Hurricane Mk IV

Description

The Hurricane Mk IV is a rank British strike aircraft with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.51 "Cold Steel". A ground-attack variant of the Hurricane, the Mk IV can carry an arsenal of heavy-calibre cannons, rockets, or bombs.

Famous for its twin 40 mm gunpods, this aircraft is intended for ground attack duties. Boasting a more powerful Merlin 24 engine than the other Hurricanes in-game, this aircraft is rather unique in more than one way.

General info

Flight performance

Details

Survivability and armour

• 4.7 mm Steel - Various armour plate protecting the underside of the aircraft's engine
• 4.7 mm Steel - Armour plating around liquid cooling system
• 12.7 mm Steel - Armour seat and headrest
• 38 mm Bulletproof glass - Armoured windshield

Modifications and economy

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Hurricane Mk IV is armed with:

• 2 x 7.7 mm Browning .303 machine guns, wing-mounted (338 rpg = 676 total)

Suspended armament

The Hurricane Mk IV can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• 2 x 40 mm Vickers S cannons, wing-mounted (15 rpg = 30 total)
• 8 x RP-3 rockets
• 2 x 250 lb G.P. 250 lb Mk.IV bombs (500 lb total)
• 2 x 500 lb G.P. 500 lb Mk.IV bombs (1,000 lb total)

Usage in battles

The Hurricane Mk IV fits into an interesting niche in the British tech tree. It takes the usual Hurricane airframe, removes the usual large number of machine guns (except two), adds armour plates around the engine and cockpit. Then there is the armament. Two 40 mm guns on the wings, which can equip high explosive or armour piercing rounds. You also have the choice to swap these guns for rockets or bombs depending on your targets/playstyle. This makes the Hurricane most suitable for two roles:

Ground Attack - Being a little more agile than the usual attacker, but still very well armed, the Hurricane Mk IV makes a good ground attack aircraft. The 40 mm cannons can penetrate most vehicles from a steep angle or from the side with armour piercing ammunition. However, they cause very little post-penetration damage and are inaccurate. Against light vehicles they can be very effective, but heavily armoured vehicles like KV-1s and even T-34s can usually shrug off the 40 mm rounds. Beware that the cannons are very hard to score hits when aiming for smaller targets, unless you zero the guns to a short distance. The guns also have a very large recoil which makes them furthermore inaccurate. The RP-3 rockets are another good option. A direct hit with one of these rockets to the side/rear/top of an enemy tank will cause serious damage. They cause good explosive damage and can penetrate around 60 mm of armour, but are quite inaccurate and hard to aim for inexperienced players. You also have access to 250 lb and 500 lb bombs, which are ideal for taking out singular high value targets.

Bomber Hunting - The two 40 mm cannons can be deadly against any aircraft they hit. Bombers particularly fit into the category. They are generally big, slow targets that are easy to hit with the otherwise inaccurate and difficult to aim 40 mm cannons. Usually it only takes one or two hits. The HE rounds in the air targets belt work particularly well, but for certain targets, the AP rounds are more suitable. Heavily-armoured aircraft like the B-25 or the IL-2 can sometimes shrug off the HE rounds, due to their low penetration values, but the AP round can be deadly. For particularly large targets like the BV 238, you can even use rockets, which are sure to cause massive damage.

Last resort fighter - The aircraft can, however, be used as a pure fighter. Selecting bombs, and dropping them after takeoff, leaves you with something of a "Super Hurricane", as its engine puts out over 300 more horsepower than any other Hurricane and is thus significantly faster. This also allows nice turning ability, as through sheer power the aircraft will lose less energy in sustained turnfights than comparable aircraft such as the Bf 109. The obvious tradeoff however, is the woeful armament of just two 7.7 mm machine guns. With good aim, and well-placed bursts, the Hurricane Mk. IV can be fairly effective even with this armament. The extra engine power also allows this Hurricane to climb better, dive better, turn faster and hold its own better in vertical engagements than all other Hurricanes. With the larger radiators and tropical filter, overheating isn't much of an issue, so the full engine power can be capitalised on. However, this use of the aircraft in this role could only be described as fairly niche and only suitable for skilled players, as for most the twin 7.7 mm machine guns will simply be too ineffective against aircraft of this BR.

Manual Engine Control

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Decent top speed
• Can carry the deadly Air Targets belts
• Good ordnance variety
• Good amount of armour, making the aircraft fairly durable
• Excellent flight characteristics in simulator
• Excellent flight performance without suspended ordnance

Cons:

• Extremely poor climb rate when fitted with ordnance
• Stock 40 mm belts have a mix of AP and HE, so there is a large variance in effectiveness
• Requires an exceptionally good aim in order to be effective due to the 40 mm cannons slow rate of fire
• Significant recoil from the 40 mm cannons will make follow up shots difficult
• Bad energy retention

History

The Hawker Hurricane Mk IV was the last major production modification of the Hurricane series. The main feature was a new wing design, which could mount eight RP-3 rockets or two 40 mm Vickers S guns for attacking ground targets. The Hurricane Mk IV may have been equipped with more powerful Merlin 24 or 27 engines, but it is disputed. The Mk IV Hurricane received an additional 350 lb (159 kg) of armour protection for the pilot, radiator, and fuel tanks. A dust filter was added for operation in desert environments.

The Hurricane Mk IV was used as a ground attack aircraft in the European theater until being replaced by the Hawker Typhoon in 1944. It was noted that the top speed of the Hurricane when armed with RP-3 rockets was reduced significantly, and the Hurricane had high losses against German anti-aircraft batteries. One example of this occurred on 20 December 1943, when No. 184 Squadron RAF attacked a German V-1 flying bomb launch site. The squadron of four aircraft was equipped with Hurricanes, and only 1 plane survived the flak long enough to attack the target, with the other three being shot down before they had the chance.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Hurricane Mk IV from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.