Sydney Camm, Hawker Aircraft's chief designer, started design work for a successor for his Hurricane design in 1938 to meet the new Aircraft Ministry specification F.18/37, two aircraft were designed, the Hawker Tornado, and the Hawker Typhoon which was the most powerful single engined fighter ever designed at this time, a result of fitting the new 24-cylinder 2,200hp Napier Sabre engine. The aircraft took several years to reach production status, production was not by Hawker itself but contracted out to Gloster Aircraft, the resultant Hawker Typhoon production aircraft not flying until February 1940. The arrival of the new and superior German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in combat over Britain and the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.V fighters inability to catch it resulted in the Hawker Typhoon being rushed into premature service before development had been completed, the machine gun armed Hawker Typhoon IA entering production in May 1941, soon followed by a cannon armed version, the Hawker Typhoon IB. The premature introduction of the aircraft left un-resolved engine reliability problems and airframe structural weaknesses which resulted in high attrition rates although combat related losses in it's first year of service were relevantly few. The Hawker Typhoon soon acquired the nickname of "Tiffy" with it' RAF pilots and aircrews and proved it's self able to catch and destroy Fw 190's, a task the Spitfire had been unable to complete in a tail chase. The cannon armed Hawker Typhoon IB proved to be one of the greatest ground attack aircraft of WWII, showing it's worth against German armour in the Battle of Normandy destroying over 137 German tanks and gained a new nickname of the "Bombphoon" when used in a ground attack role. When Hawker Typhoon production ceased a total in excess of 3,330 aircraft had been produced. It is of note that the Hawker Typhoon evolved in to several different aircraft including the Hawker Tornado, Hawker Tempest, and most notably the post war Hawker Sea Fury Navy fighter with the Hawker Typhoon fighters problematic Napier Sabre engine replaced with a 2,480 hp Bristol Centaurus 18-cylinder twin-row radial piston engine. Hawker Typhoon IB Specifications: Crew: Pilot only Length: 31 ft 11.5 in (9.73 m) Wingspan: 41 ft 7 in (12.67 m) Height: 15 ft 4 in (4.66 m) Empty weight: 9,800 lb (4,445 kg) Maximum takeoff weight: 13,980 lb (6,340 kg) Engine: Single 2,260 hp (1,685 kW) Napier Sabre IIC liquid-cooled H-24 Maximum speed: 405 mph at 18,000 ft (650 km/h at 5,485 m) Maximum Range: 610 mi (980 km) Service ceiling: 34,000 ft (10,400 m) Rate of climb: 2,630 ft/min (13.4 m/s)
Hawker Typhoon IB Armament: Four 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS 404 cannons Twin under wing mounted 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs Eight 3 in (75 mm) RP-3 60 lb unguided rocket projectiles
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