Country of origin:

United Kingdom

Description:

Single-seat fighter bomber

Power Plant:

(Mk 1B)

One 1,641 kw (2,200 hp) Napier Sabre IIC 24-cylinder H-configuration liquid-cooled engine

Specifications:

Armament:

Four 20 mm Hispano Mk 1 cannon; provision for up to 907 kg (2,000 lb) of bombs

History:

The Hawker Typhoon was designed by Sydney Camm as an interceptor fighter to replace the Hurricane. Although it was not particularly successful in this role, it proved to be a capable ground-attack aircraft. Design work began in 1937, the intention being to produce a stressed-skin all-metal fighter with a Napier Sabre engine.

The prototype flew in February 1940 and the first production aircraft, the Mk 1A, were to have twelve 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Browning machine guns. They entered service before all the teething problems were solved, the main one being related to the unreliability of the Sabre engine and a structural weakness in the rear fuselage. The Mk IB had four 20 mm cannon and went into action in August 1942.  Production ceased in November 1945, by which time 2,230 had been completed.

In late 1943 three Hawker Typhoon 1Bs were sent for tropical trials in the Middle East with No 219 Group Royal Air Force (RAF). To this end the Air Special Technical Party of the Typhoon Tropical Trials Flight was formed under Plt Off George Myall, he and his team travelling to the Algerian Port of Oran on board the ‘Nieu Holland’, being joined by John Gale of Hawker, Victor Richardson of Napier, and Philip Lucas, chief test pilot, all meeting up at Casablanca in Morocco. The aircraft arrived later and were un-crated on 25 April 1943. These three aircraft (RAF serials R8891, EJ906 and DN323) were assembled and flown at Casablanca in late May, and were later delivered to Cairo in Egypt. One (EJ906) was damaged in a take-off accident and required an engine change. Trials of the aircraft were carried out at LG.106 [Landing Ground 106] in July, the British team being joined by a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) detachment of five officers and 25 other ranks.

Other problems beset the aircraft for a period. Difficulty was found in obtaining spare parts for the aircraft. Some 312 hours were involved in the tests, 238 hours being flown from LG.106. Test flights continued from RAF Station Idku in Egypt from June but in August engine changes were required, and at one stage an air cleaner from a Martin B-26 Marauder was installed.

At the conclusion of the tests the aircraft were attached to No 451 Squadron RAAF. This unit had been operating Hawker Hurricanes on convoy patrol work, but also operated a number of Spitfires. After an aerobatic display to the RAAF pilots by Philip Lucas on 13 June 1943, experienced Hurricane pilots commenced to fly the type. Serial R8891 suffered a hydraulic failure but the pilot managed to land the aircraft without flaps. Eventually improved Vokes filters were installed.

Although not flown operationally, these aircraft were flown extensively by No 451 Squadron pilots and at least 19 pilots are known to have tested the aircraft. All liked the 644 km/h (400 mph) speed at 5,639 m (18,500 ft) and the ability to dive at 845 km/h (525 mph); the view from the cockpit and the light and sensitive controls. On 20 October, 1943 the Typhoons were withdrawn and at about this time No 451 Squadron converted to the Spitfire Mk Vc.

On 23 September 1943 the three trial Typhoons were delivered to No 161 Maintenance Unit (MU) and the trials concluded. EJ906 was retired due to lack of spares in February 1944; R8891 crashed killing the pilot Flt Lt F R Barker of the RAAF; and DN323 was grounded in August 1944.

Australian and New Zealand pilots attached to British units regularly flew the Typhoon in the European Theatre, and No 486 Squadron (RNZAF) operated the type from North Weald in Essex and West Malling in Kent.

Only a couple of examples have survived. One (MN235) with the RAF Museum at Hendon in Greaer London and one (NV778) at Duxford in Cambridgeshire.

The Hawker Typhoon Preservation Group in the United Kingdom announced in late 2016 it was restoring the Napier Sabre powered Typhoon 1B RB396 to flying condition as a living memorial to the Typhoon crews who flew in support of Allied air operations during the invasion of occupied Europe, the aim at that time being to have the aircraft flying for the 80th anniversary of D-Day in 2024.  RB396 saw combat with No 121 Wing of the 2nd Tactical Air Force’s No 83 Group and suffered a forced landing on 1 April 1945.

A total of 3,317 Typhoons was produced between 1941 and 1945, the first 15 by Hawker Aircraft Ltd at Langley in Berkshire and the remainder by Gloster Aircraft at Brockworth in Gloucestershire.