The Hawker Hurricane was the first monoplane to join the Royal Air Force as a fighter aircraft, capable of reaching speeds in excess of 300-mph in level flight. Often compared with the sleek-looking Supermarine Spitfire, the Hurricane, in actuality, shouldered the brunt of the fighting during the "Battle of Britain", equipping more than three-fifths of the RAF's Fighter Command squadrons. When it lost its edge as a dogfighter in 1941, the Hurricane took on a number of other roles, including ground attack missions and maritime combat air patrols.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a RAF Hawker Hurricane Mk. I fighter that was flown by S/l Ian Gleed Colerne, who was attached to No.87 Squadron, during 1941. Now in stock!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 6-inches
Length: 5-inches

Release Date: October 2021

Historical Account: "The Most Powerful Fear Me" - No.87 Squadron Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was first formed on September 1st, 1917, at Upavon from elements of the Central Flying School. On December 17th, 1917, it moved to Hounslow Heath Aerodrome and was equipped with Sopwith Dolphins and S.E.5As, moving on to France in April 1918. After the armistice, the squadron moved back to England and was disbanded at RAF Ternhill on June 24th, 1919. The squadron did have seven aces on this type, in Arthur Vigers DFC, future Air Chief Marshal Leslie Hollinghurst, Henry Biziou, Joseph Callaghan (a commanding officer of 87 Squadron for a time, just achieving ace status with the Dolphin by war's end), Charles Darwin, Herbert Joseph Larkin, Alexander Pentland, and Charles Edward Worthington. The squadron's "lazy-S" style insignia in use late in World War I on its Dolphins is said to have been authorized for use by CO Callaghan, whose pre-war time living in Texas, where livestock branding on ranch livestock was common there at that time, could have inspired his choice of squadron insignia.