Hawker Hurricane Mk IIb trop 1/48 model kit

The kit includes:

• Plastic parts
• Decals (3 marking variants)
• Canopy and wheel masks

Marking options:

• Hurricane Mk IIb trop „Hurribomber”, HL795/V, No. 274 Squadron RAF, Sidi Haneish (Egypt) and Sidi-Bu Amud (Libya), November 1942
• Hurricane Mk IIb trop BG967/A, No. 261 Squadron RAF, China Bay airfield, Triconmalee, Ceylon 1942
• Hurricane Mk IIb trop Z4017/FU-56. No. 81 Squadron RAF, Flight B. Operation „Benedict”. Vaenga, USSR, September-October 1941

HISTORY:

Hawker Hurricane Mk IIb trop is an adaptation of the famous fighter-bomber aircraft designed to operate in difficult climates. Despite the name, "tropical" Hurricanes were used not only over jungles and deserts but also in the Soviet Arctic.

Popularly called the "Hurribomber", Hurricane Mk IIb is a development of the famous fighter designed by Sydney Camm, equipped with a more powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin XX engine with a two-stage supercharger and additional 4 machine guns in the wings (12 in total). This significantly improved the aircraft's performance, but the small-caliber armament was already insufficient at this stage of the war, so most Hurricanes of this version were used as bombing planes. In the USSR, they were further improved by installing larger caliber weapons.

Over time, it turned out that the plane loaded with additional weapons, despite a more powerful engine, no longer met the requirements for modern fighters. Together with the cannon-armed Hurricane Mk IIc, these aircraft were used to attack ground targets with gunfire and bombing. Thanks to installing a dust filter, the "trop" version was also created, intended for operations in difficult climates. Mk IIb and c aircraft equipped in this way took an effective part in combat in Africa, the Far East and the Soviet Arctic. A naval version with an arrester hook for landing on aircraft carriers was also created.