# Aircraft loses against the V1 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2012, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aircraft-loses-against-the-v1/638913 "2012-10-26T08:15:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aircraft-loses-against-the-v1/638913/21 "2012-10-27T17:10:11Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Try [this](http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=31181) discussion from about post #10 onwards. I am not a participant. 😃 Someone does say that metal ailerons were tested on the Hurricane. Someone says they were retrofitted. Other than your link, I haven’t found anything online that specifically says Hurricanes were made with metal ailerons. As I said, I don’t have a lot of time; but I did briefly skim _The Hawker Hurricane_ by Francis K. Mason; Haynes _Hawker Hurricane 1935 and onwards (all marks) Owners’ Workshop Manual_ by Paul Blackah, Malcolm V. Lowe, and Louise Blackah; and _Hawker Hurricane Inside and Out_ by Melvyn Hiscock. That’s the extent of my Hurricane-specific library (unless you count the Derek Robinson books). I didn’t have time to delve into them in-depth, but I did not find any mention of metal ailerons. _Hawker Hurricane Inside and Out_ shows an aileron under reconstruction on page 39. > [@Hawker Hurricane Inside and Out](#): > > The leading edge of the aileron is skinned in aluminium and the whole fabric-covered. (Chris Mitchell) It seems clear from the other forum that metal ailerons were at least tested, but I can’t find anything conclusive that says their use on the Hurricane was widespread. **Malacandra** ’s story that prompted this discussion sounds familiar. ISTR a part in _A Piece Of Cake_ by Derek Robinson that took place during the transitional period between the fabric-wing Hurricanes and the metal-wing ones, where someone said ‘We don’t _all_ have metal wings!’ But again, I don’t have the time to re-read that book. I’m not saying that metal-aileron Hurricanes were not produced and/or officially retrofitted (like the metal wings), but I’d like to see something authoritative. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aircraft-loses-against-the-v1/638913/22 "2012-10-27T17:50:29Z")
I’ve emailed [Hawker Restorations Ltd](http://www.hawker-restorations-ltd.co.uk/) for clarification. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aircraft-loses-against-the-v1/638913/23 "2012-10-28T14:02:40Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’ve emailed [Hawker Restorations Ltd](http://www.hawker-restorations-ltd.co.uk/) for clarification. I received this reply. > [@Hawker Restorations Ltd](#): > > All Hurricanes had fabric covered ailerons ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aircraft-loses-against-the-v1/638913/24 "2012-10-28T15:45:15Z")
If interested, here’s a [cutaway graphic](http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f183/docdanz/v1-b-1.jpg) of a doodle-bug and a [“how-it-works”](http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f183/docdanz/v1-c.jpg) from a WWII pamphlet of my father’s. He was in the Army Air Corps, stationed in England where he met my mother (they married at war’s end). She and her mother lived in [Kent](http://www.kentishtowns.com/kentish_towns/in_the_past/doodle_bugs/doodle_bugs_hit_kent.php) (within “bomb alley”) and were bombed out of 3 houses. The last was from a doodle-bug that cracked their house in half, giving mom a severe concussion and killing their dog and neighbor. Those were tough times. My mother had a phobia of thunder the rest of her life and would duck and cover during thunderstorms. My parents were happily married for 67 years and both died this year. ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aircraft-loses-against-the-v1/638913/25 "2012-10-28T18:02:28Z")
> [@sidecar\_jon](#): > > I read one account of shooting a V1 that resulted not in the loss of the aircraft but the burning off of every scrap of paint on its outside! I think it might have been the late Raymond Baxter (of Uk show Tomorrows world) who’s wing man had the distinction of being probably the only spit pilot to shoot at a V2, which suddenly erupted out of a wood as they flew over, he let off a burst as it went past! Baxter said he was rather glad it didn’t go off. A similar story is in “Terrror in the Starboard Seat (41 trips aboard a Mosquito - A true story of 418 squadron)” by Dave McIntosh. They attacked a V1 at night, blew it up with canon, got too close, but survived. When they landed: > [@](#): > > “there wasn’t an inch of paint anywhere. The Mosquito was black. No roundel, no numbers, no letters, nothing”. Great book. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aircraft-loses-against-the-v1/638913.md?page=1)