7. The Hawker Hurricane Fought Better than the Supermarine Spitfire
At the end of the war many people credited the Submarine Spitfire as being the plane that saved Britain. Indeed the plane looked much more impressive than the older Hawker Hurricane plane and it was more advanced. But as pilots during the war can attest, the more modern Spitfire was not always the better choice. The Hurricane was slower and less elegant than the Supermarine Spitfire, but they were tough in battle and easy to repair. The turnaround time (to re-arm, get repaired, refueled, etc.) for the Hurricane was only nine minutes while that of the Spitfire was a whole twenty-six minutes. Therefore, the Spits spent a long time on the ground during the war. In that case, the time spent on the ground when they became faulty is crucial and can be said to be the difference between victory and defeat in battle.
The Hurricane brought down more enemy planes than the Spitfire, but there were far fewer Spitfires than Hurricanes. The greater number of the Hurricanes (they outnumbered the Spitfires 2 to 1) and the fact that they had to spend less time on the ground than the Spitfires helped them achieve more kills. The Germans also had very little respect for the Hurricane because it was little more than a plane built of wood and fabric, and no German wanted to admit to being shot down by a plane like that. The Germans did have respect for the Spitfires however. During the war, the Spitfires focused on the German BF 109s, which all flew at a higher altitude, and the Hurricanes attacked the German bomber aircraft formation flying at a lower altitude.