ESCAPE DOOR

Flight Lieutenant I.R. ‘Widge’ Gleed of No 87 Squadron in the cockpit of one of the highest-scoring Hurricanes, P2798. Featuring Disney’s Figaro on its right-hand pilot access door, this long-lived Hurricane Mk I, coded LK0A, was used by Gleed in the Battle of France and on into 1941. 

He gained at least nine victories flying P2798 during the Battles of France and Britain.

RAF Museum

The right-side panel on a Hawker Hurricane Mk I is not a routine entry door, but a jettisonable emergency escape panel designed to be kicked or pushed outward in flight.

Function and Operation:
Routine entry and exit were always conducted from the port (left) side, using designated footsteps and handholds. The door has a jettison mechanism. “A large detachable panel is secured by horizontal spring-loaded plungers and a bolt operated by the cockpit hood, and to jettison it the cockpit hood must first be fully opened and the release lever moved back and upwards.”. On the ground, the panel was rarely removed unless maintenance required interior access, in which case it was laid aside rather than left swinging.