British WWII's fighters

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Hawker Typhoon

The so-called 'N type' fighter (developed in parallel with the Tornado) was powered by a 2,180 HP Napier Sabre engine. This powerful engine gave the Typhoon exceptional low-altitude performance, but it had a lot of teething troubles. Another problem was the conservative wing design, with a thickness of 18%, which was resulted in serious compressibility problems. A bad high-altitude performance and problems with the tail structure (finally traced back to a failure of the elevator balance weight causing flutter) sealed its failure as an all-round fighter. The Typhoon then earned fame as ground attack aircraft.

Detailed history of Typhoon and Tempest

General characteristics Typhoon Mk. IB
Primary function	Fighter-bomber
Power plant	One 24cylinder Napier Sabre IIA water-cooled in-line engine
Thrust	2,180 HP		1,626 kW
Wingspan	41.6 ft		12.67 m
Length	32 ft		9.73 m
Height	15.3 ft		4.66 m
Wingarea	278 sq ft		25.8 sq m
Weight	empty	8,800 lb	3,992 kg
	max.	13,250 lb	6,010 kg
Speed	404 mph		650 km/h
Initial climb rate	3,000 ft/min		914 m/min
Ceiling	35,200 ft		10,730 m
Range	loaded	510 mi	821km
	max.	950 mi	1,530 km
Armament	4x 20mm cannon; 8x rockets or 2x 454 kg bomb
Crew	One
First flight	24.2.1940
Date deployed	May 1941
Number built	3,332

Jirka Wagner