Canadians and Hurricanes in the Burma campaign

A letter drawing attention to often forgotten Canadian pilots.

Re: Plane buff pays $3M for piece of history, April 4.

As a former Hurricane pilot, I found this article very interesting, but missing a very important part of its history: that which took place in the Second World War's Southeast Asia campaign, commonly referred to as the Burma War, under the command of Lord Louis Mountbatten. I am referring specifically to Hurricane Marks 2C and 2D, which were Hurricanes modified for ground-attack operations. Even an excellent recently published book on the Burma war, For Your Tomorrow by Robert H. Farquharson, completely neglects the work of these aircraft (it does discuss the rather limited successes of the Hurricane Marks A and B, the air-to-air fighters).

The Hurricane 2Cs were equipped with 20-millimetre cannons, as opposed to .303s in the pure fighters, and the 2Ds were equipped with 40-millimetre cannons for tank-busting. Both were given additional armour plate for protection from ground fire, bomb racks for carrying 250-pound bombs, and long-range tanks to allow for operation far into enemy territory.

Many squadrons of these Hurricanes during 1944 and 1945 were positioned close to the front-line ground fighting to provide close support to the troops on the ground. During heavy fighting, the troops only moved forward after the way ahead was softened up by Hurricane bombardment. During the epic battle of Kohima, where the enemy was finally stopped in its thrust to take India, the Hurricanes were lined up in cab-rank formation just outside the battle area, ready to be called in to attack targets that were threatening our troops. In addition, these Hurricanes ranged just a few feet above the trees, from the front line to areas far behind the front, following jungle trails, roads, rivers and railways to locate and destroy enemy troops, vehicles, tanks, fuel, ammunition, food and other supply dumps to keep them from ever reaching the enemy at the front. Without the Hurricane 2Cs and 2Ds, the battle for Burma would not have progressed nearly as well as it did.

I made 187 flights in support of these military operations and I was only one of several thousand Canadians who fought in the Burma air war under British command and in British squadrons whose efforts received little recognition in Canada.

H.E. Holland,

Gloucester,

DFC, Colonel (Ret'd)

And a book that recounts the stories of also often forgotten Canadian (amongst others) Beaufighter flyers in the Burma campaign (including my brother-in-law's father): Silently into the midst of things: 177 Squadron Royal Air Force in Burma, 1943-1945 : history and personal narratives.