THE OTHER TYPHOON

Typhoon was simply put the most effective ground attack aircraft used by the Western Allies in WW2. Perhaps the Soviet Sturmovik or later versions of the JU 87 hold the records for numbers built and targets destroyed, but in the West Typhoon is synonymous with ground attack.

The Typhoon was a large single seat fighter designed by Hawker’s Sir Sidney Camm as a Hurricane/Spitfire replacement just before WW2 (1937/38). It was meant to be faster and more heavily armed than anything that was in service with the RAF or any competing power to destroy bombers with a speed of over 400 MPH and a heavy armament of at least 12 .303 MG’s (4 more than Hurricane and Spitfire and four times as many as most RAF biplane fighters at the time). Early examples had 12 .303’s, as did some Hurricanes, but most had 4 20mm cannon. Later some Hurricanes also had four cannon, but they were about 100 MPH slower than Typhoon. These were carried in a tough modern airframe with a robust undercarriage capable of using rough grass strips at high all up weights. As designed it was to be an air superiority fighter and in pure speed it was. The aircraft had some faults, however that delayed its entry in to service and almost caused it to be cancelled. By the time it first flew (24/2/40) the war had started and Britain had its back to the wall as the Germans swept over Europe. Problems delayed further testing until 1941.

The speed came from a huge new twenty four cylinder Napier Sabre inline engine. Twice the size of the Merlin and twice the power, it was initially very unreliable and prone to catching fire, even in 1945 you never started one up without an Erk (wartime slang for a junior ground crewman!) with a fire extinguisher near by! This engine often failed pitching its pilot into a hurried exit or a very dangerous crash landing. Eventually these problems were overcome, but at the cost of many brave men’s lives.

The wing was very thick, useful to accommodate the armament and fuel, but it produced a lot of aerodynamic drag and limited the sparkling performance to lower altitudes than the air war was being fought at. In 1940 to 1945 altitude was everything in air combat, the Typhoon was lacking at heights over 15,000 feet, where most combat was fought and the Spitfire and BF 109 reigned supreme until as late as 1941/2 with the introduction of the deadly FW 190A by the Luftwaffe. Regrettably some Typhoons were shot down by Allied fighters as it could be mistaken for the FW 190. Typhoons became the first British plane to wear black and white stripes as identity markings, later adopted for all day flying aircraft for D Day. The wing plus the weight also limited manoeuvrability. Compared to Mitchell’s divine Spitfire and Camm’s workmanlike Hurricane; Typhoon manoeuvred like a small bus at higher altitude. Instead Typhoon pilots had to rely on their speed and firepower rather than their dog fighting skills to win.

The main early problem was structural. In 1941 and into 1943 many Typhoons (about 25 according to most published works) disintegrated in the air when their tails fell off. Initially it was thought to be a weak joint and special reinforcing plates were riveted around the rear fuselage, but aircraft so modified continued to crash. Eventually the poorly understood problem of resonance and vibration was found to be the fault and modifications were introduced to the tail structure that virtually solved the problem. In the end a new tail plane designed for the Typhoons successor the Tempest was fitted to many examples and this virtually cured the problem.

Two versions were built all called Typhoon 1. The "a" had 12 MG’s and the "b" 4 20mm cannon. Within the b series the first ones had a fixed canopy with "car door" type entry in the fuselage side, with later examples having a tear drop shaped bubble canopy for greater visibility and ease of exit in an emergency. These were the version used in combat from late summer 1944 during the Typhoons heyday.

On entering service in late 1941 Typhoon was soon seen to be unsuited for the war being fought high over France by Spitfires. It did, however find its niche combating vicious German terror raids by fighter bombers (mainly FW 190’s), who would sneak in under the radar and attack civilian and military targets on the south coast. Many innocent civilians were killed during raids that had minimal military justification. Typhoon was fast and deadly at these altitudes with combat frequently occurring at below one thousand feet. The FW 190 that reigned supreme at higher altitudes until the Spitfire lX came along in 1942 could be soundly beaten by Typhoon pilots in these short deadly combats.

Typhoon also started to fly tip and run raids and general sorties over Europe armed with bombs and its awesome cannon. Trains, barges, E Boats, flak sites and airfields became favourite targets, although the unreliable Sabre engine and the efficient German flak guns produced a grim toll of pilots lives.

From these raids in 1943 the Typhoon developed into its most famous roll as tank buster and ground attack plane supreme. The RAF had experimented with 40 mm Vickers and Rolls Royce cannon on Hurricanes and the llD variant had great success in the Western Desert, but Hurricane was too slow for the dangerous skies of France with the heavy cannon (the same size as British tank guns in 1939-42!). Rockets were then tried, a simple battery of eight armour piecing or HE rockets in two sets of four under the wings. Again Hurricanes led the way (Spitfire was too lightly built to use this weapon), but as with the cannon was too slow to be safe, although they gave good service in Italy and Burma, where the air to air threat was less. The 60 lb. rockets also saw use as anti shipping weapons on Beaufighters, Mosquitoes and even the venerable bi plane Swordfish and huge Liberator bombers. In Typhoon these simple unguided missiles with an alarming lack of accuracy assumed mystical properties as they cut a swath through German ground forces from before D Day until the wars end. One key role was against German radar sites in the run up to D Day, where low level attack with rockets was more effective than level bombing, but at great risk to the pilots.

With these rockets the Typhoon effectively carried the fire power of a destroyers broadside on one single seat fighter, and still had four cannon with which to defend itself or attack other ground targets. At low level Typhoon was even in 1945 one of the wars fastest aircraft and to Allied soldiers on the ground a call to the Typhoons by their unit RAF ground controller was the next best thing to divine intervention. The cab ranks of "Tiffies" as it was known to the PBI or "Jabo" to the Germans achieved lasting glory helping to save many Allied lives, abet at the cost of many German ones. It should also be noted that Typhoon could not have achieved its success without the air superiority achieved by Spitfires, Mustangs, Thunderbolts and Tempests high above its low level war. It is instructive that when weather or other problems such as terrain prevented the Typhoons from being fully effective German attacks were noticeably more successful such as in the Ardennes assault and Arnhem, where Allied air superiority could not make itself felt.

Typhoons supreme moment came in Normandy at Falaise, when retreating German forces were surrounded by American and Commonwealth troops and to be blunt slaughtered by Allied air power. Most notably Typhoons firing rocket and cannon shells at men, machines, horses and anything else that got in the way including some unfortunate live stock. Frank Woottons famous painting "Rocket-firing Typhoons at the Falaise Gap, Normandy, 1944" conveys better than any words what happened at this time. The Typhoon was singled out for praise in this operation and it continued to fight right to the wars end.

With the war over Typhoon disappeared from service by September 1945 as its faster descendant the Tempest took over. Tempest (originally called Typhoon II) had a new thin elliptical wing, but carried the same armament and was one of the fastest fighters of WW2 with speeds of over 460 MPH being achieved in service (faster than the first RAF jet; the Meteor F1). Today only one Typhoon from 3,317 built survives as by a lucky chance it had been shipped to the USA for testing in 1944. It now resides at Hendon and is pictured below. No Typhoon was exported unlike the Spitfire, Hurricane, and Tempest etc. The new jet should achieve a far better record on exports than its illustrious predecessor did with DESO’s assistance.

Lastly why has Eurofighter been named Typhoon? Surely the Germans would object to an aircraft that killed so many of their soldiers in WW2? But perhaps it has been overlooked as they had their own Typhoon the; BF 108. A little touring cabin monoplane related to the BF 109 fighter. In fact it was often used in war films as 109’s E.G. 633 Squadron.

Lastly a side branch of Typhoon was the Hawker Tornado. This was a Typhoon with a slightly lower wing and a R.R. Vulture engine that first flew on 6/10/39. The Vulture was another huge engine with unreliability problems that while a good concept could not be made to work under the pressures of wartime development schedules. It and the Tornado were cancelled although Vulture did see service in the ill fated Aver Manchester that beget the wonderful Lancaster when re-engined with four Merlin’s.

THE TYPHOON FILE

Following on from the above article. What is apparent is that for a major type of WW2 and the most likely aircraft to feature in ground based WW2 wargames the coverage has been limited, until now!.

Paradoxically its easiest to start at the end of the Typhoon family first as the kits are good, cheap and easy to find and make.

Last into service was the Tempest Mk 11 powered by the Bristol Centarus radial. It in turn spanned the Fury and Sea Fury the finest piston fighters to emerge from the UK. Matchbox make an excellent Tempest ll and its easy to build, accurate and still easy to find for under £3.00 in the UK. The decals redone by Revell are better than the original and are the best decals issued in any Typhoon/Tempest mass market kit. You even get wheel well detail, but the canopy is thick with no interior detail, but its a great model. I you really wanted a superior model for display then graft the nose and the wing radiators on to the Heller Tempest V, but that’s outside the scope of this article. It was used by one UK based squadron with its main service being in the middle and far east. Very useful for skirmish games in Palestine and in counter insurgency work in Asia. The kit only provides Indian airforce markings, but RAF ones are easy to adapt from the Mk Vl option in the kit with codes and serials from Modedecal sheets.

Next is the Tempest Vl which can also be made from the Matchbox kit. Again it was mainly used overseas and you get Cyprus based markings in the kit. This is easier to build than the Mk ll as you don’t have to remove the nose and blend in the radial cowling.

The Mk V (the only WW2 variant) is a doddle. Heller's kit is excellent with good basic detail inside and out, it fits perfectly and even detailing it using the Airwaves detail set only took a week of evenings and some weekend time to complete. The Heller decals are typically poor and its best to replace them with after market items. Airfix issued the kit in their Aces series and you get a good set of decals with this, although you don’t need the rear fuselage sky band as a photo of the aircraft (Wg Cdr Mackies example) shows that for part of the time it did not have it. Invasion stripes can come from Xtradecal sheets for D Day versions and its easy to add stub cannon barrels for the first examples should you wish. Totally wonderful kit and so cheap at under £4.00 that it can offer a host of spares from Typhoon and other Tempest models. Its also available under the Encore label and Smer, often at higher prices.

Frog also do a Tempest as do Revell. The Frog kit is not bad, but unless you really want to use it forget it as the Heller kit is so much better and not a collectable. The same applies to Revell’s, although it is easy to find, but at the same price as the Heller kit can often be obtained for. Good in the early 70’s, but not up to scratch today. In 48^th scale use the new Eduard kit, but this is not really for gamers and is an excellent model.

Typhoons were restricted to three old kits in 1/72^nd and one in 1/48^th and the non wargaming scale 1/32^nd scale one from Revell. Airfix’s kit is too old, but not too bad in outline. If you just want a cheap basic kit, then build this one as it will assemble in an evening. Frog made two kits a dodgy late Typhoon with simplified under carriage and cockpit, but again not too bad in outline. The later (mid 70’s) issue of a card door version was far better and generally preferable to Airfix’s kit. Aeroclub released a variety of accessories including Tempest tail planes, a general detail set for the cockpit and radiator and under carriage. Vacform canopies can come from Aeroclub – three versions and Ventura.

Recently Academy have released excellent cheap models of the Tempest V and Typhoon 1b. I don’t have the kits, but they apparently eclipse existing kits, baring the Heller Tempest. Basically forget the old kits and use these instead, except for the Tempest, where Heller's is just as good.

In 1/48^th Hasegawa have issued an amazing pair of kits, totally replacing the old Monogram kit, but at about twice the price. Regrettably they have yet to issue a Tempest tail planed version or a four blade prop option and the early car door version lacks the long range fuel tanks used by many Typhoons including one of the examples on the kit decal sheet. Decals abound for Typhoons in 1/48^th mainly from Aeromaster with their Storms in the Sky series. Others are available in 1/72^nd from among firms such as Xtradecal. The Monogram kit is still useful and rebuilds in the references show that it can still make an excellent model, but all the resin and brass will make it twice the price of the Hasegawa kit, but still with raised detail, unless you feel like rescribing it all!

References abound, but the best ones are:

Scale Aviation Modeller Vol 11, No 1 – Oct 1988, Vol 18, No 3 – Apr 96

Hawker Typhoon – Warpaint Series, Chris Thomas, HallPark 1999

Airforces International December 1989

Typhoon & Tempest – Aces of WW2. Chris Thomas, Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 27, 1999

The Typhoon and Tempest Story, Chris Thomas and Chris Shores, Arms and Armour 1988

Scale Models Feb 1974

Typhoon In Action – Squadron Signal

RAF Year Book – 1978

Hawker Typhoon – The Combat History, R Townsend Bickers, Airlife 1999

Typhoon and Tempest at War,- Arthur reed and Rolland Beaumont, Ian Allan 1974 and 1993-97