Speaking Your Mind in the Military by Hawker Hurricane

[Jack Rabbit]

From Democratic Underground
Dated Thursday July 24

Speaking Your Mind in the Military
By Hawker Hurricane

In recent news, an active duty military man made a mistake: he said what he really thought about our political leaders to the press.
His mistake is he let his face be seen and his name be known to the hordes of Right Wing Zealots who will use their connections to ruin his military career and his life.
It does not matter that he is right.
It does not matter that he is entitled to his opinion.
It does not matter that for eight years that these same right-wing zealots encouraged the military to do the exact same thing.
It only matters that he be destroyed for daring to contradict the official Right Wing Zealot position: That the military follows the Republican position in blind lockstep. Any evidence to the contrary, say from a known military man who hides his name through a web alias is to be discounted as "an obvious fraud." And any evidence presented by a man in uniform is to be ignored if possible, and if not, punished as harshly as possible.

Read more.
Hawker has long been one of the most thoughtful and expressive posters on DU. I, for one, hope to see more of him on the front page.

[Melsky]

1. That is a great article

I had been wondering what the military would do about this. I've read a couple of articles in the British press where US troops were pretty brutally honest about what was going on there.

[HawkerHurricane]

2. My first 'published' article...

I'm so proud (sob).

[DemoTex]

3. Hawker Hurricane: Defender of the Empire (as the Brits called it)

Hawker Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane was one of the famous British fighters of WW II. The prototype was first flown in November 1935 and the first production aircraft made its initial flight in October 1937. Within a matter of weeks, Hurricanes were being delivered to their operational squadrons. By the time the war broke out in September 1939, the Royal Air Force (RAF) had taken delivery of about 500 Hurricanes as production continued.

The hurricane is probably best known for its performance during the Battle of Britain. When the battle commenced in July 1940, the RAF Fighter Command had but 527 Hurricanes and 321 Spitfires to counter the enemy's 2,700 aircraft. Yet, the RAF was able to maintain air superiority in the skies of Great Britain.

Hurricanes were built not only in Great Britain but also in Yugoslavia, before the German invasion, and in Canada during the 1940-1942 period. they were flown by pilots of many nations during the war. The Hawker Hurricane MKIIa on display is a Canadian built airframe painted to represent an aircraft of 71 Squadron, Royal Air Force, one of the three Eagle Squadrons of WW II. Americans in the RAF flew Hurricane MKIIa's with this unit from May to August 1941.

The Museum acquired this Hurricane MK IIa through an exchange with RRS Aviation of Hawkins, Texas, which also restored the aircraft.

SPECIFICATIONS
Span: 40 ft.
Length: 31 ft. 4 in.
Height: 13 ft.
Weight: 7,200 lbs. loaded
Armament: Eight .303-cal. Browning machine guns
Engine: Rolls-Royce Merlin XX of 1,260 hp.
Crew: One

PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 340 mph.
Cruising speed: 238 mph.
Range: 468 miles with internal fuel only; 1,090 miles with two 90 gal. ferry tanks
Service Ceiling: 35,000 ft.

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/early_years/ey15a.htm

This is what I always think of when I see HawkerHurricane on the DU boards. What a fine choice for a DU handle. What a fine man to live up to the reputation of the handle he chose.

BTW: There was a later version of the Hawker Hurricane with a five-bladed propeller. I saw one of those at the air show in Oshkosh in the late 1970's. Too cool. Too loud, too!

[JohnyCanuck]

4. Hurricane was the workhorse and Spitfire got the glory

It's usually the Spitfire that most people associate with the Battle of Britain. However, it was the Hurricane that was really the backbone of RAF fighter command during the opening phases of WWII, and during the Battle of Britain more enemy aircraft were downed by Hurricanes than by Spitfires. Only natural too considering, as your quote above indicates Demo Tex, that there were significantly more Hurricanes than Spitfires, in RAF fighter command at the start of the war.

Hurricanes were also easier to build and maintain than Spitfires having a fabric covered fuseslage (but metal wings IIRC). It meant bullet holes in the fuselage could be fixed up with a patch of fabric and dope instead of sheet metal work. Also the airframe in general had a reputation for being tough and sturdy, i.e. could take a licking and keep on ticking. I suspect they're the qualities that characterize DUs own Hawker Hurricane.

Having said all that. There's something about the appearance of a Spitfire that just tugs at my airplane loving heart strings in a way that no other WWII era fighter does (in fact I'd say no other airplane period, except maybe the Concorde). Damn those eliptical wings. They just make my heart go pitter, patter and I can't help it.

The object of my affection (no disrespect to Hawker Hurricane):

[punpirate]

5. But, research at North American showed...

... that the nicely rounded wingtips slowed the roll rate and increased drag, hence the clipped-off wingtips of the P-51. But, for all-around sheer finesse, I just gotta go with the:



DeHavilland Mosquito. Versatile, fast, and two big, big Merlins throbbing. I'd waste lottery checks on restoring one of those. *smile*

Cheers. And, Hawker, congrats on your first published article--the first time is the hardest. You're not a virgin any longer, so we expect more. (!)

[HawkerHurricane]

7. Also...

square clipped wings are easier to manufacture.
The elliptical wings of the Spitfire may have looked pretty, but they were a metalsmith's nightmare.
The Mosquito avoided the problem by being made of wood, thereby becoming a carpenter's nightmare vice a metalsmith's.

[HawkerHurricane]

6. Your picture shows

A early model Supermarine Spitfire, piloted by a Chzeck(sp) refugee pilot (note 3 color circle under cockpit, indicating nationality of pilot). As Demotex mentioned, many countries had troops 'helping' Britain during "Thier Finest Hour": Americans (Eagle Squadrons were all American pilots), Canadians, Australians, South Africans, Poles, Chzecks(sp), Free French...
And I know I'm forgetting some.
"Never in the field of human conflict
Has so much
been owed by so many
to so few." - Winston Churchill