How to fly and fight in the Hurricane MK II better or the best?

[KG_S_Kalle_Kalutz82]

Hello guys,

 

as the title says:

I could need some advices on the Hurricane.

Please share your experiences and opinions and I am more than likely to try it out.

 

Regarding weapons, dogfight behaviour as a fighter, altitute and such.

Turning, energy...

 

 

 

Greetings

[Diggun]

The best way to fly the hurricane is in a team of 2 of you, minimum, 4 of you is better.

 

The best weather to fly the hurricane in is a low(ish) overcast. This negates the primary advantage that the opposition have over you, which is speed and altitude performance. If you can sucker the opposition into a turning fight at an equal energy state, there should be little they can do to prevent you getting guns on.

 

Weapons wise, it depends what is available. If you can take the 12x.303's, they are effective at killing pilots and starting engine fires with deflection shooting, but poor for shooting at german fighters from dead six. You do have tonnes of ammo for them though, so in a team this is a viable loadout. 

 

The russian guns are really bloody deadly - you've got the firepower of 2x Yak 1b's, and they are super easy to aim as they have a very fast muzzle velocity. You get very little ammo though, so this is best suited to point defense rather than offensive patrolling. a few hits from these is all you need. You run out of the MG before you run out of cannon; so the last few rounds (about 20 rounds) of cannon you fire will not have tracer. This can be very surprising for the opposition.

 

The 4x20mm are best used for ground attack. They slow you down and add too much weight for useful dogfighting really, but can be fun to delete the LW with on Berloga.

 

The Merlin XX gives you a much more positive experience engine-wise. You can run in climb power for a full hour, and you should usually be doing that. Use the boost in combat, it really gives the whole plane a kick up the arse.

 

As usual you'll want to avoid being bounced, and avoid head-ons with LW fighters at all times. You are slower in a Hurricane than you are in an I-16, but if you can get the opposition to turn with you, then you should still be able to mince them.

 

You should only really be using the Hurricane as a pure fighter in the earliest war scenarios / plane sets. 

 

In anything other than the earliest war scenarios/ plane sets, you should be using the Hurricane as a strike fighter / attack aircraft. You can really mess up a target with a few of you with the 20mms and bombs, you'll want some dedicated cover, but you can also put up a pretty good defense most of the time.

 

You'll also want to download the Fleet Air Arm skins. They look awesome.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Diggun

[KG_S_Kalle_Kalutz82]

Thanks for the long and detailed answer.

I have flown the Hurricane five times so far, and yesterday I had to do a forced landing in a field, was a bullet sponge.

To be honest, my wingman and me came from altitude and we have seen a dogfight below, so we wanted to help.

Well, that was a hornets nest shortly afterwards.

And yes, it was sunny with only 2/10 clouds.

[Diggun]

Just now, KG_S_Kalle_Kalutz82 said:

To be honest, my wingman and me came from altitude and we have seen a dogfight below, so we wanted to help.

Well, that was a hornets nest shortly afterwards.

God, I know that feeling. Mind you, this is pretty much my experience in every fighter I fly ?

 

The nice thing about the Hurri is that you can really yank her about in turns, but you don't have quite as much elevator authority as in the spit, so you won't accidentally over-G your pilot so often...

[KG_S_Kalle_Kalutz82]

Well, by the youtube interview in english of Heinz Migeod (former Stuka pilot), he tells, that they were never so afraid of the Spitfire as of the Hurricane, for its turning and staying on 6 capability.

 

As I tried the Hurricane the first time in IL-2 GB, I thought I could turn on a dime.

Love it already more than the Spitfire....propably because of my weakness for early planes.

[RedKestrel]

For me the big advantage the Hurricane has is that regal pointy nose. The slope down to the spinner (indicative of good breeding) contrasts with the rather boorish profile of the Spitfire.*

What this nets you is a great site picture for deflection shooting. The Spitfire IMO is extremely hampered in high angle deflection shooting because the nose is so much in the way, your target is invisible to you when you are pulling the trigger. Which means you can turn hard for a snap shot but you don't have a good view. With the Hurricane, you often still have eyes on your target when you are opening up with deflection. When you combine this with the extreme 'pointability' of the plane and the ability to turn sharper than just about anything in the game, means you can put rounds on targets that thought they were safe.


*I'm mostly joking here for those who might take me seriously