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version were built, after several mishaps due to breech explosions it was discarded for the Hurricane IID in favour of the Vickers ‘S’ gun. Almost all of the IIDs produced were sent to overseas squadrons and during May 1942, No 6 Squadron – at that time under the command of Wg Cdr Roger Porteous in Egypt – was the first to receive the aircraft for combat operations.
    The batch of new pilots began their training at Shandur airfield under the watchful eye of Wg Cdr Stephen Dru Drury, who had been in charge of this particular weapons project since its inception. Now he was helping to bring it into service as soon as possible. Under his guidance, pilots learned how to handle the tricky tendency of the Hurricane’s nose to drop, resulting from the recoil of the 40mm guns when fired. It was necessary to take minor corrective action to ‘catch’ and correct this tendency before the next salvo (one pair of shells) could be lined up and fired because flying at about 50ft above the ground left little room for error. The 40mm guns were aimed using the usual Mk II reflector sight and tracer rounds from the simultaneous firing of the machine guns gave a good indication of the impact point. Although the gun’s range was quoted as over 2,000 yards, the range at which the 40mm gun became most effective was about 1,000 yards and with practice, it soon became clear that it was possible to get two salvos off before overrunning a target. During training it was even found that a third salvo could be fired on some occasions. With solid, tungsten-tipped AP shells as standard, it was possible to penetrate 55mm armour plate. A downside to this lethal weapon system was that when the guns and an engine sand filter were installed on a Hurricane IID, its speed was reduced by about 40mph.

    Tank-buster Hawker Hurricane IID armed with two 40mm cannon, the type flown by Howard Clark with No 6 Squadron in the Western Desert. (J. Cheney Collection)
    At the beginning of January 1942 the squadron went to Helwan in preparation for a move to Iraq, by which time it had reached an all-time low point with just one lone Hurricane Mk I left on its inventory. However, all was not lost because in the end the squadron did not go to Iraq, but remained in Egypt instead. It took up residence on LG 224, also known as LG Kilo 26 and later as Cairo-West, to await re-equipment with the Hurricane IID. The airfield was located near the Cairo to Alexandria road, about 16 miles west of Cairo itself. Once all the air and ground personnel and the first batch of the long-awaited new aircraft had been brought together at this location, on 20 April 1942 it moved out as a squadron to its initial operating base at Shandur to begin training with the new Hurricane IID.
    With five weeks’ training under its belt, No 6 Squadron was declared ready for battle and in mid-May was sent forward to Gambut airfield near the coast – about 30 miles south-east of Tobruk and 400 miles west of Alexandria – to begin operations against the enemy once again. However, in the fluid situation then existing in the desert war, the squadron was under constant orders to move – forward or backward(!) – at two hours’ notice. In common with many of these desert landing grounds, Gambut had several ‘satellite’ airstrips and it acquired a dubious reputation as ‘the worst ‘drome for dust in the desert’.
    The Hurricane IID had its baptism of fire with No 6 Squadron on 8 June 1942 when several tanks and vehicles were destroyed with the new weapon. While extremely effective, the very nature of the type of attack profile carried out by the Hurricane IID left it exposed to enemy air opposition. Major Hugh Rice, a former army air liaison officer (ALO) with No 6 Squadron, recalled:

    The Hurricane IIDs were few in number and vulnerable and were therefore never sent out without medium or top cover. As a result, the planning of a strike was a relatively complicated job, particularly as the covering