MkI Spity & Hurri

[zorstorer]

Yep, just wondering what your thoughts were

So are they fabric covered?

[Karnak]

The Spitfire Mk I, Mk II and early Mk Vs had fabric covered control surfaces.  Unless I recall incorrectly, so did early Hurricane fighters.

[nirvana]

I love the Hurri Mk. 1 spit is just a pain as it doesn't seem to fly the way I like to fly.  Good furball is always good for Hurri fight's.  I especially love when 110's start turning with it.  Give them a good light the first burst and rip them to pieces the second burst.

[Schatzi]

Someone called me????

Thanks for all the kind words! to all, friends and foe.


I just *love* the Hurri1. Best plane ingame. Hehe. I especially love how everyone tries to turnfight it again and again....


ramzey, no those 16 kills were not in one sortie. The Max i once made was 5 kills, no rearm, CAPing an enemy base on my own (no vulches though, just a few augers of guys in LAs that tried to follow my splitS at 1000 feet).

The maximum i ever made it home with was 4 kills (just once).

mussie, check my tour66 stats . And yes, i dont know where to store my perks anymore...

frank3, what do you mean 'real men'???? Its a Lady's plane. Small, easy handling, small guns, underestimated, mean...


The Hurri wins against the Spit hands down. The Spit might have slightly more engine power, but it also feels a *lot* heavier, and the roll rate is horrenduous. The Hurri also outturns the Spit.

What i found to be an even matched setup is hurr1 vs a6m2. Always fun fights.




Edit: I really want a Seahurricane. Just add a hook on the Mk1 .

[Schatzi]

For those interested, heres a writeup on Hurri1 i did after tour66. I tried to put into words what i found out to work best (for me) in Hurri.

Engine performance... uh, lets not talk about that.

I always had best chances when coming in to a fight with altitude. Diving is never a problem, since even at full throttle, its nearly impossible to get speed above 440 mph. And Hurri1 is still fairly maneuverable at those speeds. Just roll rate slows considerably. But i never managed to compress one.

Still, id recommend using your altitude prudently, as Hurri bleeds a lot of E in dive. Once you decide to go down, you usually stay there. So convert the alt to speed wisely. Slashing boom&zoom attacks from a Hurri surprise the h*** out of everyone though, and if timed right, you can get a lucky shot (ie kill) and reposition again.

Once your low and slow, the Hurri is in its element. I would hazard to say, ist the plane with the best handling ive flown so far. Turns on a dime. The only planes that ive come to fear turn-rate wise are the zeors and il2. They have roughly the same turning abilities with the big advantage of cannons at their disposal in snap/deflection shooting.

Keep the Hurri vertical as much as possible. You might not have the power to do rightout loops, but i always pull up in turns as high as possible, since turning while at speeds above 120 tends to bleed E you cant afford. And the Hurri has excellent stall handling so dont be afraid to hang it on the prop until speed is 0 (alway mindful of any enemy that could pick you off). Just point your nose wherever you want to go/shoot. If it stalls, hold it straight for a sec or two and your on your way again, since you dont need much speed to gain control of your aircraft back. Use rudder generously, not only on top of loop to get you going back in the right direction, but also to improove roll rate and to point guns. Flaps might help you over the top in loops, and also tighten any kind of vertical turn immensly. Keep in mind they add a lot of drag though. You dont want them lowered any longer than absolutly neccessary as they reduce your already poor eng performance.

The good low speed handling makes the Mk1 a surprisingly good base defender. Right from the moment your wheels leave the tarmac, your able to turn and fight. And go evasive.

Defensivly, the best advantage the Hurri has is ist low speed. I usually got the six call when the con was already past me. A short ‚sidestepping’ with cut eng and rudder usually denies the attacker his shot and makes him overshoot. If the relative speed of the opponent is not that much faster, turn into him, barrel roll under and above him. You might get a shot off if he pulls up on that pass. Be aware though: the time between enemy getting in icon range and him being in shooting distance is usually short. SA is very important here.

Drawback is: ist next to impossible to exploit an overshoot and get a shot in yourself. But sooner or later, most enemies get angry and turn with you or they are bored and look for an easier target. Or they realise they have blown their E advantage and run.

Speaking of running. Everything ‚runs’ from a Hurri. Even TBMs. Dont try to follow anyone for any lenght of time. Ist useless. I furballs, i usually went for the closest available target. Another thing to avoid. Buffs and Gvs. Even if you manage to kill one of those, it takes obscene amounts of ammo. Oh, and dont HO, the other one usually asks if you even fired afterwards.

Firepower. I had convergence for all guns at same range. 225 or 200. anything further out you might be able to hit, but wont do any damage. The close the deadlier the 303s get. At d200 you can easily saw the wings of a spit or a pony. Spit, Pony, LA and the likes i always went for the wings or the cockpit (if deflection). Japanese fighters easily catch fire when hit in the fuselage. The F series are tough ones, need multiple shots at them, wherever you can get them in, best if they all go in one place (not always possible).

Hurricane is one tough bird. Ive had many a typhy hose me and got away. Mk1 can take a lot of abuse and still fly. One aileron you wont miss much. Flaps neither. Fuel is rarly an issue, since you have three tanks and Hurri eng doesnt need much. Rudder or elevator is bad, since you loose your main advantage: stall handling and turning ability. Ive flown Hurris home with almost every part missing and landed it. Never give up .

Picking the right fight: Very important in Mk1. Too many friendlies and all you get is assists (quick kill is a virtual impossibility in Hurri1) and you usually can ‚count’ on a helpful friendly diving in to save you. Being outnumbered too much isnt good either, since running or even extending is not an option either – for those that like to rtb. 5 or 6 enemies and a friendly or two to cover your retreat once youre rtb is ideal. Or 1 vs 1, if you happen to find someone thats either stupid or good enough to turn with you.

In Hurri Mk1 your a fighter magnet, as everyone thinks ‚ahhh – easy kill’. And they usually underestimate you, thinking you cant do damage with those 303s anyway. Use that as an advantage.

One word on the engine. It has a gravity carburetor, meaning it cuts out when doing negative Gs. You get used to it fairly quickly, and learn to avoid it. If you dive, do it shallow, around 0.25 G works best. If you want to follow someone down fast, roll over and pull a split s like turn. BTW, if engine cuts for longer than a sec or too, it stays off. Just hit ‚e’ to start it back up.

If youre so unlucky and end up in a flatspin/tailspin at one point: DONT POINT NOSE DOWN! Eng cuts (see above). Usually opposit rudder and lowering gear while keeping nose level or slighly low get you going again. And retract flaps, they keep you from recovering.

One word on defending yourself against a Mk1: If your d500 or further, your pretty save. Just keep going level, and all the Hurri can do is wave goodbye. Some 303 or other might hit you, but the worst they do is scarring your paintjob. Dont turn. The Hurri cuts the corner and ‚boom’. If it a tight situation (Hurri 1 d150 on your tail) dive with -1 or -2 G. Thats too steep for Hurri engine, but not steep enough to turn Hurri over and follow. All the Mk1 can do in that situation is disengage and try to reposition.


In the right hands, the Hurri is a very deadly plane. The pilot needs a high tolerance for frustration though, as its simply not cut out to be flown in the MA. Ive had tons of fun and very very good fights in it. Just dont expect your stats to be any good in it .

And for some Hurri Mk1 drooling: The Need for Speed

[mussie]

Spent some time flying the hurri.

Got into some awsome knife fights  

Was in one with an FM2 the poor guy just could not shake me, it was just too easy...

Was in another one with a Nikki, Pilot was good and we traded hits. almost had him but I pushed her a little hard at low alt and crashed...

The hardest thing is getting into a fight.

Followd this LA 7 for about 15 minutes. He would dive in, shoot miss and run oops I mean extend.

Then I got into this MASS furball and was on my second or third kill lining up for another and I got discoed (went over my ISP's 5 hour session limit)

This plane is slow (a little kid on a trike passed me in the MA) Its true I swear it, it also has poor hitting power at med to long ranges. but MAN CAN IT TURN.

[mussie]

Dont know how but I missed your reply Schatzi.

Its a good one ran into a lot of the issues you mentioned.

The flat spin screwed me I could not get the old girl to start and fell from like 5000 feet helpless had to bailed but did it too late....  

Nice write up

Thanks

[mussie]

Tour 66
Schatzi
Hurricane Mk I  
115 <--- Kills

You must need a formation of goons to carry all those perks

[Schatzi]

Yeah, i wish i had something like a Seahurricane to spend those perkies on. I just cant handle the high speeds of the PerkPlanes - always need a paper bag in those...

[frank3]

Hmm, SeaHurricane....does that mean you won't be able to land either? (or ditch near friendly cv)

[Schatzi]

The first Hurricanes were lauchend from merchant ships with catapults to defend allied convoys. Youre right, that was a one-way street for them, as the pilot had to ditch close to the convoy or bail, and hope to be rescued, i guess mainly because those ships didnt have a flight deck.

Later (in October 1941) the added hooks to the MkIB or MkIIA: Seahurricane MkIB, wich were able to launch (catapult) and land on small CVs (modified big merchant ships with a small flight deck).

The Seahurricane MkIC had the quad hispano mounted wings of our MkIIC.

The last british Seahurricane version was the MkIIC, which could be launched and land on conventional CVs.


So id either like a Seahurricane MkIB or a Seahurricane MkIIC (perked).

[Kev367th]

Bright side -
On the remodel the Spit I is getting 12lbs boost.
The gauge currently reads 12lbs, but it isn't, it's only 8lbs.

[nirvana]

Spit I will still get taken to the cleaners by the Hurri I:)

[zorstorer]

Originally posted by nirvana
Spit I will still get taken to the cleaners by the Hurri I:)

Yep, doubt the 12lbs boost will make too much of a dent in the hurri 1's advantage over the spit 1.

[Nemeth]

Originally posted by nirvana
Spit I will still get taken to the cleaners by the Hurri I:)

Pfft... just havent fought me yet  :-p i forget who it was but i was taking on 2 hurr 2's in turnfights @ the same time and i won 8/10x, only reason i died was cuz of em HOing me