Interesting RCAF Hurricane Nose Art

Dave Homewood · **Posted:** Thu Jun 07, 2007 2:08 am

Whilst going through the photos of WWII RNZAF pilot Trevor Pearce I discovered an interesting piece of nose art on a RCAF Hurricane that visited his base when he was in Canada.

The Hurricane is numbered 5398

And the nose art appears to read:
[CENTER]DONATIONS TO
"MARCH OF DIMES"
HELPED TO PURCHASE THIS
AEROPLANE[/CENTER]

A closer look, sorry it's none too clear.

March of Dimes appears to be an American organisation for pregnant mothers and infants, much like NZ's own Plunket Society.

I thought some of you may find it of interest and maybe someone knows what its purpose was in the RCAF. Was it operational? Or at an OTU? Any ideas?

Swiss Mustangs · **Posted:** Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:44 am

check this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/WW2-Photo-RCAF-Marc ... dZViewItem

Martin

Dave Homewood · **Posted:** Thu Jun 07, 2007 6:08 am

Thanks Martin, amazing co-incidence. Well we know now the name was on both sides.

CWBuff · **Joined:** Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:14 am **Posts:** 854

Groovy photo, thanks!

Dave Homewood wrote:

March of Dimes appears to be an American organisation for pregnant mothers and infants, much like NZ's own Plunket Society.

There are two separate 'March of Dimes' organizations that I know of.

The original March of Dimes was a charity founded in the late 30s by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help fight polio. It was formally known as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.

I believe the Canadian March of Dimes was also founded for a similar purpose, although it's my understanding that the two organizations were not affiliated.

If you're interested in more info, take a looksee at THIS wackypedia entry...

Fade to Black...

K225 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 07, 2007 1:57 pm

March of Dimes Canada has over 50 years of dedication and achievement in Canada, was established to provide essential programs and resources across the country to people with physical disabilities. It is not related to my knowledge with the American organization of the same name.

Their site is at: http://www.marchofdimes.ca/dimes/national_programs/

I am a polio suvivor so thanks for posting I was not aware of the wartime involvement of this organization.
Steve M

CWBuff · **Joined:** Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:14 am **Posts:** 854

Obtained from the ebay seller...

Click for larger image

Fade to Black...

Dave Homewood · **Posted:** Thu Jun 07, 2007 9:04 pm

Thanks chaps. Sorry for my confusion over the organisations. And thanks for sourcing the better quality photo Peter.

K225 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 08, 2007 7:20 am

The aircraft is a Hurricane MKXII of course whch is basically a MKIIB with the Packard Merlin 29. The Canadian Hurricanes did not have the spinners on the props in operation. Most of these that have been restored have the spinners I am only aware of one static Hurricane restored as original does anyone know of any others.
My father was a young aircraftsmans at age 17 working on these during 1944 at Scoudouc NB. I am currently lucky enough to be involved in the restoration of the MKXII at Vintage Wings Canada. Its interesting that the wings are stamped Hurricane MKIIB.

AirJimL2 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 08, 2007 9:00 am

The history of 5398 from the very useful Canadian Military Aircraft Serial Numbers site at http://www.odynet.ca/~bwalker/index.htm

I'm not sure I understand the coded FN*L part as it was unusual to see homefront RCAF Hurricanes with full codes. You would often see the aircraft letter, but not often do you find the squadron code. Not to mention as expected the photos show no codes at all.

Jim

------------------

5398 Hawker/ Canada Car & Foundry, Fort William
Hurricane
Mk. XII

c/n 823

first date: 15 July 1942 - Taken on strength

Noted on 15 June 1942 as "to be modified before being placed in service". Delivered direct to No. 133 (F) Squadron at Lethbridge, Alberta on 15 July 1942. Coded "FN*L". Presented to squadron on 16 July 1942, inscribed "March of Dimes". Still with this unit when it transferred to Western Air Command and moved to RCAF Station Boundary Bay, BC on 26 October 1942. Category A crash on 4 February 1943 near Pender Island, BC. Note that Aircraft History Card records this aircraft as a Mk. IIB, but with a Merlin XXIX engine, making it a Mk. XII.

Last date: 1 March 1943 - Struck off, reduced to spares and produce

Dave Homewood · **Posted:** Fri Jun 08, 2007 10:01 am

Thanks Jim, someone else pointed this out to me earlier tonight on a parallel post on another forum. That is indeed a good site, I'd not seen it before. Thanks again.

Steve T · **Posted:** Fri Jun 08, 2007 4:27 pm

K225--

Paul Allen's Flying Heritage Collection fairly recently took delivery of a restored Hurricane XII that, at least in the photos I saw of it online, did not have a spinner fitted; it certainly carries RCAF "homefront" markings, and given Mr Allen's penchant for total authenticity in the rebuilds he commissions, I'd guess his flies--when it flies--without spinner. And I think that is the only one. As you note, the Reynolds museum in Alberta have a XII on display without spinner; it was nominally flyable when completed a number of years ago, but I believe it was never flown following restoration.

S.

Mark V · **Posted:** Fri Jun 08, 2007 4:38 pm

AirJimL2 wrote:

The history of 5398 from the very useful Canadian Military Aircraft Note that Aircraft History Card records this aircraft as a Mk. IIB, but with a Merlin XXIX engine, making it a Mk. XII.

A lot of these early aircraft were referred to as Mk IIB's on their record cards, including our machine currently under restoration.

Mark V · **Posted:** Fri Jun 08, 2007 4:45 pm

Steve T wrote:

Paul Allen's Flying Heritage Collection fairly recently took delivery of a restored Hurricane XII that, at least in the photos I saw of it online, did not have a spinner fitted; it certainly carries RCAF "homefront" markings, and given Mr Allen's penchant for total authenticity in the rebuilds he commissions, I'd guess his flies--when it flies--without spinner.

It was fitted with a spinner for its UK flights.

AirJimL2 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 14, 2007 6:52 pm

I got the following e-mail from a lurker who asked I post it to the thread.

Quote:

Hi Jim;

I’ve misplaced my login info to the Warbird forum (probably during my last hard drive crash), but I see I can post direct to you without logging in. If you don’t mid, please share this reply with the forum.

The Home War Establishment squadrons did carry two letter squadron codes plus a single letter individual code early in the war. The 2 letter squadron codes were ordered removed in October 1942, for security reasons, although the single letter codes remained. I suspect this aircraft was initially marked as “FN*L” while with 133 Squadron at Lethbridge, but was probably just marked as “L” during most or all of its time with WAC on the west coast. For this reason, I suspect that the great pictures posted here were taken very early in the aircraft’s life, maybe even before delivery to 133 in Lethbridge. Official presentation markings like this were often applied at the factory.

R.W. (Bill) Walker

Bill reminded me that there is at least one photo of RCAF Home Front Hurris with codes, a couple of the BW series Sea Hurricanes, but I still stand by the comment that photos of full coded RCAF Hurricanes are pretty rare... Now if someone has such photos I'd be glad to be proved wrong!

Jim

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Interesting RCAF Hurricane Nose Art

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