Designed as an interceptor, the Hawker Typhoon was plagued by numerous problems, which almost led to its cancellation. It was to emerge however, as the RAF's most important close support aircraft of the war. The Typhoon's origins date to a 1938 Air Ministry request for a heavily-armed single-seat fighter an craft capable of 400 mph. Hawker's chief designer Hurricane enter production and in 1937 had started work on a new design anticipating the Air Ministry requirement.

The new fighter was to be armed with four 20-mm cannon and would be tested with two engines: the Vulture. The air-cooled Bristol Centaurus was overlooked due to the official distrust of this type of powerplant, a decision that would later be regretted. Named Tornado the Vulture-powered version showed much promise but Rolls-Royce's decision to abandon the project to concentrate on Merlin production left the way clear for the Sabre-powerd typhoon.

With Hawker factories running to capacity production was initiated by Gloster factory at Hucclecote and the first production example flew from here on 27 May 1941. Trials carried out shortly afterwards were to prove to be extremely disappointing. The Napier engine was extremely unreliable, often failing in flight and requiring major overhaul every 25 hours. Performance and climb rate were also well below expectations especially at altitude where most of the dogfights were likely to occur. Problems in production of the intended cannon armament resulted in many of the first production Typhoons being fitted with an eight-machine gun wing as the Mk IA before production finally centered on the cannon armed Mk IB. No 56 Squadron received its first Typhoons in September 1941 with No 266 Squadron following on in February; however, by now an even more serious problem had been identified. Elevator flutter at low speeds was leading to structural failure of the tail assembly and many Typhoons were lost during the first half of 1942. The two operational squadrons were achieving little success in the interception role and there was a growing feeling within the Air Ministry that the Typhoon should be cancelled.

The turning point in the Typhoon's career came in the autumn of 1942 when feelings against the Typhoon were running at their highest. Squadron Leader Roland Beaumont requested to transfer his unit, No 609 Squadron, to Manston to support Hurricane and Spitfire Rhubarb ground-attack missions against targets in the Low Countries. In the next five months the squadron destroyed over 100 locomotives and numerous other ground targets as well as 14 Focke-Wulf FW 190s in low-level combat. No 609 Sqn's efforts combined with the much-needed cure for the structural problems secured the Typhoon's future in a new role.

The addition of bomb racks and rocket projectiles beneath the wing, tested in the spring of 1943 turned the Typhoon into a formidable attack aircraft. As more bomb- and rocket- equipped versions reached an increasing number of RAF squadrons, the attacks on targets of opportunity such as trains and convoys, pioneered by No 609 Sqn, increased in frequency. Typhoons also made a valuable contribution to the Channel Stop operations, firing salvos of rockets against German shipping in the English Channel. Eventuality, 26 squadrons flew the Typhoon and many of these were involved in attacking German radar stations and lines of communication throughout northern France in preparation for D-Day.

These are photos of Derek Robert's(the designer) Hawker Typhoon cardmodel