Portale
The RAF Museum's Hurricane IIC was part of the final production batch, built by Hawker at Langley in 1944.
Delivered to No.22 Maintenance Unit at Silloth on 19 March it did not see front-line service, being issued to No. 1682 Bomber Defence Training Flight at Enstone on 10 April.
This unit was responsible for providing training facilities for bomber crews by performing dummy attacks, and was in the process of replacing its Curtiss Tomahawks with Hurricanes.
It was disbanded in August 1944 and LF738 was reallocated to No.22. Operational Training Unit at Wellesbourne Mountford, probably for similar duties.
The end of the war meant that fewer aircrew were needed, and the unit disbanded on 24 July 1945.
LF738 was allocated to ground instructional duties at RAF Biggin Hill. and on Sunday 19 September 1954, a drumhead service was held to dedicate the Hurricane together with Spitfire SL674 - as permanent memorial to stand outside the station's Battle of Britain chapel.
The two aircraft remained there (apart from refurbishment work undertaken at St Athan in 1969 and at Bicester in 1974) until February 1984 when LF738 moved to Rochester to await restoration work by the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society.
Many components had been removed over the years, probably to keep the RAF's airworthy Hurricanes flying, and corrosion had taken a heavy toll.
Work started in earnest in 1993 and the completed Hurricane. in the colour scheme it wore whist with 1682 BDTF, was handed over to the RAF on 28 June 1995.
It has been displayed at the Museum's Cosford site since August 1995.
