Restoration of FIAF Hawker Hurricane Mk. I "HC-452"

[Martti Kujansuu]

I found this great blog which shows the restoration process of Finnish Hurricane "HC-452" at the Aviation Museum of Central Finland. Text is available both in Finnish & English. Remember that she still has her original wartime colors on! The tail markings show her 2½ aerial victories from the Continuation War.

http://hurricanehc-452.blogspot.com/

[Al]

Fascinating - thanks for posting! It's great that she is in good enough condition to restore her in an original condition, rather than a repaint, etc...

[SimonDav]

with both sides flying Hurricanes in the 'Continuation war', were there any Hurricane v Hurricane combats?

[Martti Kujansuu]

with both sides flying Hurricanes in the 'Continuation war', were there any Hurricane v Hurricane combats?

No, as Finnish Hurricanes ceded operations from their northernmost base, Tiiksjärvi aerodrome, on 23 September 1941, while the first Soviet Hurricanes were observed over Finnish lines during December 1941. However there were aerial victories archived between I-153s & I-153s and LaGG-3s vs. LaGG-3s. Finns also flew several bomber stream infiltration missions with captured Soviet bombers.

Finnish Hurricanes archived all their victories at the Karelian Isthmus:
-3 July 1941 - 2 x I-153
-4 July 1941 - 1 x DB-3
-15 July 1941 - 2 x I-153
-8 January 1942 - 3 x I-152

[Martti Kujansuu]

A small update with photographs of the sight and cockpit wiring have been posted on the blog.
http://hurricanehc-452.blogspot.com/

[Martti Kujansuu]

A lot of new information with photographs have been posted to the blog. Check it out!

[Peter]

Thanks for the update Marrti!

[Martti Kujansuu]

She will be ready for display for Jämi Fly In held on 7 - 8 July 2012. Is it true that HC-452 (c/n 41H/11096) is the one of the oldest preserved Hawker Hurricanes in the world as per the link?
http://www.jamiflyin.com/eng/news/ha...kihc-452tojami

[ChrisDNT]

Beautiful aircraft and beautiful work.
As usual, wishing, when restoration work is finished, that the aircraft will stay on its wheels, still able to be towed outside for special occasions, and not fixed for ever in a museum corner !

[topspeed]

Awesome...any news about the flying HC developement ?

It is amiracle they scored 3 x I-152 since 3 were ever built; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polikarpov_I-15

[Martti Kujansuu]

As usual, wishing, when restoration work is finished, that the aircraft will stay on its wheels, still able to be towed outside for special occasions, and not fixed for ever in a museum corner !

It is customary at the Museum to tow the aeroplanes outside for a day for a photo shoot after they have been restored. Unfortunately the Finnish weather is usually too harsh to display the planes outside even for a day per year.

It is amiracle they scored 3 x I-152 since 3 were ever built;

From the original combat reports one can deduce that I-152 and I-15bis were in fact the same aeroplane type. Interesting enough the I-15s were marked simply as I-15s!

[ChrisDNT]

Wow, 364 days of snow and rain in Finland ;-)
Frankly, it is always a little bit sad to see such aircrafts "disappear" in the back of a museum space, wheels fixed, after restoration. A little bit like dead butterflies picked on a sheet of paper.

[Martti Kujansuu]

Wow, 364 days of snow and rain in Finland ;-)

Where the museum is located the cold winter lasts around 160 days, the wet spring and fall both 60 days, leaving only 85 days to the summer! The weather is harsh for any plane as the MiG-21s outside the Finnish Aviation Museum at Vantaa will show.

[topspeed]

It is customary at the Museum to tow the aeroplanes outside for a day for a photo shoot after they have been restored. Unfortunately the Finnish weather is usually too harsh to display the planes outside even for a day per year.



From the original combat reports one can deduce that I-152 and I-15bis were in fact the same aeroplane type. Interesting enough the I-15s were marked simply as I-15s!

I sorta expected this.

[Martti Kujansuu]

It's almost a month after I noticed the new update on the engine!
http://hurricanehc-452.blogspot.co.uk

[Dobbins]

Where the museum is located the cold winter lasts around 160 days, the wet spring and fall both 60 days, leaving only 85 days to the summer! The weather is harsh for any plane as the MiG-21s outside the Finnish Aviation Museum at Vantaa will show.

Well that's still about 60 days more summer than England...

[Martti Kujansuu]

Check the new update with more photographs of the engine, now in place!
http://hurricanehc-452.blogspot.co.uk

[Martti Kujansuu]

The restoration of the HC-452 has been now completed, with the plane attached to the permanent exhibition of the Aviation Museum of Central Finland. - A photograph of the plane in the exhibition.

[trumper]

She looks lovely,well done to them all.I love the proper used look.

[Foray]

The restoration of the HC-452 has been now completed, with the plane attached to the permanent exhibition of the Aviation Museum of Central Finland. - A photograph of the plane in the exhibition.

Looking good, and a credit to the team who did the work. Pleased to see that any temptation to 'smarten it up' has been resisted. It must be the most original of the surviving MkI Hurricanes. The nearest contender is probably L1592, but not sure how much that aircraft was changed in the name of refurbishment and preservation prior to it taking up residence in the Science Museum in 1961.