Hawker Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane was the first monoplane fighter in RAF service and the first to exceed 300 mph. The aircraft’s design was based on the Hawker Fury biplane, but, unlike the Fury, it featured a monoplane wing design, an enclosed cockpit, and retractable landing gear. These features would become hallmarks of Second World War aircraft but were still considered unconventional in the early 1930s. Together with the Spitfire, the Hurricane was the principal fighter of the Battle of Britain. While the Spitfire gained legendary status, the Hurricane is credited with having shot down more Axis aircraft than any other defence—air or ground—combined. When Italy began its aerial offensive against Malta on 11 June 1940, outdated Gloster Sea Gladiator biplanes were the island’s only aerial defence, and it would be more than two weeks before reinforcements arrived in the form of two Hurricanes. By July 1940, more Hurricanes were being deployed to Malta, where it remained the frontline of aerial def