town

On the other side of the pond in the US, the development of the P-36 Hawk was issued and it would serve as the first all metal mono winged closed cockpit fighter aircraft. The venerable Boeing P-80 “Pea Shooter” was the first US mono plane fighter, but without a pressurized cockpit and top speed of only 225 mph though it did have a devastating 57 mm cannon, its altitude limitations made it too vulnerable. Used in the Battle of Corregidor under General MacArthur’s command it did well against the Japanese, but attrition quickly dissipated its ranks as the US had been little prepared for war.

Dangers of training

Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the “Sound Barrier” as a test pilot as well as an “Ace” fighter pilot in World War II was trained in the P-36 and described it as an unwieldy and unstable platform at times to fly, and commented that a few of the rookies in his training unit had plowed the field (crashed) when flying at high performance levels. The P-36 would soon be replaced by the vastly improved and legendary P-40 Warhawk, heavily armed with resealable fuel tanks, six wing mounted 50 caliber machine guns, and iron plate protection around the pilot. At 378 mph top speed the P-40 was faster than its Mitsubishi Zero opponent and when flown correctly took down many more than the toll that was suffered by the allies.

Armed to the teeth

The Hawker Hurricane at a top speed of 331 mph was not as fast as the P-40 but with four 20 millimeter cannons and two additional machine guns it presented a deadly obstacle for the Luftwaffe to overcome in the Battle of Britain as Air Marshall Goering attempted to soften up the British Isles for “Operation Sea Lion” the proposed amphibious landing Hitler had planned for British conquest. At that time with an astonishing loss rate among German and British aviators, the finest young men the British had to offer with only 6 weeks training as a combat pilot went up against the best and experienced veteran aviators of the Nazis. The British were always on the defensive and a disadvantage as they climbed to meet the Bf-109 fighters trying to protect their bomber squadrons. The Germans found the Hawker Hurricane to be a capable opponent and not until the introduction of the Focke Wulf 190 did they come up with an air superiority fighter that it would take another advanced variant to beat which would end up being later models of the “Spitfire” or the Hawker “Sea Fury”.

Lessons to be learned

Meanwhile over the Pacific many P-40 Warhawks along with the US Navy “Wildcat” carrier launched fighter were having a rough go of it against the Mitsubishi Zero which at low speeds could out turn the US fighters costing many an American aviator his plane and maybe his life. Unfortunately, Claire Chenault’s observations of Japanese fighter tactics against the obsolescent Chinese air force had allowed him to develop an effective tactical doctrine to the Jap Zero which was known as the “Boom and Zoom” tactic where the P-40 was allowed to exercise its superior aspects of speed, gunnery advantage, and dive away capability so an American pilot never had to get caught in a turning contest. Much to the chagrin of the Japanese Imperial pilots who were shot down in ever increasing numbers, the P-40 Warhawk reigned supreme sending many a Zero flaming into the ground. Why Chenault’s doctrine was not passed on to US Naval forces in such theaters as Guadalcanal where many a US pilot could have been saved is a mystery. The tough and rugged P-40 would be recognized as the main combat aircraft for the Flying Tigers having more kills than any US air unit in history.

Slick enemy technology

The British just as much in a fight for their lives were faced with the formidable German Luftwaffe, and its fast and effective Messerschmitt 109. The German’s could out climb the Hawker in some regimes of air combat but too often found themselves at the mercy of the four 20 millimeter Hispano cannons and 2 additional Browning machine guns that sent many a bullet riddled Bf-109 to the British farmland below. Having the Rolls Royce Merlin engine super charged for better high altitude performance narrowed whatever advantage the German fighter had leaving it up to the capability of each pilot to decide who would live to fight another day. However, at lower altitudes much like the P-40 Warhawk who took on the Bf-109 in North Africa, both Allied fighters had the advantage below 15,000 feet. The Hawker Hurricane accounted for 60% of the German aircraft losses through-out the Second World War, so as unsensational as the Hurricane seemed, it played a vital role for the British.

Deadly flaw

There was only one horrendous shortcoming of the Hawker Hurricane and that was a fuel line that ran alongside the cockpit on its way to supplying the engine, a dangerous design flaw as many an unfortunate young British pilot would find out. If the bullets from a Dornier 17 bomber turret gunner or the machine guns of a Messerschmitt 109 found their target along that exterior fuel line, a fiery explosion would result often burning the face of the pilot who would suffer third degree burns and disfigurement only to have the option of plastic surgery of the 1940’s as reconstructive treatment. The youngest and most brilliant young men of their time in Great Britain suffered in the defense of their nation.

Then and now

As for the P-40 Warhawk which served the entire war in every theater of combat, it would soon be rendered obsolescent by newer aircraft designed for higher altitudes and faster performance, but even lacking the Rolls Royce Merlin super charged engine, the Allison built power train still allowed the P-40 ample enough flying capability to punish its opponents on the ground as well as air to air. Making the P-40 Warhawk as well as the Hawker Hurricane unsung heroes in the battle for freedom in the skies of World War II. We live in a much different world today made even more lethal with nuclear weapons. The proposition of mutually assured destruction was once thought to be enough of a deterrent to prohibit the possibility of future wars, but the evil of human nature seems to preclude that solution.