"Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Fighter Command" Ground staff play with a ball next to a No 85 Squadron Hurricane at Lille-Seclin, November 1939. Note the fabric-covered outer wings characteristic of early-production aircraft. These were initially chosen to ensure a faster rate of production, but were soon substituted for stressed-skin metal wings. Visible also is the Watts fixed-pitch wooden propeller and the gas detection patch painted below the cockpit.