Sindlinger HH-1 / Hawker Hurricane Mk.1
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| Original | Replica
| Type
| Single-seat fighter | Single-seat sports aircraft
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| Manufacturer | Hawker Aircraft Ltd | Arthur Winstanley
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| Designer | Sydney Camm | Fred Sindlinger
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| Maiden flight | 6th November, 1935 | January, 1972 (this model 17th March, 1993)
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| Introduced
| December 1937
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| Retired
| February 1947 (RAF)
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| Primary users
| RAF, Royal Navy, RCAF, RAAF, Indian and South African Air Forces, RNZAF, Free Polish, Czechoslovakian, Greek and French Air Forces, and others | Aviation enthusiasts
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| Number built
| about 14,000 |
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| Variants
| Sea Hurricane
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Some views of the display:
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The Aircraft On Display
The display aircraft is a home-built Sindlinger HH-1, a 5/8-scale replica of a Hurricane Mark 1, construction
number 26-10663. The description with the aircraft states "This aircraft was constructed by Arthur Winstanley
in 7,500 hours over a 10 year period ... its first flight March 17th 1993 (piloted by Winstanley)."
Type History
Both the original design and the replica are significant in their own right:
Hawker Hurricane
The Hurricane had its origins in British Air Ministry specification F.36/34, but the Hawker response
to this was rejected, leading its designer, Sydney Camm, to "go back to the drawing board" and
generate a new design which used some of the components of the biplane Hawker Fury fighter.
While the Hurricane was in many ways obsolete at the start of World War II, its form of construction,
based on the Fury's steel tubes with a fabric covering (the wings being metal-covered only after the war commenced)
gave it good resistance to battle damage and "general wear and tear". This stood it in good stead during
the Battle of Britain, when it formed the majority of the RAF's fighter squadrons. Afterwards, it
also allowed it to be used for ground-attack roles, and in a range of theatres of war where
strength and robustness were important - as in operations from aircraft carriers, and desert regions.
Sindlinger HH-1
The original HH-1 (a contraction of "Hawker Hurricane Mark 1") was designed and built by Fred Sindlinger,
and first flew in January 1972. It was initially a "one-off" design, but interest at U.S. air shows led
to the designer passing all his plans for the aircraft to professional designers (who reportedly made
few changes), and then releasing it into the "home built" market.
It is not a true scale model, the cockpit and engine bays being slightly enlarged relative to the rest
of the replica, due to the need to fit a standard pilot in the first, and a sufficient engine in the second.
It is claimed that the designer chose the Hurricane for his replica because it was slightly
larger than later designs, like the Spitfire and ME-109, so that these parts of the aircraft could be
closer to their correctly scaled sizes.
Specifications
| Sindlinger HH-1 | Hawker Hurricane Mk.1 (1940 production)
General characteristics
| Length: | 19 ft 8 in (5.99 m) | 31 ft 4 in (9.55 m)
| | Height: | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | 8 ft 9 in (2.67 m)
| | Wingspan | 25 ft 0 in (7.62 m) | 40 ft 0 in (12.19 m)
| | Powerplant: | Lycoming O320, 150 HP | Rolls-Royce Merlin III, 1,242 HP
| | Weight: | empty 1005 lb (456 kg), gross 1375 lb (624 kg) | empty 4,666 lb (2,116 kg), loaded 6,316 lb (2,865 kg)
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Performance
| Maximum speed: | 200 mph (320 kmph) | 316 mph (519 kmph) at 17,750 ft (5,400 m)
| | Range: | | 425 mi (685 km)
| | Service ceiling: | | 33,750 ft (10,300 m)
| | Rate of climb: | 1,200 ft/min (6.1 m/s) | 2,645 ft/min (13.4 m/s)
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Armament
| Guns: | | 8, 0.303 inch Browning machine guns
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References / Links
Details on the Sindlinger replica at Wikipedia
Details on the Sindlinger replica at 100aircraftphotos.com
An early account of the Sindlinger's own HH-1