Picture No 0237

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This aircraft is believed to be the last Hurricane ever to enter service with the RAF. It first flew on 1 January 1944; it was delivered to 5 MU on 28 January that year and was in continuous RAF service from then until a crash landing in 1991. The aircraft served with 63, 309 (Polish) and 26 Squadrons before the cessation of hostilities. Unlike many Hurricanes, LF363 was not scrapped but served on various station flights. She also appeared in the films ‘Angels One Five’, ‘Reach for the Sky’ (the story of Group Captain Douglas Bader’s life) and ‘The Battle of Britain’ as well as the television series ‘The War in the Air’. LF363 became a founding member of the RAF Historic Flight at Biggin Hill in July 1957.
On 11 September 1991, whilst en route from Coningsby to Jersey, LF363’s engine suffered a mechanical failure and it started to run rough and to lose power, pouring smoke from the exhaust stubs. The pilot diverted to RAF Wittering but the engine failed completely at a late stage of the approach, resulting in a crash-landing on the airfield. Seriously damaged by the crash, LF363 was completely re-built by Historic Flying Ltd at Audley End between 1994 and 1998, when it flew again for the first time in seven years, subsequently re-joining the BBMF.
LF 363 currently wears the colours of Hurricane Mk1 P3878 ‘YB-W’, the aircraft of Flying Officer Harold Bird-Wilson of No 17 Squadron during the Battle of Britain. A member of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) YB-W is based at RAF Coningsby.
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