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

One of the greatest British aircraft of the Second World War, the Hawker Hurricane was the first eight-gun fighter monoplane to enter service with the Royal Air Force. Powered by a powerful V-12 carburettor Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, it was built by the Hawker company mainly in their Langley factory in Berkshire, with the first model appearing in 1936. Following the fall of France in 1940, Britain stood alone against the Nazi threat. And only 527 Hurricanes, along with 321 Spitfires, could stop a German invasion. And for aviation historian David Keane, its importance cannot be underestimated. During the Battle of Britain, more German aircraft were destroyed by hurricanes than all the other defences put together. That's all the other fighters, of course, but also the anti-aircraft fire. Sidney Cann came up with this design, the Hurricane, brilliant, but he designed it with a fairly thick wing, which is, I suppose, the biggest difference between the Hurricane and its more glamorous sister, the Spitfire. Greater drag, which meant that the performance of the aircraft wasn't going to be as great as the Spitfire, but it did mean that it could easily accept the eight Browning machine guns which Cann gave it, and which made it a very formidable fighter. The Hawker Hurricane was a truly remarkable aircraft. Entering service with the RAF in 1937, over 15,000 were produced by 1944. Its tubular metal frame was covered in Irish linen. German bullets could pass through it, and the plane could live to fight another day. It was the first RAF fighter to shoot down a Luftwaffe plane in October 1939. And during the Battle of Britain, it shot down over 1,500 enemy aircraft. That's over 60% of the total German planes destroyed. The Spitfire, perhaps the most famous RAF plane of the Second World War. R.J. Mitchell's groundbreaking design, the Mark I, first rolled off the Supermarine assembly line in 1938. Its distinctive thin elliptical wings, Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, all metal construction and ferocious firepower made it the cutting edge fighter of the day. And it proved more than a match against the German Luftwaffe. The Spitfire is a terrific fighter. A brand new design, quite different from anything that had gone previously, all metal construction, semi monocoque, which means that the outer panels give as much strength as any framework underneath. Brilliant aeroplane, delight to fly, and it did the business. The Spitfire's groundbreaking design was a winning combination of firepower, speed and manoeuvrability. Eight Browning 303 machine guns were harmonised to deliver 160 rounds a second. It could reach 350 miles per hour, but some had a booster to increase it by up to 34 miles per hour for five critical minutes. Its controversial and unique elliptical-shaped wings made it the most agile fighter in the sky. And the plane's distinctive sound came from its powerful 1,130 horsepower Merlin engine.