Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib

In January 1938, two months after the debut of the first production Hurricane, Hawker Aircraft received details of specification F.18/37, calling for a large single-seat fighter with a performance 20 per cent higher than that of the Hurricane. It would use one of two 24-cylinder engines in the 2,000 hp class then under development --the Napier Sabre "H" type or the Rolls-Royce Vulture "X" type. Sydney Camm had commenced investigating the options of just such a fighter in March 1937. And at the proposal of the Air Ministry, Camm, who favored the Napier Saber engine, also prepared studies for an alternative version of his fighter powered by the Rolls-Royce Vulture engine. This second version became known as the Tornado but it was abandoned in 1941. The so-called 'N type' fighter (now known as the Typhoon) was powered by the Napier Sabre engine.

On December 30, 1939, the first Napier Sabre engine had been delivered to Hawker Aircraft, and the first prototype Typhoon flew on February 24, 1940. The Typhoon proving relatively easy to fly at high speeds but its low speed qualities left much to be desired. It had a marked tendency to swing to starboard during takeoff. Continuing development on the Typhoon resulted in thinner modified wings (which had a reduced area and a lower profile drag) and aroused interest at the Air Ministry. This eventually resulted in the development of the Hawker Tempest.

The first production Typhoon IA with the 2,180 h.p. Sabre IIA engine was completed by Gloster and flown on May 26, 1941. The Air Ministry immediately began pressing for its rapid service introduction to counter the new Focke-Wulf Fw 190. This resulted in 56 and 609 squadrons, based at Duxford, to begin receiving their Typhoons in September 1941, before the fighter was fully developed. The Dieppe operations in August 1942 was the first official combat use of the RAF Typhoon. Typhoon's bounced a formation of Fw 190s south of Le Treport, diving out of the sun and damaging three of the German fighters, but two of the Typhoons did not pull out of their dive owing to structural failures in their tail assemblies. In the first nine months of its service life far more Typhoons were lost through structural or engine troubles than were lost in combat. And between July and September 1942 it was estimated that at least one Typhoon failed to return from each sortie owing to one or other of its defects. Another problem was the conservative wing design and thickness, and its resultant drag and compressibility problems. A bad high-altitude performance and problems with the tail structure (finally traced back to a failure of the elevator balance weight causing flutter) sealed its failure as an all-round fighter. But the powerful Napier Saber engine gave the Typhoon exceptional low-altitude performance.

Despite initial successes against German fighter aircraft, the Typhoon Mk.Ib, affectionately known as the "Tiffy," was soon shifted primarily to antishipping, antitank, and 'train busting' missions. By D-Day the RAF had twenty-six Typhoon squadrons providing support to the Allied invasion of France. The Typhoon Mk.Ib distinguished itself particularly in the Battle of Normandy, where it decimated a large concentration of armor ahead of Avranches, disposing of 137 tanks, and opening the way for the liberation of France and Belgium.

GB Planes and Specifications