CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Almighty Father of the sky
Be with our airmen when they fly,
And keep them in thy loving care
Amid the perils of the air,
O let our cry come unto thee
For those who fly o’er land and sea.
Strong Son of Man, save those who fly
Swift-winged across the uncharted sky,
Be with them always in the air,
In darkening storms or sunlight fair
O’er land and ocean safely bear
All those in peril in the air.
Excerpt from The Airmen’s Hymn
On January 4, the RAF’s Fighter command made operational 212 Wing of Hurricanes MK I’s and deployed the Wing to Fighter Command B in southeastern England and on the 30th of the month, Bomber Command’s Tactical Command made operational 3 Wings consisting of the latest versions of the Handley Page HP.52 Hampden, and began forming a new formation around the Wing titled Strike Command A.
Hurricanes of Fighter Command B
Strike Command A's work horse, the much loved Hampden
Near the end of February, specifically when the Americans were celebrating the birth of their first President, George Washington, Hawker Aircraft and the RAF completed their trials of the Hurricane MK II. The MK II made two significant changes to the Hurricane, the first being the engine and the second being the aircraft’s armament.
The MK II’s engine was the Merlin XX, which had been developed by Merlin Engines in the Autumn of 1937, was an improvement over previous models due to a new two-speed supercharger. This supercharger allowed an aircraft pilot to change, depending on the outside air pressure (based upon altitude), the impeller-speed of the engine. Switched to a higher-speed gearing ("FS ratio" — Full Supercharge) around 18,000 ft (where it was determined to be most effective), the engine gained more compression, while at lower altitudes in the engine’s lower-speed gearing ("MS ratio" - Moderate Supercharge) the engine was relieved of less power. This provided for more power across the board of flight altitudes and dramatically increasing overall performance of the engine, peaking at 1,280 hp. Additionally, Hawker switched from the MK I’s Watts two-blade fixed-pitch wooden propeller to a new a standardized shaft for de Havilland or Rotol three-blade metal propellers for the MK II.
At the same time that Hawker’s flight engineers were working on increasing the aircraft’s performance, they were at the same time experimenting with increasing and advancing the Hurricane’s firepower by fitting cannon. Their first attempt detailed the use of two Oerlikon 20 mm anti-aircraft cannon one under each wing in a gun pod. The tests of the aircraft had come to show that the cannon would have a severely limited amount of ammunition and more importantly, that numerous stoppages suffered by the drum fed guns meant the array was unsatisfactory.
Scrapping the idea of using Oerlikon’s, Hawker then attempted to make use of four Hispano Mk.II 20mm cannons, with two fitted into each wing. However, the cannons proved to be quite difficult into the wings, the feed system of the cannon (based upon a recoil system) failed to work properly inside the wings of the Hurricane, and overall weight of the four Hispanos significantly reduce the aircraft’s over all performance. Rather than attempt a different cannon, Hawker engineers worked with Hispano gunsmiths and the problems were solved.
Hawker then introduced the new Mark II to the RAF with the new Merlin XX, and the RAF in a move that would prove to be made with much foresight, dictated that the MK II’s be produced in one of four sub-groups, each group fitted out with a different armament suite. In response, Hawker offered the IIA with the traditional eight Browning .303 caliber machine guns, the IIB sported twelve Browning machine guns mounted in the wings, the IIC fitted out with the four Hispano 20mm cannons, and the final version, IID was built to support the Close Air Support squadrons and came with a 40mm Vickers 'S' gun under each wing. Going above and beyond the requests of the Air Ministry, Hawker also built the Mark II with hard-points for a 500 lb. bomb fitted centerline or two 250 lb. bombs at the wing roots. These hard-points could also be used to extend the Hurricane’s range by attaching external fuel tanks to them. Best of all for its pilots, despite all the added weight, the MK II was still about 20 mph faster than the Mark I
Fighter Command, more that satisfied with the new Mark II, ordered all Hurricane Wings to begin converting from the MK I to the MK II immediately.
*****
Some talk of Alexander,
And some of Hercules
Of Hector and Lysander,
And such great names as these.
But of all the world's great heroes,
There's none that can compare
Chorus
With a tow, row, row, row, row, row,
To the British Grenadier.
Excerpt from Grenadier Guards
The British Army also increased its size at this time with Lord Gort’s Home Army being joined by the Royal Devon Yeomanry Regiment, which had attached a heavy brigade of Royal Engineers, and the Imperial Grenadier Army under General Sir John Harding welcomed Royal Ulster Rifles Regiment and its brigade of heavy artillery.
The Royal Ulster Rifles
in field training
And while the Army was growing, so to was the Royal Marine Corps, which created the Queen’s Royal Marines and the Duke of Cornwall’s Maritime Infantry regiments and attached them to the newly created Marine Force One. These regiments were mustered in to the Corps each with an attached brigade of artillery, which like their Army counterparts, used the new 25-pdr cannon. They also received a new piece of equipment, the Crawford assault launch, an amphibious tractor-type vehicle with some armour plating and a .50 caliber machine gun for defense. The purpose of the Crawford was to provide the Royal Marines with the ability to reach not only non-traditional beaches for landing, but also to reach “normal” beaches with more survivability than the current landing craft employed by the Royal Navy and the Corps. Using the process that both the RAF and the British Army had begun using of late, before providing Crawford with a contract to provide enough of the assault launches to equip the entire Corps, the Admiralty arranged for only two regiments worth of craft to be outfitted so that “rigorous combat-like testing of survivability” could be conducted.
The Crawford motor assault launch in testing
Or in laymen’s terms, the craft were given to the Marines to be broken in as many ways as possible so that when they actually did go into combat, any vulnerabilities in the craft would be known and would allow for the Corps to make their assault plans accordingly as well as allowing the manufacturer to make the upgrades found to be needed standard on all subsequently built assault launches.
Up next: Some diplomatic fun and games.
