JNE Aircraft Restoration Services
Reproduction Hawker Hurricane Canopy
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| © 2008 JNE Aircraft Restoration Services |
| Alcon Eye Museum Exhibition |
In May 2007, JNE Aircraft Restoration Services was contacted by Dr. Cheri L. Wolfe, curator of the Alcon Eye Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. She was interested in finding a Hawker Hurricane Canopy to use in an exhibition she was creating that would be devoted to the history of cataract surgery and the story of Dr. Harold Ridley. She wanted the same type canopy as would have been found on the Hawker Hurricane Gordon "Mouse" Cleaver had flown. Cleaver was a pilot in the 601 Squadron at RAF Tangmere during World War II. The injuries he received during The Battle of Britain contributed to the inspiration behind the intraocular lens that we are familiar with today. |
| During World War II and The Battle of Britain, Dr. Ridley worked in several facilities around the RAF Tangmere. "Mouse" Cleaver had gotten plastic shards from the shattered canopy of his Hawker Hurricane in his eyes. Dr. Ridley noticed that the eye did not reject the perspex and was inspired to invent an intraocular lens (IOL) from the same material. The IOL can replace the eye's natural lens and has thereby revolutionized cataract surgery. |
| JNE Aircraft Restoration Services agreed to build a Reproduction Canopy to the same specifications as an original Hawker Hurricane canopy would have been. The display canopy provides a few original pieces of the 'glass' as well as a few pieces of new replacement 'glass' (what the British call perspex, and the American's call plexiglass) as can be seen in the photographs below. |
| Original Perspex |