Hawker Hurricane - Hurricane Aces

Hurricane Aces

The top scoring Hurricane pilot was Squadron Leader Marmaduke Thomas St. John "Pat" Pattle, DFC & Bar, with 35 Hawker fighter victories (out of career 50 total, with two shared) serving with No. 80 and 33 Squadrons. All of his Hurricane kills were achieved over Greece in 1941. He was shot down and killed in the Battle of Athens. Wing Commander Frank Reginald Carey claimed 28 air victories while flying Hurricanes during 1939–43, and Squadron Leader William "Cherry" Vale DFC and Bar, AFC totalled 20 kills (of 30) in Greece and Syria with No. 80 Sqdn. Czech pilot F/Lt Karel M. Kuttelwascher achieved all of his 18 air victories with the Hurricane, most as an Intruder night figher with No. 1 Sqdn. Pilot Officer V.C. Woodward (33 and 213 Squadrons) was another top-scoring ace with 14 (out of 18 total, three of which are shared), while F/Lt Richard P. Stevens claimed all of his 14.5 enemy aircraft flying the Hurricane. Richard Dickie Cork was the leading Fleet Air Arm Sea Hurricane ace with nine destroyed, two shared, one probable, four damaged and seven destroyed on the ground. Czech pilot Josef František, flying with 303 Polish Squadron, shot down at least 17 enemy aircraft over southeast England during September–October 1940.