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Hawker Hurricane Mark I

Aircraft & Exhibits, JAN 1940-MAY 1972, London, Hangar Three/Four, 72/A/1404

The Hawker Hurricane Mk I entered service in 1937 as the RAF's first eight-gun monoplane. During the Battle of Britain Hurricanes were more numerous than Spitfires and shot down over 60% of all German aircraft destroyed.

Single engine aircraft with propeller and camouflage pattern, © RAF Museum

Gloster Meteor F.8

Aircraft & Exhibits, NOV 1951-FEB 1967, London, Hangar Three/Four, 67/A/208

The Gloster Meteor was the only allied jet to see combat in the Second World War and in its various marks served in day, night and training operations. Its sturdy construction also made it an ideal test bed for a variety of products which followed it. Between 1950 and 1955 the Meteor F8 provided the backbone of Britain’s air defence capability. By the end of the 1947 the British Meteor fighter had fallen behind its contemporaries in efficiency and performance. In an effort to redress the balance the Gloster design office produced a re-design which was a marked improvement while retaining as much of the structure of the earlier aircraft as possible for production purposes.

Silver-coloured aircraft with twin jet engines embedded in wings, (C) RAF Museum/Iain Duncan / (c) RAF Museum/ Iain Duncan

Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer CC.2

Aircraft & Exhibits, JUN 1958-FEB 1969, London, Hangar Three/Four, 69/A/217

Known as the ‘Twin Pin’, the Twin Pioneer was a follow-up to the same company’s single-engined short take-off and landing (STOL) transport, the Pioneer, and like the latter required an area only 30m (99ft) by 275m (902ft) in which to operate. The Twin Pioneer was initially designed as a 16-passenger civil transport aircraft and first flew in June 1955. Following the success of the Pioneer, the RAF ordered 39 of the new type, the first examples entering service in October 1958 with No.78 Squadron in Aden, air-lifting troops and supplies in the Protectorate.

Twin-engined aircraft with brown/sand desert camouflage scheme and black underside., © RAF Museum/Iain Duncan / (c) RAF Museum/ Iain Duncan