Hurricane
Ship movements
These pages summarize shipping movements for the principal Hurricane exports.
Aircraft destined for overseas would generally proceed along the following route:
The aircraft would be test flown and inspected at the manufacturer. The Air Transport Auxilliary would then fly the machine to a Maintenance Unit ('MU') where weapons and other military equipment would be fitted.
They would then be flown to a Packing Unit for disassembly. These were designated MU's. There was one Civilian Packing Unit:- Crosby & Co at Odiham.
If the ship was due to leave immediately the aircraft would be sent to the relevant docks. Otherwise they would be sent to a Packed Aircraft Transit Pool ('PATP') for temporary storage.
Transport to the docks would generally be by road. Loading at the docks would be supervised by a RAF Embarkation Unit ('EU'). Some EU's had responsibility for several docks, so for example 21EU at Hull was also responsible for Immingham, Middlesborough, Sunderland and Newcastle.
Ships were often given code numbers, usually the prefix 'R' was given to RAF vessels carrying aircraft, or 'LS' for 'Liner service' charters. 'S' was used for ships to the USSR. Other prefixes applied to vessels carrying other types of store.
Code names were used for some destinations, i.e. 'Aloud', 'Bluff'(Gibraltar), 'Hamble'(Gibraltar), 'Fever', Romsey', 'Penrith' and 'Hapmat'(USSR).
Unloading at the destination was also undertaken by overseas Embarkation Units. They would arrange transport to Maintenance Units for re-assembly. In Gibraltar a Special Erection Party was responsible for assembly.
Takoradi on the Gold Coast of West Africa was used as a base for delivering aircraft to the Middle East without having to sail around the Cape. Most of North West and Central Africa was under Vichy French control but an air route was devised across Nigeria to the Sudan and north to Egypt that minimized the distance flown over French occupied territory (French Equatorial Africa).
This was known as the Takoradi route, or West African reinforcement route. It covered over 3600 miles and 5295 aircraft were ferried to Egypt between 1940 and 1943, including 2280 Hurricanes, in 894 ferry flights.
Hurricanes and Spitfires were generally ferried in batches of about 6 with a twin engined escort for navigation.
Schedule of ferry flights, including pilots and serials.
Multi-engined aircraft could fly directly from the UK to Gibraltar, and these left from the Overseas Aircraft Despatch Unit ('OADU') at Portreath. Photo reconnaissance aircraft also had the range to reach Gib, although some were sent by ship.
The reinforcement of Malta with Hurricane aircraft began in 1940 and was mainly undertaken by flying the aircraft off aircraft carriers. These were known as 'Club runs'. HMS Argus undertook 2 trips in 1940, sailing from Glasgow. Subsequently aircraft were packed and sent to Gibraltar where they were loaded aboard HMS Ark Royal or Furious and equipped with 90 gallon overload tanks. About 500 miles from Malta the aircraft were flown off the carrier.
Aircraft supplied to the USSR were initially sent by ship to Murmansk. From May 1943 a southern route was opened using Basrah as a base. Aircraft were either shipped to Basrah or sent to Gibraltar and flown overland to Basrah.
Similarly aircraft bound for India, Burma and Ceylon would be shipped to Karachi or Bombay for erection or flown from the Middle East via designated staging posts. At the time of the Japanese invasion of Java and Singapore deliveries were made by aircraft carrier and merchant vessels. These are detailed on the Far East page.
Primary sources:
Aircraft Form 78 history cards (RAF Museum)
Aircraft serial number ledger cards (RAF Museum)
Shipping Movements cards (TNA BT 389 series)
Lloyds voyage cards (Guildhall Library)
Embarkation Unit record books (TNA AIR 29 series)
OADU record books (TNA AIR 29 series)
PATP record books (TNA AIR 29 series)
Notes re schedules:
The sailing date is the date the vessel departed the loading port, not from the UK. Vessels often sailed to a different port to join a convoy.
The Cargo column shows the quantity of each aircraft type loaded/unloaded according to the Embarkation Unit records, where available. If the Hurricane quantity differs from the total calculated from the history cards then the actual quantity identified from specific serials is shown in brackets.
Cargo codes: Au=Auster An=Anson Be=Beaufighter Bl=Blenheim D=Defiant F=Fairchild Fu=Fulmar G=Gladiator H=Hurricane L=Lysander M=Tiger Moth N=Harvard O=Sea Otter Sp=Spitfire Sw=Swordfish T=Tempest Tom=Tomahawk W=Walrus
X=Total quantity of aircraft, types not specified.
If cargo data is not available the known quantity of Hurricanes is shown in brackets.
Principal overseas shipping Units:
PATP - Packed Aircraft Transit Pool
1PATP (St.Athan)
3PATP (Newhouse by Motherwell)
Civil-manned Storage Units - (MU) Maintenance Units
5MU (Kemble)
18MU (Dumfries)(RAF manned)
19MU (Southport)
22MU (Silloth)
29MU (High Ercall)
48MU (Hawarden)(RAF manned)
Packing Units - (MU) Maintenance Units
47MU (Sealand)
52MU (Cardiff)
76MU (Wroughton)
82MU (Lichfield)
215MU (Locharbriggs)
222MU (High Ercall)
Crosby & Co: Civilian packing Unit (Odiham)
EU - Embarkation Units
3EU (Liverpool/Manchester)
5EU (Barry)
6EU (Newport)
7EU (Swansea)
8EU (Glasgow)
9EU (Leith)
11EU (Belfast)
21EU (Hull/Middlesborough/Newcastle/Sunderland)
33EU (Takoradi)
23EU (Sudan)
42EU (Basrah)
51EU (Bombay)
57EU (Karachi)
64EU (Casablanca)
Overseas Aircraft Dispatch Unit (for direct flights overseas)
1OADU (Portreath)