The San Diego Air & Space Museum recently received a showcase quality model of a 1940 Hawker Hurricane Mark I for its Battle of Britain exhibit in the Museum’s World War II Gallery. The model will complement the Supermarine Spitfire currently on display in the World War II Gallery.

The prototype Hurricane first flew in 1935 and became famous in the Royal Air Force with a series of “firsts”. The Hurricane was the first British fighter to have an enclosed cockpit, the first with retractable landing gear, the first with eight machine guns, and the first to fly faster than 300 mph in level flight. Thirty-two squadrons of Hurricane fought in the Battle of Britain.

The model is a replica of the original Number V6555, DT-A of 257 Squadron, which was built by donations from Burma; hence the Burmese Flag on the emergency door.

Noting that the Spitfire in the Museum’s collection is accompanied by Robert Stanford Tuck as the pilot, the model Hurricane is painted and identified as the one Tuck flew in the last half of September 1940. On September 11, 1940, Tuck was promoted to Squadron Leader and transferred from Spitfires to the acting command of 257 Squadron, flying Hurricanes at RAF Coltishall. Tuck had flown his first combat mission on May 23, 1940, shortly after the German invasion of France and the Low Countries. On that sortie he shot down three German fighters and two bombers on the next. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by King George VI and went on to score 29 victories before being shot down on January 28, 1942 and becoming a prisoner of war.

After several futile attempts to escape from various POW camps, he finally succeeded in escaping from a camp in Poland on February 1, 1945 as the camp was being evacuated in the face of the advancing Soviet Army.

The Model was a generous donation to the Museum from RG Head, Brigadier General, USAF (Ret.). The model will be proudly displayed in the Battle of Britain exhibit in the Museum’s World War II Gallery.