Editing Hawker Typhoon (section)

==Operational service==

===Low-level interceptor===
[[File:Pheloung 1.jpg|thumb|A Mark IB Typhoon ''US-A'' in April 1943. It was flown by [[Squadron Leader]] T.H.V Pheloung (New Zealand).<ref name="Thomas and Shores 1988"/>{{refn|On 20 June 1943, Sqn Ldr Pheloung flying ''EK184'', ''US-C'', was hit by [[Anti-aircraft warfare|flak]] and crashed into the sea while attacking shipping.|group=nb}} An {{convert|18|in|mm|adj=mid|-wide}} yellow recognition stripe is visible on the upper wing.]]
In 1941, the [[Supermarine Spitfire (early Merlin-powered variants)|Spitfire Mk Vs]], which equipped the bulk of Fighter Command squadrons, were outclassed by the new [[Focke-Wulf Fw 190]] and suffered many losses. The Typhoon was rushed into service with Nos. [[No. 56 Squadron RAF|56]] and [[No. 609 Squadron RAF|609]] Squadrons in late 1941, to counter the Fw 190. This decision proved to be a disaster, as several Typhoons were lost for unknown reasons and the Air Ministry began to consider halting production of the type.{{Cn|date=March 2024}}

In August 1942, Hawker's second test pilot, Ken Seth-Smith, while deputising for Lucas, carried out a straight and level speed test from Hawker's test centre at Langley, and the aircraft broke up over Thorpe, killing the pilot. Sydney Camm and the design team immediately ruled out pilot error, which had been suspected in earlier crashes. Investigation revealed that the elevator mass-balance had torn away from the fuselage structure. Intense flutter developed, the structure failed and the tail broke away. Modification 286 to the structure and the control runs partially solved the structural problem. (The 1940 Philip Lucas test flight incident had been due to an unrelated failing.) Mod 286, which involved fastening external fishplates, or reinforcing plates, around the tail of the aircraft, and eventually internal strengthening, was only a partial remedy, and there were still failures right up to the end of the Typhoon's service life. The Sabre engine was also a constant source of problems, notably in colder weather, when it was very difficult to start, and it suffered problems with wear of its [[sleeve valve]]s, with consequently high oil consumption. The 24-cylinder engine also produced a very high-pitched engine note, which pilots found very fatiguing.{{Cn|date=March 2024}}

The Typhoon did not begin to mature as a reliable aircraft until the end of 1942, when its excellent qualities – seen from the start by S/L [[Roland Beamont]] of 609 Squadron – became apparent. Beamont had worked as a Hawker production test pilot while resting from operations, and had stayed with Seth-Smith, having his first flight in the aircraft at that time. During late 1942 and early 1943, the Typhoon squadrons were based on airfields near the south and south-east coasts of England and, alongside two squadrons with the [[Supermarine Spitfire (Griffon-powered variants)|Griffon-engined Spitfire XII]], countered the ''Luftwaffe''{{'}}s "tip and run" low-level nuisance raids, shooting down a score or more bomb-carrying Fw 190s. Typhoon squadrons kept at least one pair of aircraft on standing patrols over the south coast, with another pair kept at "readiness" (ready to take off within two minutes) throughout daylight hours. These sections of Typhoons flew at {{convert|500|ft}} or lower, with enough height to spot and then intercept the incoming enemy [[fighter-bomber]]s. The Typhoon finally proved itself in this role; for example, while flying patrols against these low-level raids, [[No. 486 Squadron RNZAF|486 (NZ) Squadron]] claimed 20 fighter-bombers, plus three bombers shot down, between mid-October 1942 and mid-July 1943.<ref>Sortehaug 1998, pp. 339–340.</ref>{{refn|486(NZ)Squadron started re-equipping with Typhoons in July 1942, initially using them as night fighters paired with [[Turbinlite]] searchlight equipped [[Douglas A-20 Havoc|Douglas Havoc]] aircraft with radar. However, the Typhoon proved to be too fast for Turbinlite duties and 486 Sqn was quickly reassigned to the day fighter role.<ref>Sortehaug 1998, pp. 23, 30.</ref>|group=nb}}

The first two [[Messerschmitt Me 210]] fighter-bombers to be destroyed over the British Isles were shot down by Typhoons in August 1942.<ref>Ramsay 1990, 165.</ref> During a daylight raid by the ''Luftwaffe'' on London on 20 January 1943, four [[Messerschmitt Bf 109|Messerschmitt Bf 109G-4]]s and one Fw 190A-4 of [[Jagdgeschwader 26|JG 26]] were destroyed by Typhoons.<ref>Caldwell 2012, pp. 15–17.</ref> As soon as the aircraft entered service, it was apparent the profile of the Typhoon resembled a Fw 190 from some angles, which caused more than one [[friendly fire]] incident involving Allied anti-aircraft units and other fighters. This led to Typhoons first being marked up with all-white noses, and later with high visibility [[Invasion stripes#Hawker Typhoon|black and white stripes]] under the wings, a precursor of the markings applied to all Allied aircraft on D-Day.

===Switch to ground attack===
[[File:Hawker Typhoon.jpg|thumb|Typhoon JP736 of No 175 Squadron with black and white [[invasion stripes#Hawker Typhoon|identification stripes]] under the wings]]
By 1943, the RAF needed a [[Attack aircraft|ground attack]] fighter more than a "pure" fighter and the Typhoon was suited to the role (and less-suited to the pure fighter role than competing aircraft such as the Spitfire Mk IX). The powerful engine allowed the aircraft to carry a load of up to two {{convert|1,000|lb|kg}} bombs, equal to the [[light bomber]]s of only a few years earlier. The bomb-equipped aircraft were nicknamed "Bombphoons" and entered service with No. 181 Squadron, formed in September 1942.<ref>Thomas 2010, p. 9.</ref>{{refn|The Typhoon's original bomb load of {{cvt|500|lb|kg}} was doubled and then doubled again.<ref>Gunston 1980, p. 102.</ref>|group=nb}}

From September 1943, Typhoons were also armed with four "60 lb" [[RP-3]] rockets under each wing.{{refn|A {{convert|6|in|mm|adj=mid|-diameter}}, {{convert|60|lb|kg|abbr=on}} [[high explosive]] warhead was the main version used on Typhoons. Also used was solid {{convert|25|lb|kg|abbr=on|adj=on}}, [[armour piercing]] warhead against ships|group=nb}} In October 1943, No. 181 Squadron made the first Typhoon rocket attacks. Although the rocket projectiles were inaccurate and took considerable skill to aim and allow for [[External ballistics|ballistic drop]] after firing, "the sheer firepower of just one Typhoon was equivalent to a destroyer's broadside".{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} By the end of 1943, eighteen rocket-equipped Typhoon squadrons formed the basis of the RAF [[Second Tactical Air Force]] (2nd TAF) ground attack arm in Europe. In theory, the rocket rails and bomb-racks were interchangeable; in practice, to simplify supply, some 2nd TAF Typhoon squadrons (such as 198 Squadron) used the rockets only, while other squadrons were armed exclusively with bombs (this also allowed individual units to more finely hone their skills with their assigned weapons).<ref>Thomas 2010, p. 16.</ref>

By the [[Normandy landings]] in June 1944, 2 TAF had eighteen operational squadrons of Typhoon IBs, while [[RAF Fighter Command]] had a further nine.<ref>Thomas 2010, p. 58.</ref> The aircraft proved itself to be the most effective RAF tactical strike aircraft, on interdiction raids against communications and transport targets deep in North Western Europe prior to the invasion and in direct support of the Allied ground forces after D-Day. A system of close liaison with the ground troops was set up by the RAF and army: RAF radio operators in vehicles equipped with [[Very high frequency|VHF]] [[radio telegraphy]] (R/T) travelled with the troops close to the front line and called up Typhoons operating in a "[[Forward air control operations during World War II#Normandy landings|cab rank]]", which attacked the targets, marked for them by smoke shells fired by mortar or artillery, until they were destroyed.<ref>Thomas 2010, p. 64.</ref>

[[File:Typhoon IBs 198 Sqn RAF at Plumetot July 1944.jpg|thumb|left|[[No. 198 Squadron RAF|198 Sqn.]] Typhoons on [[Advanced Landing Ground]] airfield B10/Plumetot, France, in July 1944. ''MN526'' TP-V has the larger Tempest tailplane and a four-bladed propeller.]]
Against some of Germany's heavier tanks, the rockets needed to hit the thin-walled engine compartment or the tracks to have any chance of destroying or disabling the tank. Analysis of destroyed tanks after the Normandy battle showed a hit-rate for the air-fired rockets of only 4%.<ref name="Shores and Thomas 2005">Shores and Thomas 2005, pp. 240–250.</ref> In [[Operation Goodwood]] (18–21 July), the 2nd Tactical Air Force claimed 257 tanks destroyed.<ref group="nb">The 9th USAAF claimed a further 134 tanks</ref> A total of 222 were claimed by Typhoon pilots using rocket projectiles.<ref name="Mo07171">Moore 2007, p. 171.</ref> Once the area was secured, the British "Operational Research Section 2" analysts could confirm only ten out of the 456 knocked out German AFVs found in the area were attributable to Typhoons using rocket projectiles.<ref name="Mo07171"/><ref>Copp 2000, pp. 399–406.</ref>

At [[Mortain]], in the [[Falaise pocket]], a German counter-attack ([[Battle of Mortain|Operation Luttich]]) that started on 7 August threatened [[George S. Patton|Patton]]'s break-out from the beachhead; this counter-attack was repulsed by 2nd Tactical Air Force Typhoons and the 9th USAAF. During the course of the battle, pilots of the 2nd Tactical Air Force and 9th USAAF claimed to have destroyed a combined total of 252 tanks.<ref>Zetterling 2000, p. 38.</ref> Only 177 German tanks and assault guns participated in the battle and only 46 were lost – of which nine were verified as destroyed by Typhoons, four percent of the total claimed.<ref>Zetterling 2000, pp. 38, 52.</ref>

However, after-action studies at the time were based on random sampling of wrecks rather than exhaustive surveys,<ref>Operational Research in Northwest Europe, the Work of No. 2 Operational Research Section with 21 Army Group</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2022}} and the degree of overclaim attributed to Typhoon pilots as a result was statistically improbable in view of the far lower known level of overclaim by Allied pilots in air-to-air combat, where claims were if anything more likely to be mistaken.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} Allied and German witness accounts of Typhoon attacks on German armour indicate that RPs did kill tanks with fair probability. Horst Weber, an SS ''[[panzergrenadier]]'' serving with [[Kampfgruppe]] Knaust south of [[Arnhem]] in the later stages of [[Operation Market Garden]], recalled that, during a battle with British [[43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division|43rd Wessex Division]] on 23 September 1944, "We had four Tiger tanks and three Panther tanks&nbsp;... We were convinced that we would gain another victory here, that we would smash the enemy forces. But then Typhoons dropped these rockets on our tanks and shot all seven to bits. And we cried... We would see two black dots in the sky and that always meant rockets. Then the rockets would hit the tanks which would burn. The soldiers would come out all burnt and screaming with pain."<ref>Beevor 2019, p.302</ref>

The effect on the morale of German troops caught up in a Typhoon RP and cannon attack was decisive, with many tanks and vehicles being abandoned, in spite of superficial damage, such that, at Mortain, a signal from the German Army's Chief of Staff stated that the attack had been brought to a standstill by 13:00 "due to the employment of fighter-bombers by the enemy, and the absence of our own air-support".<ref>Thomas 2010, pp. 68–69.</ref> The 20&nbsp;mm cannon also destroyed a large number of (unarmoured) support vehicles, laden with fuel and ammunition for the armoured vehicles.<ref>Thomas 2010, p. 68.</ref> On 10 July at Mortain, flying in support of the US 30th Infantry Division, Typhoons flew 294 sorties in the afternoon that day.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hallion |first1=Richard P. |title=The U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II. Air Power Over the Normandy Beaches and Beyond |publisher=Air Force History and Museums Program |date=1994 |page=32 |isbn=9780160432057 |url=https://archive.org/details/D-Day1944/page/n33/mode/2up?q=mortain}}</ref> They engaged the German formations while the US 9th Air Force prevented German fighters from intervening. [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], the Supreme Allied Commander, said of the Typhoons; "The chief credit in smashing the enemy's spearhead, however, must go to the rocket-firing Typhoon aircraft of the Second Tactical Air Force&nbsp;... The result of the strafing was that the enemy attack was effectively brought to a halt, and a threat was turned into a great victory."<ref>Grey and Cox 2002, p. 105.</ref>

Another form of attack carried out by Typhoons was "Cloak and Dagger" operations, using intelligence sources to target German HQs. With medium bombers, 42 Typhoons [[RAF raid on La Caine (1944)|carried out an attack on 10 June]] against the headquarters of [[5th Panzer Army#Normandy|''Panzergruppe West'']] wounding the general, killing several staff officers and disrupting a planned counterattack against the Allied forces. One of the most effective of these was carried out on 24 October 1944, when 146 Typhoon Wing attacked a building in [[Dordrecht]], where senior members of the [[15th Army (Wehrmacht)|German 15th Army]] staff were meeting; 17 [[staff officer]]s and 36 other officers were killed and the operations of the 15th Army were adversely affected for some time afterwards.<ref>Thomas 2010, p. 74.</ref>

[[File:3 in RP 60 pdr Loading On Typhoon.jpg|thumb|Armourers loading RP-3 rockets with 60 lb High Explosive heads onto steel Mk. I rails. The large hinged gun bay doors are open. The weathered Invasion stripes are on upper and lower wing surfaces, indicating this photo was taken some time in June 1944.]]
On 24 March 1945, over 400 Typhoons were sent on several sorties each, to suppress German [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft guns]] and Wehrmacht resistance to [[Operation Varsity]], the Allied airborne crossing of the Rhine that involved two full divisions of 16,600 troops and 1,770 gliders sent across the river. On 3 May 1945, the ''[[Cap Arcona]]'', the {{SS|Thielbek|1940|6}}, and the ''[[Deutschland IV|Deutschland]]'', large passenger ships in peacetime now in military service, were sunk in four attacks by RAF Hawker Typhoon 1Bs of [[No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group#No. 83 (Composite) Group|No. 83 Group RAF]], [[2nd Tactical Air Force]]: the first by [[No. 184 Squadron RAF|184 Squadron]], second by [[No. 198 Squadron RAF|198 Squadron]] led by [[Wing Commander (rank)|Wing Commander]] [[John Robert Baldwin]], the third by [[No. 263 Squadron RAF|263 Squadron]] led by [[Squadron Leader]] Martin T. S. Rumbold and the fourth by [[No. 197 Squadron RAF|197 Squadron]] led by Squadron Leader K. J. Harding.<ref>[http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?30712 "Cap Arcona"]. ''wrecksite.eu.'' Retrieved 5 August 2008.</ref>

The top-scoring Typhoon [[Flying ace|ace]] was [[Group Captain]] J. R. Baldwin (609 Squadron and Commanding Officer 198 Squadron, 146 (Typhoon) Wing and 123 (Typhoon) Wing), who claimed 15 aircraft shot down from 1942 to 1944. Some 246 Axis aircraft were claimed by Typhoon pilots during the war.<ref>Thomas 1999</ref>

3,317 Typhoons were built, almost all by Gloster. Hawker developed what was originally an improved '''Typhoon II''', but the differences between it and the Mk I were so great that it was effectively a different aircraft, and was renamed the [[Hawker Tempest]]. Once the war in Europe was over Typhoons were quickly removed from front-line squadrons; by October 1945 the Typhoon was no longer in operational use, with many of the wartime Typhoon units such as 198 Squadron being either disbanded or renumbered.<ref>Thomas 2000, p. 24.</ref><ref>Thomas and Shores 1988, p. 181.</ref>

===Captured Typhoons===
By 1943, with its change of role to ground attack, the Typhoon was constantly operating over enemy territory: inevitably some flyable examples fell into German hands. The first Typhoon to be flown by the ''Luftwaffe'' was ''EJ956'' SA-I of 486 (NZ) Sqn. On 23 March 1943, two aircraft flown by [[Flying officer|F/O]] Smith and [[Flight sergeant|F/S]] Mawson were on a "Rhubarb" over France.{{refn|A "Rhubarb" was a small scale attack on enemy ground targets of opportunity. Usually, these were undertaken by a section of two aircraft. Ideally, there would be a heavy cloud base at {{convert|2,000|–|3,000|ft|m|abbr=on}}; should fighter opposition be too heavy it would be possible to pull up into the cloud.|group=nb}} Just as they were crossing the coast at low altitude, Mawson's Typhoon was hit by light flak. He managed to belly-land in a field near Cany-Barville but the aircraft was captured before he could destroy it. The Typhoon was repaired and test flown at [[Rechlin]] a German equivalent to [[RAE Farnborough]], and later served as T9+GK with "[[Zirkus Rosarius]]". EJ956 overturned and was written off during a forced landing near Meckelfeld, on 10 August 1944.<ref name="Thomas and Shores 1988">Thomas and Shores 1988</ref><ref name="Sortehaug"/> On 14 February 1944, another Typhoon was captured and later flown in Zirkus Rosarius. JP548 of [[No. 174 Squadron RAF|174 Squadron]] force landed after engine failure near Blois, France; the pilot, F/O Proddow, evaded capture. This Typhoon crashed at Reinsehlen on 29 July 1944, killing Feldwebel Gold.<ref name="Thomas and Shores 1988"/>