Hawker DODO: the flightless Hurricane

In 1945, the 1st Service Flying Training School (India) in Ambala operated 100 North American Harvards and a few Hawker Hurricanes. However, new pilots struggled when transitioning from the Harvards to the Hurricanes: during taxiing, the Harvards utilized hydraulic brakes operated via rudder pedals. In contrast, the Hurricanes had pneumatic brakes controlled through the stick, causing difficulty for trainees.

Two instructors (Flt Lt ‘Lofty’ Turner and Flt Lt Hamish Waugh), along with chief engineer Sqn Ldr L S Edwards, found an unconventional solution:

They took an old, non-airworthy Hurricane and modified it by adding two extra seats mounted on the wings (one for the instructor and one for an additional student). The instructor had a switch to simulate pneumatic system failures.

To prevent propeller damage from sudden braking, they added an extra front wheel, using a motorcycle fork and a Hurricane tail wheel.

During the first test run, the test pilot inadvertently applied too much power, nearly causing the modified Hurricane to lift off. To prevent similar incidents, large vertical surfaces were added above the wings, acting as spoilers.

The Hurricane was painted with black and white stripes and given the code “DODO” (after the extinct tropical bird known for its inability to fly). In the few surviving photos, the serial number appears to end with ‘257’.

To prevent engine overheating — since the Hurricane wasn’t designed for extended ground taxiing — two perforated tubes were added to spray water in front of the radiator, using the windscreen de-icing water tank.

Since reading the above story in an article, about a year ago, I’ve been planning to build a model kit of the DODO.

At a scale model exhibition a few months ago, I found and bought the HobbyBoss Hurricane Mk.I 1/48 kit at a good price (€20 — the normal retail price is around €30).

It’s a “fair” kit, relatively easy to build, without too many pieces but with satisfactory detail. It includes photo-etched seat belts and masks for transparent parts (canopy, windshield, headlights, and navigation lights). Indicative of its ease of assembly, the entire project, including painting, took about a week and a half.

Apart from the kit, I bought Eduard’s resin wheel set, since I needed an extra tail wheel and also in order to replace the rubber made wheels of the kit. Additionally, I bought two CMK resin seats for the wings.

Although it’s unclear from the limited available photos, there’s a suspicion that the radiator fairing was removed. I decided to depict this on my model as well. I took the front and rear faces of HobbyBoss’s radiator and built a “bare” radiator using plastic sheet.

The supports for the external seats were made from thin brass tubing.
The mounting system for the auxiliary nose wheel was constructed from plastic strips and brass tubing.

The model was initially primed with white Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500, then masked, and the stripes were sprayed using NATO Black.

The landing gear and radiator were sprayed with Mr. Color Super Iron 2 (SM203).

The side codes and serial numbers were painted using Tamiya Dull Red (LP18) with custom-made stencils that I created with my Cricut Joy.

The mild weathering (highlighting panel lines) was done using Flory Washes (“grey” for the white surfaces and “dust” for the black ones). Oil leaks on the underside were replicated with AK Engine Oil Wash. Finally, exhaust soot was depicted using powdered black pastel.