Hurricane

Victor of the Battle of Britain

By: Leo McKinstry

Narrated by: Peter Noble

The biography of the aeroplane that won the Battle of Britain.

In the summer of 1940 the fate of Europe hung in the balance. Victory in the forthcoming air battle would mean national survival; defeat would establish German tyranny.

The Luftwaffe greatly outnumbered the RAF, but during the Battle of Britain it was the RAF that emerged triumphant, thanks to two key fighter planes, the Spitfire and the Hurricane. The Hurricane made up over half of Fighter Command's front-line strength, and its revolutionary design transformed the RAF's capabilities.

Leo McKinstry tells the story of the remarkable plane from its designers to the first-hand testimonies of those brave pilots who flew it; he takes in the full military and political background but always keeps the human stories to the fore - to restore the Hawker Hurricane to its rightful place in history.

©2010 Leo McKinstry (P)2010 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

Detailed, highly readable entertaining account

Bravo! This author is to be commended for his detailed research, and his reluctance. to redefine history in context to modern interpretation and social sensitivity. a greatly appreciated devotion to a yeoman stalwart, the Hawker Hurricane. From my early reading, 5 yrs old, of a book on my great grandmas bookshelf, so long ago, I don't remember title or author, about squadrons #1 and 73. It was a wartime censored account of the RAF's actions defending France in 1940, I was fascinated of "Cobber" Cain's brief fame, and demise. I seem to remember that account attributed his death to exhuberance at the controls of an Anson utility aircraft. No matter, I had trouble with large words then, but still recall the admiration I felt towards those pilots, including one with a nickname of,.I believe, L'enfant Terrible, by the French. I suspect the book would seem shallow and inaccurate today, but it was inspiration then. This book brought back those heroic deeds, and my nostalgia. This book, like "Lancaster", by the same author, and I suspect "Spitfire", which I have yet to read, a great addition to the histories of these great aircraft, and the great era of that Titanic struggle by largely average men, elevating them to heros.