Britain's Hawker Hurricane, shown here in a file photo, was among the fastest aircraft featured at the 1938 Paris Air Show.
The single-prop, single-seat fighter featured retractable landing gear and was outfitted with a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. It's top speed was in excess of 320 mph.
When it debuted at Paris on the eve of World War II, the Hurricane had been in service with the Royal Air Force for less than a year. London ordered maximum production and limited exports of these planes. Two years later, it became one of the heroic fighters of the Battle of Britain, fending off attacks by Nazi German aircraft.
