HAWKER TYPHOON

The failed high-altitude fighter that proved crucial to the liberation of Europe as a deadly ground-attack aircraft

- WORDS STUART HADAWAY

The Hawker Typhoon was conceived in 1937 as a medium-to-high altitude interceptor, intended to ultimately replace the Hawker Hurricane, which was just about to enter service with the RAF. The Typhoon was ordered in 1939 but delayed by the outbreak of the Second World War, when fighter production was forced to concentrate on Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires. When it did reach the front lines in 1941 it proved a disappointment. Although it could take on the formidable new German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 at low levels, it was incapable of fulfilling its intended role. Instead, in a flash of genius, bombs and then rockets were fitted to the rugged, powerful aircraft, and the RAF's most effective single-seat ground-attack aircraft of the war was born. The bulky, snub-nosed Typhoon has become synonymous with the Second Tactical Air Force's (2TAF) campaign to shatter the German ground forces in northwest Europe in 1944-45, in particular over Normandy and in the Falaise Gap. Using bombs, rocket projectiles and their four 0.8in (20mm) cannon, Typhoons cut a swathe through German tanks, transport, defensive installations and other ground targets. While debate still rages over how effective the Typhoons really were in an anti-armour role, German sources prove how feared the type was. Units were known to retreat or abandon their heavy equipment when Typhoons appeared. Much more importantly, if less glamorously, Typhoons made easy prey of the soft-skinned vehicles and tankers that supplied the armour with fuel and ammunition, without which tanks were so much scrap metal.

Armament