During World War 2, England desperately needed
a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane fighter to maintain aerial superiority over the
English Channel. Without such an advantage, it would be impossible to set the stage for
D-day and the eventual liberation of France. Although the aircraft was fitted with
one of the mightiest engines of its time, the initial results were highly disappointing.
Then, as it made it to the battlefront to conduct its first operations, it further
disheartened the Allied leaders. The aircraft turned out to be very difficult
and risky to operate, displaying a much higher probability of being taken down or even bursting
into flames on its own than other fighters. Soon, Allied pilots started to
dread the prospect of flying it, going as far as considering
it a suicide mission.
But just as Germany deployed its fastest and more
powerful fighter to date, the Focke-Wulf FW 190, and the prospects of maintaining air superiority
over the English Channel appeared bleaker by the minute, the Hawker Typhoon and its daring
pilots stepped up to meet the threat eye to eye. Then, almost by mistake, the faulty and
hazardous Typhoon was given a different role, completely changing the course of the war... The Need for the Typhoon World War 2 was a massive, urgent, and
unyielding affair from start to finish. Often, new technologies had to be developed
before the old ones had a chance to be tested in the field. Only the most aggressive
and relentless developing cycles could allow the belligerent nations not to be
completely outclassed by their opponents. The military aviation industry was no different.
In 1938, even before the Hawker Hurricane was deployed, the Royal Air Force, or RAF, started
to outline a more powerful replacement. Speed was the primary demand, and
the British military tacticians knew they would need a fighter capable of
surpassing 500 miles per hour to face the aircraft being developed
by Germany and other nations. With this goal in mind, legendary British
Aeronautical engineer Sydney Camm took the basic design from the Hurricane and modified it to
house an enormous Napier Sabre 24-cylinder engine. The engine proved groundbreaking, and to this
day, it’s considered the most potent aero-engine of its kind ever to be mass-produced. With an
unprecedented output of over 2500 horse-power, it was at least twice as powerful as
any other fighter engine of its time. The secret to its potency was that the
massive contraption was actually two engines joined together vertically in a
compact and efficient array of raw power. However, in conjunction with its great engine,
the Hawker Typhoon also showcased the most giant propeller of any fighter in the world, with
blades spanning over 14 feet in diameter. The aircraft was initially designed to
fulfill the role of a mid-altitude fighter. Hence, the prototype was fitted with
twelve .303-inch Browning machine guns, each holding 500 rounds of ammunition. On paper, the Typhoon was meant to be
the ultimate dogfighter of World War 2, but as with several aircraft of the time, all
its technical advantages rapidly became outshined by its numerous faults and shortcomings
once it made it to the testing field. A Winged Disaster The Typhoon began undergoing
its first test flights in 1940. Allied pilots were overly excited to
try a fighter with such a unique engine, and the first impressions revealed that
the aircraft was indeed unparalleled fast. Nevertheless, the unhinged power it held
soon revealed severe structural problems. During one of its first flights, a
severe design weakness in the tail area almost broke the plane in two while in
mid-air. Chief test pilot Philip Lucas performed a series of miraculous maneuvers to
land the fighter safely, and he was awarded the George medal for his dexterity and bravery
in bringing the aircraft back in one piece. To fix the perilous structural oversights,
the plane's tail was urgently redesigned. Then, a year later, a new iteration
of the aircraft was deployed to airbases all across the English coast
to conduct their initial war operations. The 56th RAF squadron was the first team to make
the switch from the old Hurricanes to Typhoons. They were also the first to discover
that the groundbreaking engine inside the aircraft had one colossal drawback: it
would burst out in flames when fired up. Two explosive cartridges similar to those found on
a shotgun had to be detonated to get the massive pistons moving. The timing was crucial, and fuel
had to be primed precisely to start the engine without incidents. To make matters worse, the
engine was susceptible to changes in temperature, which meant the machine would simply fail to
start if the conditions weren't just right. Regrettably, pilots were used to the simple
electric starting system found in most fighters of the time, where all they had to do was push
a button. The complexity of the whole process caused frequent over-priming, resulting
in fuel leaking out from the engine, causing an abrupt gust of flames every other
time a pilot attempted to start the aircraft. Many pilots suffered severe injuries
when the Typhoons caught fire. The fighter soon became dreaded by
pilots, who considered starting the engine as dangerous as flying into combat.
Carrying fire extinguishers every time a Typhoon was to take off would
soon become a common practice. On his first encounter with one of these fighters,
officer pilot Derek Lovell downplayed the risks and found the whole Typhoon firing-up
ritual absurd. He even commented about the fire extinguishers: (QUOTE) "They got fire
extinguishers like they are going out of fashion." However, Lovell found himself
engulfed by fire a few minutes later. The fire problem eventually became less
of a concern during the following months, yet operating a Typhoon continued to be
considered a life-threatening endeavor, as its structural issues were still
a source of concern for the aviators. Like many of his companions, Roy Crane was a
young pilot eager to fly the new Typhoon, but as he arrived fresh on the airbase, he looked up to
see a fighter whirling erratically. The aircraft continued to spin out of control until it hit the
airfield and blew up in a great fireball taking the pilot's life with it. As before, the crash was
caused by the tail of the Typhoon breaking off. And as unlikely as it seems, spontaneous
combustions and the airframe breaking in half were not the only problems the pilots
faced when adjusting to the new Typhoons. Reports started to surface of pilots asphyxiating
in mid-air before plunging to their demise. The cause would turn out to be carbon monoxide
poisoning. Fumes from the engine were leaking into the cockpit, suffocating some
pilots and causing them to crash. And to add to the list of issues, the cockpits
presented another problem. They were fitted with hinged doors similar to those of a civilian
car, which made the aircraft look unique and futuristic. Still, they made emergency escapes
from within the fighter excessively cumbersome. The RAF struggled immensely to find willing and
capable pilots eager to fly the Hawker Typhoons, and more and more, the aircraft started to
feel like a waste of time and resources. Due to all of its issues, it could not conduct
the mid-altitude operations it was designed for, and the enormous risks to pilots' lives outweighed
the benefits the fast engine brought to the table. However, just as the RAF considered
halting the production of the Typhoon and even recalling the units in active service,
the aircraft would prove to be the only fighter capable of facing a swift new Nazi threat. The Only Fighter Fast Enough In 1943, a new player would enter
the game and change the landscape. The novel German airplane came to
be known as the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and quickly provided the Luftwaffe an outstanding
advantage over its Allied counterparts. The Nazi aircraft had begun
service as early as 1941, when it completely outclassed
the British Spitfire Mk. V. As the RAF was finding it increasingly difficult
to deal with the superior German fighter, they attempted using the Typhoon against it, but
its many flaws turned it into a failed effort. Nevertheless, by 1943 the Luftwaffe deployed
its Wulf 190 into the English Channel, this time as a strike aircraft. The fighter was so
fast and agile that it could penetrate defenses, obliterate its ground targets, and escape while
its allied counterparts trailed miles behind. Desperate, the British commanders
commissioned the Typhoon squadrons to try to take on the Wulf once again and
hoped the groundbreaking speed of their fighter would be able to catch the Nazi 190s
before they cleared the Channel. By this time, the Typhoons had undergone several
modifications to lessen the impact of their many shortcomings. The car-door cockpits had been
replaced with more conventional teardrop canopies, and the pilots were equipped with
oxygen masks to avoid suffocation. Furthermore, their pilots had become highly
experienced in operating the fighters, and typhoon piloting was reserved
for the cream of the crop. The results were overwhelming, as
the extraordinarily fast Typhoons would intercept the fleeing
Wulfs midway through the Channel. Soon, strike missions performed by
the German aircraft became obsolete as the Typhoons quickly sent them hurling
down into the waters of the English Channel. Squadrons of typhoons were strategically
located all along Britain's southern coast, and this new defensive operation suddenly gave
the British complete air superiority over the British Channel as the incredible speed of the
Typhoon couldn't be matched by the Axis powers. One pilot would recall that accelerating a Typhoon
provided such a rush of force that: (QUOTE) "It was like being hit in the back with a
sledge hammer when you opened the throttle." Changing The Fate of the World The Typhoon's defensive role would not
be the only one at which it would excel. 23-year-old squadron leader Denis Crowley-Milling was the first to discover the plane's
unique capabilities as a fighter-bomber. In preparation for D-Day, Typhoon
squadrons were armed with bombs and switched their machine guns
for powerful RP-3 rocket missiles, making them the first aircraft in the
world to use this technology effectively. The tactics as part of Operation Overlord consisted of crossing the Channel
while flying at minimum altitude. The aircraft would raise once inland to then
dive in over their targets. Their driving speed and maneuverability gave them a strike
precision unattainable by any bomber of the time. During the operations preceding D-Day,
Typhoon Squadrons eliminated scores of German radar stations rendering many
of their ground-to-air cannons useless. They also crippled supply lines and
transportation systems across northern France, severely limiting Germany's ability to reinforce
the beachheads once the invasion began. Almost by mistake, the faulty and hazardous Typhoon had become the first
fighter-bomber in the world, and by the end of the war, it became one of the
most successful aircraft in the entire conflict. Many historians are confident that if it wasn't
for the contributions made by Typhoon squadrons, the entire war might have
taken a very different turn... Thank you for watching our videos! Don't miss
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