- Yes
- No
In 1938, Belgium was desperate to get some modern fighters to face the growing German threat. Some very promising indigenous aircraft were designed - the Renard fighter family - but none made it into production for political and production reasons.
They got their hands on some CR-42 biplanes, but also bought Hurricane Mk Is (mainly the early variant with 2 propeller blades) and the license to build an additional 80 Hurricanes.
Out of the only 24 Hurricanes that Belgium eventually bought or produced by the time of the german invasion, 3 were built with four FN-Browning 13.2mm machine guns (these are already in the game as the swedish Akan m/39 machine guns, so you already know how powerful they are!), two in each wing. The rest of the planes were armed with the conventional eight 7.7mm machine guns.
One of these 3 aircraft is the one i am suggesting, the Hawker Hurricane Mk I H-34, H-34 simply being its registration number.
The Hurricane in question, with its distinctive black and white underwings:
Specifications
Just like a standard Hurricane Mk I, bar the armament.
Engine: Rolls-Royce Merlin II
Wingspan: 12.2m
Length: 9.6m
Height: 3.96m
Wing area: 23.92m²
Empty weight: 2606kg (Mk IIc)
Loaded weight: 3479kg (Mk IIc)
Max speed: 505km/h at 4500m
Armament: 4 × 13.2mm FN-Browning machine guns
Climb rate: 14.2m/s
Service ceiling: 10970m
Range: 850km
It’s the Hurricane we all know and love, albeit with very slightly less performance due to the two propeller blades, but with a massive increase in firepower!
It could go to a possible BeNeLux tech tree since it is a Belgian modification, or to Britain as a premium, it all depends on what gaijin has in mind.
Sources
https://www.belgian-wings.be/hawker-hurricane-i/h-34 first source for the 13.2mm configuration
What happened to the 'Thistle Squadron'? second source for the 13.2mm configuration
Hawker Hurricane - Wikipedia third " " " - wikipedia’s sources: “Mason 1967, p. 7”, “Air International, July 1987, p. 34”
Hawker Hurricane – Wikipedia german page for Mk I-specific specs