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.
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.
If interested, here’s a cutaway graphic of a doodle-bug and a “how-it-works” 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 (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.
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:
