09/06/2026
The world’s only airworthy two-seat Hawker Hurricane. 🇬🇧
Hawker Hurricane IIB BE505, affectionately known as ‘Pegs’, is a truly remarkable piece of living history. While the Spitfire often captured the spotlight during the Second World War, it was the Hurricane that shouldered much of the fighting, proving itself to be a rugged, dependable and highly effective combat aircraft.
BE505 herself was built by Canadian Car & Foundry under license in 1942, initially as a Mark I for the RAF. However, the aircraft was reassigned to the Royal Canadian Air Force as ‘1374’ before it left the factory and entered service with them on 11th February 1942. The following year, the Hurricane returned to the factory for upgrade to Mk XII standard which included the fitting of a larger engine. Upon completion, ‘1374’ was allocated to No 1 (F) Operational Training Unit of Bagotville, Quebec with which it served until being decommissioned in September 1944. As so many Hurricanes were operated in Canada, many aircraft were sold off and numerous farmers acquired Hurricanes for use as spares sources for their farm machinery in the following years.
In 2007 the Hurricane was purchased by Peter Teichman of the Hangar 11 Collection based at North Weald Airfield in Essex and registered G-HHII. He had the aeroplane finished as BE505, a Hurricane IIB . IIB could carry a pair of either 250lb or 500lb bombs and hence became known as ‘Hurribombers’. Progress accelerated on the project and the aircraft made its first flight after rebuild on January 27th 2009 from North Weald in the hands of Stu Goldspink, who has flown almost all of today’s airworthy Hurricanes. The aircraft was operated by Hangar 11 for several seasons and could be seen at airshows across Europe wearing her distinctive markings. G-HHII was eventually put up for sale by Peter and in 2017 it was reacquired by Hawker Restorations with ambitious plans. Their intention was to convert ‘Pegs’ to fit a second seat and associated rear cockpit area with a stick and very basic instrumentation – something that had never been done before - to permit the carriage of passengers in much the same way as is permitted with Spitfires and other historic aeroplanes. After a lot of design work, the conversion began in 2018 and took 2 years to complete. The finished aircraft completely retained the traditional Hurricane lines and can certainly be described as a sympathetic conversion as from the outside the change is barely noticeable.
Maintained by the Aircraft Restoration Company and operated for passenger flights by Hurricane Heritage, this extraordinary aircraft continues to keep the legacy of the Hurricane alive for future generations.
Aircraft Restoration Company
Hurricane Heritage
