The Hawker Hurricane is a perennial favourite of the Blackpool Air Show audience appearing most years and usually operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF)
The Hawker Hurricane was developed through several versions bomber-interceptors, fighter-bombers, and ground support aircraft as well as fighters. Versions developed specially for the Royal Navy called the Sea Hurricane had modifications enabling deployment from ships at sea. Some were also used as catapult-launched convoy escorts and by the end of production in July 1944, 14,487 Hurricanes had actually been manufactured in Britain and Canada, with a few constructed in Belgium and also Yugoslavia.
The Hurricane originated from discussions between RAF authorities and aircraft designer Sir Sydney Camm about a proposed monoplane derivative of the Hawker Fury biplane in the early 1930s.
Despite an RAF institutional preference for biplanes and lack of interest from the British Air Ministry Hawker fine-tuned their monoplane proposal, incorporating several technologies which ended up being crucial to wartime fighter aircraft design, including retractable touchdown gear as well as the highly effective Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. The Air Ministry ordered Hawker’s Interceptor Monoplane in late 1934, and the prototype Hurricane K5083 performed its maiden flight on 6 November 1935.
The Hurricane went into manufacturing for the Air Ministry In June 1936 and was deployed into RAF squadron service in December 1937. Its manufacture! production and repair man hours and complexity were reduced by using standard building and construction techniques so that operational squadrons could complete many significant repair jobs without outside assistance. The Hurricane was quickly brought into service prior to the outbreak of the 2nd World War in September 1939, when the RAF had 18 Hurricane equipped squadrons operational. The aeroplane was deployed to intercept German aircraft operated by the Luftwaffe, including German heavy bombers and dogfighting with Messerschmitt Bf 109s in several theatres of action.
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s — 40s which was designed and mainly developed by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was eclipsed in the general public awareness by the Supermarine Spitfire’s role throughout the Battle of Britain in 1940 – 1941, but the Hurricane inflicted 60 percent of the losses sustained by the Luftwaffe in the engagement, and fought in all the significant theatres of the Second World War.
Today the Hawker Hurricane remains a firm favourite of Air Display audiences around the country.
The Hurricane’s appearing at the Blackpool Airshow are operated by the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) and are usually in formation with the Supermarine Spitfire and the Avro Lancaster bomber from WW2.
For more detailed information on the WW2 Hawker Hurricane we recommend Encyclopedia Britannica and Wickipedia.
The airshow can be affected by inclement weather and displays can be rescheduled or cancelled at short notice, if in any doubt about the display or car parking in Blackpool contact the Tourist Information Centre telephone 01253 478222