The RAE Hurricane was a single-seat, single-engined light monoplane designed and built by the Aero Club of the Royal Aircraft Establishment for the 1923 Lympne Motor Glider Competition.
[2][3] The fuselage of the Hurricane was in contrast very much of its time, built up on two upper longerons and a strongly curved keel, producing a structure that was narrow and almost parallel in plan and a thin triangle in cross section, deepest between engine and the wing leading edge, tapering rapidly aft.
Because the 600 cc Douglas flat twin engine used in the 1923 aircraft was geared down 2:1 via a front-mounted chain drive that put the propeller shaft at the top of the motor, it was mounted low and to the rear of the nose, with cylinders exposed for cooling.
This more powerful motor was also lighter, lacking the reduction gear of the Douglas and therefore mounted in the extreme nose with propeller and exposed cylinders at wing level.
The leaf spring undercarriage was replaced with a lighter split axle unit carrying smaller wheels and braced with conspicuous V-struts to the wing roots.
[2][4] There were also modifications to the top of the fuselage,[2] including the installation of a side hinged cockpit cover with an opening just large enough to allow the pilot's head to protrude.
[2][10] Its most successful meeting was at Lympne in August 1925, flown by F/Lt J. F. Chick where it won the light Plane Holiday Handicap, the Private Owners Race and, most prestigiously the eight lap, 100 mile (161 km) Grosvenor Challenge Cup,[11] averaging 81.2 mph (131 km/h).