Airframe: 52.95 Hours Since Restoration
Engine: Rolls Royce Merlin 35
179.25 hours Since New
52.95 hours SMOH by Jack Hovey
New carburetor - 12/2010
Propeller: Rotol RS 5/13 with Hoffman Blades
52.95 hours SMOH by Skycraft, UK: 1998
Avionics: VHF Comm: Garmin SL40
Transponder: Terra 250D with latest updates
ELT: Artec ELT200
Exterior: Painted in its original Battle Of France markings - 1940 10/10
Interior: Authentic 10/10
Annual Inspection: Completed 5/2011
Manuals: A comprehensive set of engine and airframe manuals, logbooks, and rebuild and maintenance records.
History: Built at Brooklands in early 1940, P3351 was flown to France on June 1st as a replacement aircraft for 73 Squadron who were based at Le Mans, where the ground crew hastily painted the code "K" on the fuselage.
By June 18 the squadron was based at Nantes, covering the final evacuation of British troops from St. Nazaire and Brest. P3351 was one of the last RAF aircraft to fly back across the English Channel.
The Battle of Britain was taking place. P3351 was cleaned and tidied and the squadron letters TP were painted on her side. On the 19th July A Flight flew north to Prestwick to undertake a night-flying course.
By early September, fitted with a new engine, she was transferred to 32 Squadron at Acklington. Having had a torrid time based in Southern England the Squadron was now part of 13 Group and tasked with convoy patrols and X-Raid cover.
During the next three months, P3351 was flown extensively by Pilot Officer Rose, undertaking the inevitable training as well as patrols of the north-eastern perimeter of Great Britain. On the 16th December, 32 Squadron moved south to Middle Wallop to become part of 10 Group. Within 5 days, P3351 was gone to a new stage in her life with the Americans.
Before the United States entry into WWII, many Americans volunteered for service in the RAF and RCAF. The severe loss of pilots during 1940 allowed these men to join the RAF and saw the formation of the American Eagle Squadrons.
Of the thousands that volunteered, 244 American pilots were to fly for Nos 71, 121, and 133 Squadrons of the RAF. Records are incomplete for this period and although P3351 arrived at 71 Eagle Squadron at Church Fenton on the 21st December 1940 her first recorded flight was the 16th February 1941. On the 10th March 1941 two 71 Squadron Hurricanes undertook a patrol over Humber.
Upon returning in the early evening, Pilot Officer Sampson-Taylor crashed on landing and P3351 was sent away for repairs. P3351 returned one month later to the same squadron now based at Martlesham Heath near Ipswich. She would see more operational flying during the next month with a number of patrols and scrambles.
By the beginning of May 1941 P3351 was transferred to No. 55 Operational Training Unit at Usworth, and January 1942 saw her sent to Hawkers for another upgrade emerging as DR393 in Mk IIA Series II configuration. This ended the English flying career for Hawker Hurricane with identity P3351, as her next posting with the new identity of DR393 was to a far colder clime, a desperate battle, and a 49-year hibernation.
On the 3rd May 1942 she left England destined for the vast cold wasteland of Northern Russia under the Lend-Lease Agreement onboard the merchantmen SS Ocean Voice as part of Convoy PQ16, and on the 30th May she berthed at Murmansk. DR393 was re-assembled, then re-equipped with Russian cannon and would have seen combat against both fighters and bombers of the Luftwaffe. It is believed she crashed in the winter of 1943 and lay there undisturbed until recovered from the Murmansk tundra in 1991 and shipped back to England.
Restoration: The rebuild of P3351/DR393 was carried out under the control of Air New Zealand Engineering Services (ANZES) Quality Management System as a design, manufacture, supply and maintenance organisation in conjunction with UK based Hawker Restorations Ltd. ANZES was able to enter into agreements with the major original equipment suppliers for access to data relating to the Hurricane and it's equipment but where material substitutions had to be made because the original material or process was no longer available the technical assessment and approval of those design changes was an ANZES responsibility.
The aircraft has been restored to P3351 Mk IIA eight gun configuration and is in the colours of No. 73 Squadron as it would have been in France during 1940.
Location: The historic Hawker Hurricane is currently based at the New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum in Wanaka, New Zealand.
Photos (flying shots) courtesy: Ghosts.com
SPECIFICATIONS SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION UPON INSPECTION
