About the Hawker Hurricane

[Jan Olof Stenberg]

First of all, my condolenses for the loss of Queen Elizabeth.

 

So, I got my hands of a Balsacraft Hawker Hurricane kit, and the maiden flight is coming. i know that the Mk1 JU-B was one of the Hurricanes of 111th Squadron. I'm interested to find out more about for example who was the pilot and what happened to the plane. I have found only one image of JU-B in a refuelling situation.

 

So does anyone know where to find mor of the history of the plane, of sourse I've found much just by using Google, but I would kike to read more and perhaps find som more pictures.

Best regards

Jan Olov Stenberg, Sweden

[CPH]

Hi Jan

You might like to try contacting www.wingleader.co.uk who publish a series of day by day accounts of the Battle of Britain in a number of volumes. Their earlier Air Combat Archive covering Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Army through Dunkirk references 111 Squadron being engaged in fighting on days 6,7 and 8 (31 May - 2 June) some individual pilots are named and their combat reports quoted, however their individual aircraft are not listed by squadron number or aircraft number i.e. JU-B, L2001.

 

You might also try the RAF Museum at Hendon who may be able to help.

 

Sorry not to have been of more use but I'm sure there will be other forum members with information.

 

Best regards

Paul

[mike yates]

Hi Jan,

 

 " Osprey Aircraft of the Aces.18.    Hurricane Aces 1939-40".  Not a lot of information but does show the image you mention also that while with 111 Squadron it was a regular mount of "ace to be" Flg Off Henry M Ferris.

 

L2001 was finally written off in a fatal accident at Hatfield 19 June 1940.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards 

 

Mike

[mike yates]

Hi Jan,

I've put Flg Off Henry M Ferris into Goggle and found some info on the "Battle of Britain Monument" website. Recommend you do the same as it gives a lot of history and photo's of this pilot.

 

Regards 

 

Mike

[David Davis 2]

What's interesting about this picture is that the aircraft has no fin flash and no obvious starboard roundel. That should make finishing the model a bit easier! 😊

[Jan Olof Stenberg]

Hi,

Thanks for the information. I found the websites interesting and I will continue to explore.

David: The decals in the kit seems to be exactly as seen in the picture without the red/white/blue on the fin and no yellow outer roundel.

Pity about the fate for mr Ferriss and the airplane, but things were obviously extreme chaotic then.

[RottenRow]

That photo is certainly interesting. L2001 was one of the original production batches of Hurricanes, and these had fabric covered wings. The first with metal covered wings was L2027, though some aircraft with the fabric covered wings later had them replaced by metal ones.

 

Looking at the apparently pristine finish on that starboard outer wing panel, and the difference in colour between that panel and the inner wing panels (which were always metal covered) suggests that perhaps it has just been repaired and hasn't yet had it's roundel added.

 

The lack of fin flash was common on Hurricanes of this era.

 

L2001 was damaged in an accident in November 1939 so the photo may well have been taken shortly after this had been repaired.

 

The other Hurricane in the photo has the half black / half white undersides to the wings. L2001 would have been similar, though there were variations to this.

 

There is some information here...

 

http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=L2001

 

Brian.

[Jan Olof Stenberg]

Hello!

Had totally forgotten that I posted the question about the Balsacraft Hurricane, so here's an update of the project.

 

Powered by a Roxxy CL 35-42 with Kv 930 rpm/volt and a Beatles 50 Amp ESC

Battery i 3s 3300 mAh a propeller 11x7"

Maiden flight 30th Oct 2022, ended with a too hard contact with ground, reason was that the aileron servo gave up.

Befor that I felt a very well flying model. No major damage so the repair wasn't too difficlut. I decided to install 2 miniservos in the wing

Next flight went better but the model stalled from ca 1,5 meter above ground with the water cooler separated.

 

This Hurricane flies absolutely wonderful now. the only thing I find a bit tricky is launching, i must be very quick to pull some elevetor so I mostly ask a clubmate to launch it for me.

 

Oh, and the flying weight is 1370 grams

 

Best Regards

Jan Olov Stenberg, Sweden

 

[Simon Burch 1]

3 hours ago, Jan Olof Stenberg said:

the only thing I find a bit tricky is launching, i must be very quick to pull some elevetor s

I have a Balsacraft Spitfire IX, which was also difficult to hand launch; with full power applied, it would dive towards the ground and require immediate up-elevator to prevent disaster.  This was very entertaining for club-mates; not so much for me.

 

I think this behaviour might have been be due to the model's high thrustline, but I can't be sure.  It was designed (as was your Hurricane) for a 600 can motor with a 7 or 8 cell nicad pack and, in this configuration, it didn't have much power.  Perhaps this meant that the thrustline wasn't such a problem. Indeed, I used to deliberately launch my 600-powered Spitfire from raised ground so that I had space to dive and accelerate.  Once it had gained speed, it performed surprisingly well, especially with the lighter 7-cell pack. 

 

With the conversion to brushless/LiPo setup, lack of power ceased to be a problem, but its tendency to pitch down when power was applied (and pitch up when reducing power) was pronounced and unpleasant.

 

I added about 1 degree of upthrust, and I now launch it using about two-thirds throttle, which has largely resolved the problem.  Interestingly (for me anyway) I recently built a small Hurricane (Adrian Britton design) which behaved in exactly the same way.  I resolved it using the same procedure, together with a small throttle-elevator mix.

 

Best of luck with yours; I think these old Balsacraft designs were great models.

 

[Don Fry]

I’ve got a ducted fan foamy. Same thing.
I sorted it by accepting it has not got flying speed out of the hand. It goes down.

Use elevator, ( to stop the drop), increases drag, reduces  acceleration, takes more time to achieve flying speed. Hits the ground or stalls.
Efficient energy use, let it drop. Ease elevator on, to gently level out almost on the ground. Then when ready, it self zooms up, speeding up, and I’m quickly getting rid of up elevator. 

[Jan Olof Stenberg]

Hello, and thanks for Your comments.

I launch over high grass just in case...

@Simon; Added 1 degree of upthrust, so the motor got a little "up angle", no trim change to elevator?

 

 

[Simon Burch 1]

2 hours ago, Jan Olof Stenberg said:

dded 1 degree of upthrust, so the motor got a little "up angle", no trim change to elevator?

 

I don't normally add up-trim to the elevator for the launch.  With the added up-thrust and only two-thirds throttle set, I find the model's pitch attitude is much easier to control.  

 

That said, when I flew it in its original form, ie with a 600 can motor and using an old Futaba Challenger TX, I used to add three-four 'clicks' of up elevator for launching.  I'd reset this to neutral in cruise flight.  I found the old-style large friction trim adjusters on the Challenger much easier to use than the modern small spring-loaded switches, and in-flight trimming was straightforward.  I try to avoid doing it now unless I really have to. 

 

A throttle/elevator mix is worth considering, but I haven't found it necessary.