Steve Nelson wrote:
Other than it being a rare fabric-wing Hurri (didn't know there were any still extant) I'm stumped..guess I bought that saddle for nothing.
Saddle up cowboy, you're correct.
It's the
only fabric-wing Hurricane. (And a Battle of Britain veteran, but not unique in that.) The Hurricane Mk.I in the Science Museum, London.
All early Hurricanes were built with two-blade fix-pitched wooden props, no armoured windscreen, and the outer wings (outside the centre section) were metal construction but fabric covered - Hawker developed the stressed skin construction later (but still pre-war), introduced it into production, and when production caught up, started retro-fitting the fabric ones with the new all-metal outer wings. This is the only example still with the fabric-covered outer wings fitted. It crashed at Croydon Airport during the Battle of Britain, and never re-entered service, IIRC.
What makes it unique in construction terms is that the fabric covering extends right from the leading to trailing edge - in a 300+mph fighter, this required channels in the ribs, which the fabric was pressed into by bars on the outside, fitting into the channels. In the Hawker Fury and Hart families, Hawker pioneered the fabric rolls being attached on the bias, rather than the normal systems - the fabric's edge can be seen at 45 degrees in the first pic. I'd remembered it, but my fabric man didn't believe me!
Cheers,
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