Originally posted by Flipside
Ahhh... the Hurricane iirc? Joint built English/American venture.
They were lovely planes, I still think the Spitfire had the edge in combat performance, but they were expensive and slow to build, so there were a lot more Hurri's in the air than Spitfires
Hurricane as a joint American/British venture? What? I never heard that part of the story.
The Hurricane was designed by Sydney Cam and built by Hawker aviation. It was the answer to a RAF request for a modern monoplane fighter. It was the first of a new generation of aircraft...at the time only just slightly behind the Spitfire in performance and very reliable.
Almost 2/3rds of RAF fighter squadrons in the Battle of Britain were Hurricanes. Many of them were given the anti-bomber duties as the Spitfire was the more equal match to the Bf109E. Nonetheless, Hurricanes did do battle with 109s and the battles were always hard fought for both sides.
The Spitfire design had far more potential (which was later realized). The Hurricane was the right plane for the right job at the right time with the right numbers available.