Hawker Hurricane P3351

First published here in 2000, this article is Copyright 2000 NZFPM/Ian Brodie. 
 
Almost sixty years after its construction, the only airworthy example of a Battle of France Hurricane took to the air over Christchurch, New Zealand on the 12th January 2000. Hawker Hurricane P3351 is the result of a six year rebuild, undertaken by Air New Zealand Engineering Services (as major partner) in New Zealand, and Hawker Restorations of the United Kingdom for Sir Tim Wallis's Alpine Fighter Collection. The aircraft is part of the permanent collection in Wanaka and displayed at the New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum.

One of only eleven airworthy examples worldwide it personifies the history of the type and is a survivor of four major battle campaigns. 
 
Built at Brooklands in early 1940, P3351 was flown to France on the 1st June as a replacement aircraft for 73 Squadron, who were based at Le Mans. The Battle of France was drawing to a bloody close and the allies were hastily being evacuated from the continent via Dunkirk. The squadron she joined had been active since the opening days of the war and were tangling with the Luftwaffe on a daily basis. 
 
P3351 was uplifted from Rouen on the 3rd June and on arrival at the squadron's advanced landing ground at Echemines the ground crew hastily painted the code "K" on the side. Flown as part of "A" flight she undertook defensive patrols over Northern France, covering the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force. On the 7th June disaster struck 73 Squadron when her famous son "Cobber" Kain was killed as he departed for England. 
 
Further retreats took place and P3351 continued to fly operationally, including bomber escorts and patrols. By the 18th June the squadron was based at Nantes, covering the final evacuation of British troops from St Nazaire and Brest. By early afternoon on that Tuesday, most of the ground crew had departed to the ports and the squadron was flying its last patrols over its retreating crew. The enemy was literally just down the road and just after 2-00pm, the lookout yelled a warning that the Germans were approaching. In a mad panic, the Hurricanes were refuelled and approximately 18 departed for England. P3351 was one of the last to leave and was flown back across the Channel by Pilot Officer Peter Carter. 
 
The Battle of Britain was now commencing but 73 Squadron was given time to recuperate after the stress of the last weeks in France. P3351 was cleaned and tidied and the squadron letters TP were painted on her side. By the 7th July, 73 Squadron was operational again, based at Church Fenton in Northern England (east of Leeds). On the 19th July "A" Flight flew north to Prestwick to undertake a night-flying course. 
 
All was going well until, in the early hours of Sunday 21st July 1940, Alf Scott flying P3351 misjudged the runway and undershot, landing heavily. The undercarriage subsequently collapsed and the aircraft tipped on its nose. It was not a good night for the Squadron as three Hurricanes were damaged (including another by Scott) and all were put aside to be collected by the repair people. 
 
As the Battle of Britain raged P3351 was sent for repairs. By early September, fitted with a new engine, she was transferred to 32 Squadron at Acklington. Having had a torrid time based in Southern England the Squadron was now part of 13 Group and tasked with convoy patrols and X-Raid cover. 
 
During the next three months, P3351 was flown extensively by Pilot Officer Rose, undertaking the inevitable training as well as patrols of the north-eastern perimeter of Great Britain. On the 16th December, 32 Squadron moved south to Middle Wallop to become part of 10 Group. Within 5 days, P3351 was gone, to a new stage in her life with the Americans. 
 
Before the United States entry into WWII, many Americans volunteered for service in the RAF and RCAF. The severe loss of pilots during 1940 allowed these men to join the RAF and saw the formation of the American Eagle Squadrons. Of the thousands that volunteered, 244 American pilots were to fly for No's 71, 121, and 133 Squadrons of the RAF. 
 
Records are incomplete for this period and although P3351 arrived on the 21st December 1940 her first recorded flight is the 16th February 1941. On the 10th March 1941 two of the squadron Hurricanes undertook a patrol over Humber. Upon returning in the early evening, Pilot Officer Sampson-Taylor crashed on landing and P3351 was damaged. She was sent away for repairs. 
 
P3351 returned one month later to the same squadron now based at Martlesham Heath near Ipswich. She would see more operational flying during the next month with a number of patrols and scrambles. 
 
By the beginning of May, new Hurricane IIA's began to arrive as replacement aircraft and P3351 was transferred to No. 55 Operational Training Unit at Usworth, near to the Scottish border. We know her squadron code was PA but are unsure of her squadron letter. 
 
No sooner had she arrived than on the 13th May 1941 a Polish Flying Instructor, Sergeant Stanislaw Karubin, was to send her away again for repairs after flying into high tension power lines. Karubin landed the Hurricane safely at Ouston, Northumberland and the leading edge was repaired on-site. P3351 received a new engine - one can assume that the prop or reduction gear might have been affected by the electricity cable. 
 
Upon her return two remarkable coincidences occur. Firstly, Pilot Officer William Miller, from Invercargill flies the aircraft twice as he undertakes training. "Dusty" was to retire in Wanaka, where he was reunited with P3351. Until the time of his death, Dusty acted as a Museum Guide, and was particularly proud to show visitors to the New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum "his" Hurricane. 
 
Then on the 9th September 1941 Sergeant Ness Polson flies P3351, and he too is from Invercargill. However, Sergeant Polson's meeting with P3351 was to end ignominiously. On an evening training mission, P3351 seemed to be overheating and the engine abruptly seized. Polson, probably unsure what to do, bellied her into a field near Headingly, Leeds. Unofficially, it appears Polson was flying with a mate, the two seeing how low they could get. Polson got low enough to hit a hedge and he very quickly force-landed her. 
 
This ended the English flying career for Hawker Hurricane P3351. Her next posting was to a far colder clime, a desperate battle, and a 49-year hibernation. P3351 was collected, repaired and upgraded to MkIIA Series 1 status before being placed in storage. A new serial number was also allocated to account for the changes. P3351 became DR393. January 1942 saw her sent to Hawkers for another upgrade, this time a MkIIA Series II. 
 
On the 26th March DR393 was sent by road to Glasgow. Allocated to Russia under the Lend-Lease Agreement she was crated in preparation for shipping to the vast cold wasteland of Northern Russia. On the 3rd May 1942, she left England, loaded with 23 other Hurricanes onboard the merchantman SS Ocean Voice, as part of Convoy PQ16. The German forces were fully aware of the convoy and would make every effort to ensure the precious cargo never arrived at its destination. 
 
Sailing initially to Iceland, the convoy then set sail for Murmansk. Heavily escorted, the group braced itself for the inevitable attacks. Over the next seven days they were harassed from the air and the sea. One ship to receive serious damage was the Ocean Voice. A bomb blew a 20 feet hole in her hull just 2 feet above the water line and fire damaged her bridge. Hurricane DR393 was now perilously close to being lost but the ship held its position as the crew fought the numerous fires. 
 
The attacks continued but miraculously the Ocean Voice managed to stay afloat and on the 30th May she berthed at Murmansk. Convoy PQ16 lost just over a quarter of her cargo, 27 ships reaching their destination. The balance sheet shows 770 vehicles, 147 tanks and 77 aircraft sank to the bottom of the cold sea. Despite these losses, the convoy was deemed successful. The heroism of the ship crews was incredible, with six days of constant attacks in the near permanent daylight depriving sleep and sapping strength. 
 
DR393 was re-assembled and spent the next year flying with the Russians. No details survive of her operations but it is known that she was re-equipped with Russian cannon and would have seen combat against both fighters and bombers of the Luftwaffe. Flown through the autumn it is believed she crashed in the winter of 1943. During the rebuild process, a 7.9 mm copper jacketed projectile was found lodged in the oil-cooler, having passed through the radiator from the lower face. Possibly ground fire, it is certain it was this shell that brought her down. 
 
Recovered from Russia in 1991 the Hurricane was purchased by Wanaka-based aviation enthusiast, Sir Tim Wallis, the following year. It was his desire that P3351 be restored to original airworthy condition and, after considerable discussion, Air New Zealand offered to undertake the project. For Air New Zealand Engineering Services (ANZES) it was a marketing exercise to display their capability and to bring an historical aeroplane to New Zealand. 
 
Shipped to New Zealand, the components were literally unloaded from a trailer at ANZES in Christchurch and under the overall control of Alpine Fighter Collection Chief Engineer Ray Mulqueen, the long and complex restoration began. 
 
A Hawker Hurricane is unlike an aircraft of monocoque construction (such as the Spitfire or Mustang) and has a complex tubular structure. Each joint comprises mechanical joints which are squared at each end and require special equipment to roll the T50 (50 tonnes strength) steel. All that was possible in the 1930's is very difficult today and the lack of original tooling is one reason that so few Hurricanes are flying today. 
 
Tony Ditheridge in the United Kingdom had undertaken considerable research into the complexities of rebuilding a Hurricane and had access to the equipment needed to form the twelve-sided steel tubes used in the wing centre section, the fin and the tailplane spars. Sir Tim Wallis had seen how crucial this equipment would be and had formed, the previous year, a joint venture company between the Alpine Fighter Collection and Tony Ditheridge to be called Hawker Restorations Ltd (HRL). This company would undertake the rebuild of the tubular structure, empennage and woodwork on P3351 whilst the wings would be sub-contracted to Airframe Assemblies. They would also completely rebuild two other Hurricanes, that had been obtained at the same time. 
 
The rebuild of P3351 had to be carried out under the ANZES Quality Management System as a design, manufacture, supply and maintenance organisation under New Zealand CAA rules. This meant that all vendors of equipment or services had to meet a defined standard and all work had to be properly documented and performed to approved data. Where data was lost or not available it had to be created or found. ANZES was able to enter into agreements with the major original equipment suppliers for access to data relating to the Hurricane and it’s equipment but where material substitutions had to be made because the original material or process was no longer available the technical assessment and approval of those design changes was an ANZES responsibility. 
 
ANZES salvaged and made serviceable many parts from the original airframe which were then shipped to HRL for inclusion in P3351's structure and in late 1995 the restored fuselage and empennage skeleton, centre section and wings were returned to ANZES for continuation of the rebuild. 
 
The Hurricane is full of brackets, clips, tubes and wire that are made for a specific location, and all are slightly different. ANZES volunteers, trainees and staff spent the next three years making these parts and storing them, when all the parts were completed for one section only then could it be re-assembled. 
 
Word was sent out around the world for certain components and New Zealand industry contributed a considerable amount. As an example the radiator core was made by Replicore in Whangarei and the casing and assembly by Auto Restorations in Christchurch. The propeller hub was secured by the Alpine Fighter Collection, the wooden propeller blades were made by Hoffman of Germany and approved by Dowty Rotol whilst Skycraft of United Kingdom made the remainder of the parts and assembled and tested the completed propeller. 
 
A mint late model Merlin engine (complete with rare RAF records) was found in the UK and then overhauled in the USA. Amazingly, it had completely new pistons, cylinders, cylinder head and supercharger. Arriving in Christchurch late 1997 it was fitted to the airframe. 
 
By this time the components were starting to look like an aircraft and ANZES contracted the Croydon Aircraft Company in Mandeville to carry out the fabric covering, which they commenced in November 1997. 
 
After trial fitting the wings were permanently attached in early 1998. A difficult process, the wing joints are made up of tapered pins and bushes and the whole reaming and installation process proved to be a trying time, with some bushes having to be made several time owing to the very slight taper on the pins. 
 
Over the next year parts were added almost on a daily basis and by December 1998 P3351 was ready to be rolled into the paint shed. The propeller assembly was added in early 1999. 
 
One section causing problems was the complex radiator. Consisting of hexagonal tube cores of either pure copper or 80/20 copper nickel (CuNi) every attempt to replicate this construction ended in failure owing to splitting or crushing in the forming process. 
 
Replicore in Whangarei continued undaunted, and after almost two years developed a simple rolling tool. This worked perfectly and allowed the radiator to be manufactured the same as it was back in 1939. Over 6000 individual tubes had to be cut to length, formed and trimmed for the radiator and oil cooler cores. Auto Restorations took two months to assemble and pressure test the radiator, which was fitted in September 1999. 
 
The project was now reaching its final stages and in late 1999 the Merlin engine sprung into life at Christchurch Airport. Final applications were made to the original Battle of France colour scheme and in early January 2000 Hawker Hurricane P3351 / DR393 was once again ready to leave her nest. 
 
On a summer morning P3351 took to the air again for the first time in almost sixty years, performing flawlessly. This was her tribute to many people. The tenacity and single-mindedness of Sir Tim Wallis, the persistence of Hawker Restorations in obtaining the correct tooling, the contribution by so many companies world-wide and finally (and most importantly), the dedication and expertise of Air New Zealand Engineering Services staff and volunteers led by Manufacturing Manager Ian Carmichael. They have treated this as the restoration of an historic artefact and the result is nothing more than remarkable.