Was the Hurricane obsolete at the beginning of WWII ?

i agree with u that it hade run it's course

 

In the Finnish hands the Hurricane I was considered the worst front line fighter plane serving in FiAF in 1940-1941. The 10 remaining Hurricanes were quickly retired from front line services when better planes arrived (Ie, everything other than HC).

Russian lend lease Hurricane IIa's and IIb's didn't do much better. They were slaughtered from the skies by FiAF. A very bad day for Russkies was april 5:th 1942 when 767:th and 152:th IAP's 18 Hurricanes and 7 80:th SBAP SB bombers tried to take out 2./LLv 24's 8 Brewsters in Tiiksjarvi. Russian maintainer unemployment rate went through the roof, when 12 HCs and 2 SBs were shot down without losses to the BWs. Taken from Osprey aircraft of aces 23, Finnish fighter aces.

According to Captain H. Wind's lectures on fighter tactics originated from year 1943:"The easiest one to shoot down of the enemy fighters is the Hurricane. It is totally helpless against us below 3,000 meters. It is slow and very clumsy and unmanoeuvrable. Whenever you meet a Hurricane, engage it in a turn-fight, where it is totally at our mercy. It is best to shoot this plane in the forward part of the fuselage when it almost immediately bursts into flames."

Full article at http://www.virtualpilots.fi/hist/WW2His ... cture.html

 

There is no doubt that the Hurricane was, at best, obsolescent as a fighter by 1943. Does anyone know when the Hurricane was retired from front line fighter squadrons?

 

It depends what you mean by 'front line'. I think it was phased out of the English-based interceptor squadrons during 1941, with the Mk II models shifting over to fighter-bomber duties, but it remained in the front line for much longer in the Med and, especially, Far East - again, principally as a fighter-bomber.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

 

Could somebody please tell me what happened to the Hurricane towards the later half of the war?

 

As far as I'm aware after the Battle of Britain the Hurricane was increasingly used for second line duties and used in what were considered secondary theatres, for example CBI and mediterranean. Once it's usefullness as an interceptor was up it was used as a fighter-bomber in MkII configuratations mainly or as a tank-buster MkIIE/MkIV configurations.

 

Thank you, Tony. BTW, do you know how long the Sea Hurricane was in service with the Royal Navy's fighter squadrons?