Battle of Britain’s Finest: Spitfire and Hurricane fighter aircraft compared

If you had the chance, which fighter aircraft would you have flown during the Battle of Britain?

Here’s a comparison between the two most iconic planes of WWII:

Hawker Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane was the first eight-gun fighter to enter service in the Royal Air Force. Powered by a V12 carburetor Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, the first model was developed in 1936.

During the Fall of France in 1940, Britain stood alone with only 527 Hurricanes along with 321 Spitfires that could stop a German invasion.

According to aviation historian David Keen, “During the Battle of Britain, more German planes were destroyed by Hurricanes than all other defenses put together.”

Entering service with the RAF in 1937, over 15,000 were produced in 1944. German bullets can pass through it and the plane could live another day.

It was the first RAF plane to shoot down a Luftwaffe plane and during the Battle of Britain, it managed to shoot down over 1,500 enemy planes. That’s over 60 percent of the total German planes destroyed!

Supermarine Spitfire

Perhaps the most popular RAF plane of WWII, the Spitfire’s distinctive thin elliptical wings, Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, all-metal construction, and ferocious firepower made it the cutting-edge fighter and proved more than a match against the German Luftwaffe.

Its groundbreaking design was a combination of firepower, speed, and maneuverability. It was equipped with eight Browning 303 machine guns to deliver 10 rounds a second and could reach 350 mph but some had a booster increasing it up to 34 mph for five critical minutes.

Its unique elliptical-shaped wings made it the most agile fighter in the sky. The plane’s distinctive sound came from its powerful 1,130 hp Merlin engine.