Editing Hawker Typhoon (section)

===Canopy===
[[File:Hawker Typhoon 4 ExCC.jpg|thumb|Late model Typhoon of [[No. 440 Squadron RCAF|440 (RCAF) Squadron]]. Rows of five-gallon [[jerrycan]]s dominate the foreground]]
The Typhoon was first produced with forward-opening "car door" style<ref group=nb>Another aircraft with this sort of door was the [[Bell P-39 Airacobra]]</ref> cockpit doors (complete with wind-down windows), with a transparent "roof" hinged to open to the left. The first 162 Typhoons featured a built-up metal-skinned dorsal fairing behind the pilot's armoured headrest; the mast for the radio aerial protruded through the fairing.<ref>Thomas and Shores 1988, pp. 16, 29.</ref> From mid- to late 1941 the solid metal aft dorsal fairing was replaced with a transparent structure (later nicknamed "The Coffin Hood"),<ref name="Thomas and Shores 1988, p. 20."/> the pilot's head armour plate was modified to a triangular shape and the side cut-outs were fitted with armoured glass; the first production Typhoon to be fitted with this new structure was ''R7803''. All earlier aircraft were quickly withdrawn and modified. From early 1942 a rear-view mirror was mounted in a perspex blister moulded into the later "car-door" canopy roofs. This modification was not very successful, because the mirror was subject to vibration.<ref name="Thomas and Shores 1988, p. 21.">Thomas and Shores 1988, p. 21.</ref> Despite the new canopy structure, the pilot's visibility was still restricted by the heavy frames and the clutter of equipment under the rear canopy; from August 1943, as an interim measure, pending the introduction of the new [[Bubble canopy|"bubble" canopy]] and cut-down dorsal fairing, the aerial mast and its associated bracing was removed and replaced with a whip aerial further back on the rear fuselage.<ref>Thomas 2010, p. 10.</ref>

Starting in January 1943, ''R8809'' was used to test a new, clear, one piece sliding "bubble" canopy and its associated new windscreen structure which had slimmer frames which, together with the "cut-down" rear dorsal fairing, provided a far superior all-around field of view to the car-door type. From November 1943 all production aircraft, starting with ''JR333'', were to be so fitted.<ref name="Thomas and Shores 1988, p. 21."/><ref name="Bentley 1975, p. 542."/> However, the complex modifications required to the fuselage and a long lead time for new components to reach the production line meant that it took some time before the new canopy became standard. In order to have as many Typhoons of 2nd TAF fitted before "[[Operation Overlord]]" as possible, conversion kits were produced and used by Gloster, Hawker and Cunliffe-Owen to modify older Typhoons still fitted with the car-door canopy.<ref>Thomas 2009, pp. 10–11.</ref>{{refn|It is believed that the first modified Typhoon was ''R8843'' ''DJ-S'', flown by New Zealander [[Wing Commander (rank)|Wing Commander]] [[Desmond J. Scott]], C/O of the [[Tangmere]] Wing from September 1943.<ref>Thomas and Shores 1988, p. 52.</ref>|group=nb}}