Ex-RCAF Hurricane up for auction after restoration

[jollyjacktar]

This aircraft was once in Canadian hands following disposal.  Would be nice if it could come back home again.

Loads of photos and video at story link.

A British icon that could be yours for £1.7m: Restored World War II Hurricane goes up for auctionHurricane from 1942 going under the hammer in December in Weybridge
Plane in Canada during WWII and 'protected East Coast from U-boat activity'
Hurricane has range of 900 miles, top speed of 322mph and 12 machine guns
Mk XIIa 5711 half-ton aircraft is 32ft long, 13ft high and has wingspan of 40ft
Hurricanes shot down more enemy aircraft than spitfires in Battle of Britain

By Mark Duell
PUBLISHED: 21:16 GMT, 18 October 2012 | UPDATED: 08:22 GMT, 19 October 2012

With 12 Browning .303 machine guns and a maximum speed of 322mph, this Hurricane can certainly still pack a punch.  Now aviation enthusiasts will have a rare chance to bid on one of them, with the 70-year-old fighter aircraft from World War Two expected to go for £1.7million this December in Weybridge, Surrey.  The plane, built in 1942, was based in Canada during the war and is believed to have protected convoys on the East Coast from German U-boat activity - or used as a training aircraft.

Hurricanes were the Royal Air Force’s first monoplane fighters, made famous in World War Two’s Battle of Britain - during which they shot down more enemy aircraft than their partner, the Spitfire.  The restored Hurricane Mk XIIa 5711 half-ton plane, which is capable of a range of 900 miles, will form part of a sale at Mercedes-Benz World, home of the Brooklands racing circuit in Weybridge.

The plane - which is 32ft long, 13ft high and has a wingspan of 40ft - joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1943, before being struck off from the RCAF in 1947 and bought by a Canadian syndicate.  It was later restored, making its first post-restoration flight in 1989, then bought by the Historic Aircraft Collection in 2002 and housed at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambridgeshire.

The 'G-HURI' plane was fitted with the correct Merlin engine and it now flies as ‘Z5140’, with the code letters HA-C and in the Battle of Britain colours worn by a Hurricane IIB flown with 126 Squadron during the siege of Malta.  'This Hurricane is one of only a handful of these iconic aircraft still flying today, and is presented for sale in highly original condition'  Tim Schofield, Bonhams. 

During the Collection’s ownership it became the first Hurricane to return to Malta since World War Two.  This summer it was also the first to fly to Russia since the war, at the Moscow Airshow.  Brooklands, where the auction by Bonhams will take place in December, has its own history with the Hurricane plane - as it was assembled and first flown in prototype from there in 1935.

Tim Schofield, director of Bonhams UK Motor Car department, said: ‘This Hurricane is one of only a handful of these iconic aircraft still flying today, and is presented for sale in highly original condition.  'We expect it will be a lot that will generate much interest among buyers at our December sale'  ‘We expect it will be a lot that will generate much interest among buyers at our December sale, and will complement the important motor cars we already have consigned for the sale.’ 

‘More than 3,000 Hurricanes were produced on the Bonhams site - one fifth of the total built.  The Hurricane joins a number of important motor cars at the sale, including the 1935 Ford Box Van used as Lance Corporal Jack Jones’s butcher van in classic TV series Dad’s Army.
The Hurricane Mk XIIa 5711 will be auctioned at the Bonhams sale of Collectors' Motor Cars and Automobilia at Mercedes-Benz World in Weybridge, Surrey, on December 3


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219840/Restored-12-gun-Hurricane-fighter-expected-fetch-1-7m-Bonhams-auction.html#ixzz29kiYbSiV
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[Journeyman]

From the link:

Hurricanes shot down more enemy aircraft than spitfires in Battle of Britain

I bet not being shot down by Hurricanes cheered up the Spitfire pilots.  :nod:

 

[Pat in Halifax]

Wow. the Barenaked Ladies song If I had a million dollars suddenly started running through my head as I watched the video. I wonder if VWoC is looking at this though they do have one currently.

 

[OldSolduer]

I watched the video, and again I had shivers up and down my spine......those WW2 aircraft are awesome.

 

[Danjanou]

Lotto max is $50,000,000 tonight ..... just saying

 

[fraserdw]

I watched the video, and again I had shivers up and down my spine......those WW2 aircraft are awesome.

Until last year, we regularly had water bombers from Fredericton airport fly over us.  They are WW2 naval dive bombers.  It is an incredible feeling when 5 of them fly at 500 feet over your house in a V formation.  They are gone now the last one went to the Halifax airport for display re-painted in their RCN Fleet Air Arm colours.

 

[Shrek1985]

Oh cool! I always thought the 12x.303 brownings was the most interesting armament option for the hurricane.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Until last year, we regularly had water bombers from Fredericton airport fly over us.  They are WW2 naval dive bombers.  It is an incredible feeling when 5 of them fly at 500 feet over your house in a V formation.  They are gone now the last one went to the Halifax airport for display re-painted in their RCN Fleet Air Arm colours.

Not quite.  # 23 went to the Shearwater Aviation Museum where she'll be returned to her RCN config and paint.

 

[Loachman]

They are WW2 naval dive bombers.

Torpedo bombers, actually. Grumman Avengers.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Turkeys.  Tho, I'm not sure how they got the name.

 

[Pat in Halifax]

Lotto max is $50,000,000 tonight ..... just saying

Hey that's 25 of them....
...or 100,000 1993 Ford Tempos!

 

[Pat in Halifax]

Turkeys.  Tho, I'm not sure how they got the name.

Have a look at a side on. They looked like a 'fat' airplane and on rough carrier landings, sometimes their 'bellies' scraped on the deck. I think post-mid 43, their landing gear was rebuilt to more robust standards. Similiar gear to the F6F originally but half again as heavy an aircraft.

 

[Danjanou]

Hey that's 25 of them....
...or 100,000 1993 Ford Tempos!

Hey lets' not get carried away here. One will do, the brother in law is getting his pilots lic. Until then I was thinking of putting it in the backyard, will definitely be a conversation starter at the next BBQ.

BTW why in the name of the little baby jesus in the manger would I wan t1 Ford Tempo, let alone 100,000? Do I look like I work in NDHQ. Is this the new official AZPVW (Anti Zombie Patrol Vehicle Wheeled)?  8)

BTW for those who've never seen an Avenger aka Turkey

 

[Dog Walker]

Hurricane 5711
Built at Canada Car & Foundry, Fort William
Taken on strength by Eastern Air Command 8 January 1943
Delivered to stored reserve at Halifax pending delivery of radiators, issued from storage to the Home War Establishment on 18 August 1943. To BCATP on 2 May 1944. To stored reserve with No. 3 Training Command on 29 November 1944. Pending disposal with No. 1 Air Command from 17 April 1945. Stored post war at No. 401 Reserve Equipment Maintenance Unit (REMU) at Dunnville, Ontario. Designated for display purposes on 6 June 1946, but this was cancelled. To No. 6 Repair Depot in January 1947. Had 317:25 airframe time when struck off. With the Air Museum Of Canada, Calgary, Alberta, 1970. Sold to Rem Walker of Regina, Saskatchewan in 1975. Restored using parts from Hurricanes 5625, 5547 & 5424. Sold to B.J.S. Grey of Duxford, UK in December 1982. Shipped from Canada to the Fighter Collection at Duxford, on 9 June 1983. Registered as G-HURI. Rebuilt at Coventry, by Coningsby & Duxford. First flight 1 September 1989, marked as RAF Z7381, coded "XR-T". To Historic Aircraft Collection at Duxford, UK on 7 August 2002, still as RAF Z7381, "XR-T".

Struck off, to War Assets Corporation for sale 3 July 1947

Source  http://www.ody.ca/~bwalker/RCAF_5700_5799_detailed.html

 

[Timmy!]

I would love to see this at 12 Wing Shearwater.

 

[Pat in Halifax]

It would almost fit SAM's mandate for Naval Air as early on in World War II, Huricanes and P 40s were utilized as patrol aircraft off both coasts. Even after role specific aircraft like the Catalina (Canso) were introduced, any aircraft available would be utilized during periods of heightened threat.

Pat