Hawker Hurricane PZ865

Hawker Hurricane PZ865 is a single-engined Second World War fighter operated by the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. It was the last of 14,533 Hurricanes produced^[1] and is now flown as an airborne memorial.

History

Named The Last of the Many serial number PZ865 first flew at Langley, Buckinghamshire on 22 July 1944 and was retained by Hawker Aircraft for trials work.

The Hurricane in 1954 when owned by Hawker Aircraft and painted in their dark blue colours

It moved in 1950 to the Hawker factory at Dunsfold Aerodrome where it was given the civil registration G-AMAU on 1 May 1950.^[2] It was flown into second place at the 1950 King's Cup Air Race by Group Captain Peter Townsend.^[1] At this time it was painted in Hawker Aircraft's dark blue colour scheme with gold lettering and lining. The aircraft also appeared in the Battle of Britain film in 1968.^[1]

In 1972 the aircraft was refurbished and presented by Hawkers to the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight then based at RAF Coltishall, reverting to its RAF serial as identity.^[1][3]

Formerly painted as code JX-E to represent "Night Reaper" flown by 1 Squadron fighter ace Flt Lt Karel Kuttelwascher DFC during night intruder operations from RAF Tangmere, In 2010 the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight began a rebuild of Hawker Hurricane PZ865 which will now wear a new colour scheme, faithfully replicating Hurricane Mk IIC HW840, coded ‘EG-S’, of 34 Squadron, South East Asia Command during 1944, the personal aircraft of Canadian pilot, Flight Lieutenant Jimmy Whalen DFC.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hawker Hurricane PZ865.

• The Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight homepage