Hawker Hurricane Mk II (IIA / IIB / IIC)
Merlin XX power and ever heavier guns — up to 12 machine guns or four 20 mm cannon · First flight 1940 · In service 1940
The Mk II introduced the Merlin XX engine with a two-speed supercharger. The Mk IIA prototype flew on 11 June 1940 and the first aircraft reached squadrons in September 1940, in small numbers, at the end of the Battle of Britain. Heavier armament followed: the IIB carried twelve .303 in machine guns, entering production in early 1941, and the IIC four 20 mm Hispano cannon.
As the Hurricane was overtaken as a day fighter over Europe, the Mk II found new roles as a night fighter, intruder and fighter-bomber nicknamed the 'Hurribomber', carrying two bombs under the wings. Tropicalised versions with dust filters served in North Africa, Malta and the Far East, where Hurricanes flew ground-attack and reconnaissance sorties over Burma until the end of the war. The Hurricane was also the first Allied Lend-Lease aircraft delivered to the Soviet Union, which received around 3,000.
The last of some 14,500 Hurricanes built in Britain and Canada was a Mk IIC, PZ865, completed in July 1944 and named 'The Last of the Many'. It is now flown by the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight alongside Mk IIC LF363.
