Hawker Hurricane Vs Spitfire

A History of Croydon Airport: Croydon Airport and the battle for Britain, 1939-1940

Hawker Hurricane and Sea Hurricane

This fully illustrated volume examines the legendary RAF fighter with full details on its WWII service and design modifications. The Hawker Hurricane was aeronautical engineer Sidney Camm's masterpiece. The fighter entered Royal Air Force service in 1937 and quickly became one of the most important aircraft in Britain's military arsenal—especially in the first three years of the Second World War. It served in every wartime theatre, from Norway and France, to the Battle of Britain, the defense of Malta, the campaigns in the Western Desert, the Russian Front, and in the Far East where it saw service until the end of hostilities. Martin Derry offers a concise yet informative history of the Hurricane's development, operational career and design improvements, including many contemporary photographs with detailed captions; a 16-page color illustration section offering profiles and 2-views of 48 separate aircraft; and finally a section prepared by master maker Tony O'Toole, listing and illustrating the plastic model kits of the Hurricane available in all scales.

Dogfight

This book tells the story of Australians and New Zealanders in one of the Second World War’s defining and most memorable campaigns. From July until October 1940, the German air force (the Luftwaffe) sought aerial supremacy in skies over England as a prerequisite for an invasion of Britain (Operation Sealion). The ensuing conflict of Luftwaffe and RAF aircraft in the long summer of 1940 became forever known as the Battle of Britain. Of the 574 overseas pilots in the campaign, the New Zealand contingent of 134 airmen was second in size only to the Polish contribution. The Australian involvement, though smaller, was a healthy 37. Thus a fifth of overseas pilots were Anzacs. Among these colonials were some of the Battle of Britain’s widely admired aces. Of the top ten pilots with the greatest number of victories two were New Zealanders (C. F. Gray and B. Carbury) and one an Australian (P. Hughes). Australian and New Zealand aircrew were also employed in attacking enemy Channel ports and airfields as part of Bomber and Coastal Command’s attempts to thwart invasion preparations and blunt the Luftwaffe aerial onslaught. The Anzacs also had a fellow compatriot at the highest level in the Fighter Command system: the highly regarded New Zealander Air Vice-Marshal Sir Keith Park, who was instrumental in devising and implementing the integrated air defence of Britain around Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft, radio control and radar. In the spring of 1940, he was given the command of Group 11, which would face the brunt of the German aggression in south-east England. The success of Park’s plans and operational initiatives, and the role played by Anzac pilots and aircrew, would all contribute to the conflict’s eventual successful outcome.