© picture credit
HISTORIC VICTORIES
of the Shoreham Aircraft Museum in Shoreham Village, Kent, says: ‘The two fighters were closely matched. And although the BF109 had petrol injection, the Spitfire had greater manoeuvrability. Also, the Allied pilots were incredibly brave to take on the Germans who were very experienced.’ However, the number
Fleet Air Arm Hawker Sea Hurricanes were initially deployed to protect merchant shipping
fuselage now filled the entire diameter of the luminous ring.’ He was ‘surprised and puzzled at the ease of it – quite different from Poland where you had to scrape and try until you were in a sweat, and then, instead of getting the bastard, he got you.’ Witold Urbanowicz, son of a Polish fighter ace of
the same name, says: ‘They had learned to fly on inferior, antiquated machines. You really had to be an incredible flyer to make a difference on those machines. Then they had flown the underpowered and less manoeuvrable French planes. By the time they came to England and started flying the Hurricanes, they were in heaven.’ After the battle, Dowding remarked: ‘Had it
not been for the magnificent [work of] the Polish squadrons and their unsurpassed gallantry, I hesitate to say that the outcome of the battle would have been the same.’ The specification of the chief British fighter
aircraft was different and arguably superior in some respects to its German counter part, the BF 109E. The Air Ministry commissioned aeronautical
engineer Reginald Mitchell to supply a lightweight fighter aircraft in 1931. After success at with the Schneider Trophy, where Mitchell had capitalised on speed-focused designs, his team opted for an elliptical wing shape. Beverley Shenstone, an aerodynamicist on his team, said: ‘Aerodynamically it was the best for our purpose because the induced drag was lowest when this shape was used: the ellipse was... theoretically a perfection.’ Aviation archaeologist Geoff Nutkins, founder
of Spitfires was far fewer than the number of Hurricanes, of which 14,000 were produced. They were seen as the workhorses of the RAF
during the Battle of Britain by Fighter Command. Their wooden structure was far easier for ground crews to repair than other aircrafts’ metal fuselages. Their canvas-covered wings would often let cannon fire through that would not explode, granting them a long life span and letting them return to the fray as soon as possible. Pilot George Barclay said: ‘It was a delightful
aeroplane – not as agile as a Spitfire, but it had a very good gun platform. It was very steady and
Two volunteers in a Royal Observatory post at Kings Langley, Hertfordshire
46 SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
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