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Can anyone identify the fighter here in this picture taken from a Dornier-do17?

enter image description here

From: https://stukablr.tumblr.com/post/145040185970/a-pic-took-it-from-a-donier-do17-a-hurricane

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    $\begingroup$ Note the link states its a hurricane. $\endgroup$
    – Dave
    Apr 29, 2018 at 21:51
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    $\begingroup$ Sadly, many a German airman's last words. $\endgroup$ Apr 29, 2018 at 21:55

5 Answers 5

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Relative thickness of the airfoil, thickness repartition over span, and low dihedral angle of the entire wing, tells it's a Hurricane.

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In addition to @qq jkztd's very good answer, I'd like to add that the Spitfire never had a such a wide oil radiator under the fuselage. That to me was the dead giveaway that it was a Hurricane. Quite a durable but honestly lackluster fighter.

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    $\begingroup$ Yes, all the silhouettes I can quickly find of Spitfires have the radiator under one or both wings, not under the fuselage. $\endgroup$
    – Chromatix
    Apr 29, 2018 at 17:20
  • $\begingroup$ Try looking at the illustration on the Spitfire Wikipedia page: all Spits had radiators under the fuselage, Hurricanes did not. $\endgroup$ Apr 29, 2018 at 18:01
  • $\begingroup$ @TimLymington that is clearly false - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Spitfire#/media/… vs en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hurricane#/media/… $\endgroup$
    – egid
    Apr 29, 2018 at 18:29
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    $\begingroup$ @Jihyun But fairly well on par with the Do.17, designed around the same time. Also it was way easier and cheaper to build than a Spit, which was significant with wartime resources and serious technical problems with the Spitfire. Spitfires simply weren't ready in numbers by 1940. $\endgroup$
    – Graham
    Apr 29, 2018 at 20:39
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    $\begingroup$ @Jihyun Me too. :) But it's a bit like saying a Tornado wasn't a Jaguar, or an F-15 wasn't an F/A-18. It was state of the art at the time it was designed, but it eventually became obsolete. $\endgroup$
    – Graham
    Apr 30, 2018 at 16:54
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It's a Hurricane. No Spitfire of any Mark had a radiator under the fuselage, whereas every Hurricane, from the prototype to the "Last of the Many" did. And that is NOT a carburetor (carburettor in British English) air inlet. Re the comment about the canopy, Mark I Spits had a narrow canopy. No framed greenhouse, but not blown out at the sides either. The earliest Mark I Spits had a canopy that effectively was just an extension of the windscreen. Later ones had a bulged top for more head clearance, but still had flat sides. Later Marks featured the "blown" canopy that was bulged on the sides as well.

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  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to Av.SE! $\endgroup$
    – Ralph J
    Oct 14, 2018 at 4:39
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It's a Hurricane. The radiator is on the fuselage, which means it is a Hurricane. On a Spitfire the radiator is on the right wing. enter image description here

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Agree with qq jkztd.

Also the canopy. You can just about make out the lines (in profile, it looks like a greenhouse) plus it's narrower. A Spit's is more bulbous.

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