The prototype Hurricane at Brooklands in the winter of 1935-36.

Flt Lt P. W. S. Bulman, complete with trilby, flying the Hurricane prototype in March 1937.

Hurricanes of the Northolt-based 111 Squadron

This close-up photograph of the prototype Hurricane shows well the inward retracting undercarriage, the big wooden Watts propeller and the neat cowling of the early Model C Merlin engine.

The prototype Hurricane photographed during an engine run at Brooklands in the winter of 1935-36.

Hurricane I L1582 was part of the first batch of 600 Hurricanes delivered to the RAF between December 1937 and November 1939. It served with Nos 3 and 73 Squadrons but on August 4, 1939 was lost in a crash landing at RAF Digby.

K5083 landing at Brooklands after a test flight in December 1935. The Hawker Monoplane F.36/34, as it was still known, was sent to A&AEE at Martlesham Heath three months later.

First of the initial production batch was Hurricane I L1547, first used by the A&AEE for spinning trials. This Hurricane was lost in the Mersey off Ellesmere Port on October 10, 1940.