Hawker Hurricane Test Flight

hi dave hadfield here and today i have the marvelous privilege of conducting the test flight of this hawker hurricane it's all come together we've got a thoroughly ground tested airframe a pilot a chase plane good weather and wind right down the runway now the goal of a test flight is believe it or not boredom no spectacular events and you do everything you can to keep the flight short simple and accomplish a very straightforward test card so the plan for this first flight is to take off leave the gear down climb overhead the airfield do a stall one with the flaps up one with the flaps down to calibrate the airspeed indicator a little bit of engine handling come back and land and then pass it back to the mechanics for a close post flight inspection that's it no flashy flybys no aerobatics and no protracted photo session all that all very good stuff of course will come later this is a mark 12 hurricane built in 1942 by canadian car and foundry in fort william ontario it trained many rcaf fighter pilots during the war and afterwards it was rescued from the smelter by a saskatchewan farmer a legend of a man named harry wariot he accomplished its initial restoration an amazing achievement and actually flew it i take my hat off to him great guy but when the current owner mike potter bought it the decision was made to undertake a more in-depth restoration and try and get it as close to the original as possible so regarding the flight that iphone on my wrist is for for flight the aviation program in case i have to divert and also to provide a backup speed indicator based on a gps radiator working that checklist is very important it's been quite a while since i flew a hurricane it's not a tall setup in the cockpit like the other fighters and some of the switches are not at all intuitive in fact they go opposite directions the magnetos are up for on and the electrical switches right beside them are down for on pretty easy to make a mistake i can't see him is he ready yeah okay clear [Music] so here's a bit of a problem the flaps won't retract the hurricane is an unusual and to be honest not that great gear and flap mixing box all controlled by one lever and if you're a pilot and you deserve what i said you're probably thinking hmm sure hope the pilot doesn't retract the wheels when he means to retract the flaps and that's what the 1938 pilots in the raf said they were quite right so obviously there's no way i'm going flying with a major system unserviceable but before shutting down we'll just work with this system for a bit so i call paul over our chief engineer and by working with the hand pump and various flap selections we trigger the engine driven pump back into life and after that it worked flawlessly for the rest of the flight we've learned over the years with these old aircraft that sometimes you have to work with pneumatic and hydraulic systems they're not quite as push button as you like anyway time to go [Music] these brakes are working very well and i'm really pleased about that because they're pneumatic air powered operated by a single control on the hand grip on the stick kind of like a bicycle brake lever if the rudder pedals are in the middle when you squeeze that lever you get even breaking and if the rudders are displaced you could asymmetric braking and i just completed this tight turn to be in position for the run up because those brakes are working perfectly the very complicated and sometimes tricky air valve that diverts air to one side or the other is very well set up here comes mike potter in the chase plane his extra at 3 30. mike is the owner of these fighters and the original founder of vintage wings of canada he's a very experienced warbird pilot and in the front seat is pat tenger who has led the team who's done such a wonderful job on this hurricane it's great that they're going to share this first flight as i select the fuel to the main tanks for the run-up i'm very careful to feel for the detent in the valve we want that fully open and for the run up i don't use the park brake i can exert more brake pressure by moving the lever by hand and if the tail starts to lift don't forget we haven't done a lot of run-ups in this airplane yet i can release the brakes as i yank off the throttle and get the tail back on the ground [Music] so pre-takeout checks complete two says he's ready and i talk to atc the gun button is the transmit switch i called them on the phone earlier to let them know it was a test flight so there's no delay and how do we go towards the runway in this situation the chase plane will take off first that way it'll be up and in a position to observe as i get airborne the visibility over the nose while taxiing and a hurricane is excellent i have a pretty fair chance of not chopping up the owner anyway there he goes and obviously i'll take the pull back track [Music] one last double check pause to be certain one's brain is in gear and time to see how it flies so well that's better they don't call it a hurricane for nothing anyway i was really pleased about how well that first takeoff went in the first place it tracks straight and that bodes very well for the landing next the prop did govern to 3 000 rpm the whole setup with this hamilton standard prop is quite different i had to bring the power up smoothly and make sure we didn't have an overspeed then at 3000 rpm it was smooth lovely and even when i brought it back to climb 2650 rpm smooth there too and finally when i took my hands off the stick to close the canopy it flew straight hands off right out of the shop that's perfect okay so what happens next nothing too dramatic thank you very much i'm watching the engine instruments feeling for any coughs or burps or vibration keeping the airspeed down below the max gear speed continuing in a gentle 360 to stay over top of the airfield and i'm aware that at any time the chase plane could call me up and tell me that i'm making smoke or have a leak so there's lots going on as we climb up i exercise the prop pitch control and then use my helmet camera to point out to the mechanics later that even with full rpm decrease it's only reducing to 2600 rpm and that's with 34 inches of manifold pressure so there's adjustment required after the flight and that kind of data point is what we're after now it's time to stall the airplane we need to calibrate the airspeed indicator to know what speed we can fly on approach safely this first one is with the flaps retracted and of course the gear is still extended we are up at five thousand feet and i don't know if you can see it or not the stall happens at about 80 miles an hour indicated very gentle stall very little tendency to drop a wing and that's what i was expecting since it trimmed out so well in flight but you never know now i'll extend full flap because that's a configuration we'll actually land in and do it again there's a pronounced pitch down as the flaps extend normal and we counter that with back stick and some elevator trim because that replicates what we're going to be doing on final there it is at 63 miles an hour mild left wing drop which i correct immediately because today that's all we need to know and then flaps up and recover so that's all great i'm really pleased this is one straight and true airframe next on the list is more engine and rpm correlation watching temperatures and pressures and of course that's not much of a spectator sport but it has to be done and our engineers are very interested in the results anyway after a few moments of that it's time to head down to the airfield and i take advantage of the opportunity to get the feel of the airplane a little bit this is just a taste i'll do a lot more on the next flight jumping forward we're in the downwind leg now and i'll do the gump check there's gas selection quantity pressure pumps the hurricane has three tanks to check and i'll land using the reserve tank it hasn't been used so far except on the ground undercarriage both still showing green for down mixture is full aft for rich pitch is full fine flaps well rad flaps are fine where they are since it's a cold day wing flaps i'll leave for a little bit because i'm still quite a ways out following a cessna 150. we always take off and land the hurricane with the hood open there's better visibility and it allows emergency egress if there was an incident collapsed down full lane for 100 miles an hour initially on final leading back to 80 over the fence the goal here is a tail low wheel landing well that was pleasant very much like the hurricane mark iv we had [Music] lovely soft undercarriage and a track straight what a privilege to have done this mags are off why do you guys do good work oh man man climbing out after takeoff smooth no prop vibration no engine vibration it's still there at the run up but up at takeoff rpm nothing real nice a couple of minor uh suggestions but other than that whoa anyway master's off three mags are off fuel's off boy was that ever a pleasure man i've forgotten how nice this thing is to land [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: dave hadfield

Views: 219,426

Keywords: Hawker, Hurricane, Supermarine, spitfire, rolls-royce, rolls, royce, P-51, mustang, hadfield, vintage wings

Id: tpBPsj57DUM

Length: 22min 11sec (1331 seconds)

Published: Thu May 05 2022