Hawker Typhoon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Typhoon

The Hawker Typhoon (Tiffy in RAF slang), was a British single-seat
fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium–high
altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane but several
design problems were encountered and it never completely satisfied this
requirement.

The Typhoon was originally designed to mount twelve .303 inch (7.7 mm) Browning
machine guns and be powered by the latest 2000 hp engines. Its service
introduction in mid-1941 was plagued with problems and for several months the
aircraft faced a doubtful future. When the Luftwaffe brought the formidable
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 into service in 1941, the Typhoon was the only RAF fighter
capable of catching it at low altitudes; as a result it secured a new role as a
low-altitude interceptor.

As was usual with many front line Second World War RAF aircraft, the Typhoon was
modified and updated regularly, so that a 1945 production example looked quite
different from one built in 1941.

Flight Lieutenant Ken Trott flew Typhoons with 197 Squadron and recalled:

"Rather a large aircraft shall we say, for a single-engine fighter. Terrific
power. Quite something to control. I liked it from the point of view of speed
and being a very stable gun platform. You could come in on a target at 400 mph
and the thing was as steady as a rock.

In early March 1943, at Tangmere, the then new Squadron Leader of 486 (NZ)
Squadron, Des Scott, flew a Typhoon for the first time:

"She roared, screamed, groaned and whined, but apart from being rather heavy on
the controls at high speeds she came through her tests with flying
colours...Applying a few degrees of flap we swung on down into the airfield
approach, levelled out above the runway and softly eased down on to her two
wheels, leaving her tail up until she dropped it of her own accord.

"We were soon back in her bay by the dispersal hut, where I turned off the
petrol supply cock. After a few moments she ran herself out and with a spit, sob
and weary sigh, her great three-bladed propeller came to a stop. So that was it:
I was drenched in perspiration and tired out...



Specifications (Typhoon Mk Ib)

General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 31 ft 11.5 in[nb 21] (9.73 m)
Wingspan: 41 ft 7 in (12.67 m)
Height: 15 ft 4 in [nb 22] (4.66 m)
Wing area: 279 ft² (29.6 m²)
Empty weight: 8,840 lb (4,010 kg)
Loaded weight: 11,400 lb (5,170 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 13,250 lb (6,010 kg) [nb 23]
Powerplant: 1 × Napier Sabre IIA, IIB or IIC liquid-cooled H-24 piston engine,
2,180, 2,200 or 2,260 hp (1,626, 1,640 or 1,685 kW)
Propellers: 3 or 4-blade; de Havilland or Rotol propeller

Performance
Maximum speed: 412 mph (663 km/h) at 19,000 ft (5,485 m) with Sabre IIB &
4-bladed propeller[nb 24]
Stall speed: 88 mph (142 km/h) IAS with flaps up
Range: 510 mi (821 km) [nb 25]
Service ceiling: 35,200 ft (10,729 m)
Rate of climb: 2,740 ft/min (13.59 m/s) [nb 26]
Wing loading: 40.9 lb/ft² (174.8 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.20 hp/lb (0.33 kW/kg)

Armament
Guns: 4 × 20 mm Hispano Mk II cannon
Rockets: 8 × RP-3 unguided air-to-ground rockets.
Bombs: 2 × 500 lb (227 kg) or 2 × 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs




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