Achtung! Jabo!

Historical Background

Even before the Hawker Hurricane entered production in May 1937, its designer, Sydney Camm (later Sir Sydney) has started the design for its successor. Two designs, similar but larger than the Hurricane were drawn and were later known simply as 'N' and 'R' , as they were designed to use Napier's Sabre and Rolls-Royce's Vulture engines. Both used 24 cylinders in a 'H' configuration (Sabre) and 'X' arrangement (Vulture) and designed to produce 2,000 hp. Hawker submitted the designs to the Air Ministry in July 1937 but was advised to wait until a specification for a new fighter is issued. After further prompting by Hawker, the Air Ministry issued Specification F.18/37 in March 1938, asking for a fighter which would be able to reach 400 mph (644 km/h) at 15,000 feet (4,600 m). It should be powered by a British engine equipped with a two-stage supercharger and armed with twelve .303 inch Browning machine guns with 500 rounds each, with provision for alternative weaponry.

With government sanction, Camm and his team officially started work on their prototypes. Aircraft R became Hawker Tornado, the development of which was terminated in 1941, following the failure and the termination of its Vulture engines (in Avro's Manchester bomber). Aircraft N was called the Typhoon and both it and the Tornado have their front fuselage structure made up of bolted and welded duralumin or steel tubes covered with skin panels while the rear fuselage was of flush-rivetted, semi-monocoque design. The skin panelling on the forward fuselage are large to allow easy access to the engine and other important equipment. The wing was designed with a small inverted gull-wing bend and with a thickness to chord ratio of 19.5% at the wing root. The thick wing possessed great structural strength, provided a lot of room for armament and fuel and also became a steady gun platform.The thickness however created a large drag rise, preventing speeds from exceeding 410 mph at 20,000 feet. Climb rate and performance also suffered above that height. Because of problems with the Napier Sabre, the Typhoon's first flight only took place on 24 February 1940. Further delays to the programme happened on 15 May 1940 when Lord Beaverbrook ordered that aircraft production would only concentrate on five types (Spitfire, Hurricane, Blenheim, Whitley and Wellington).

Nevertheless, on 3 May 1941, the second prototype, armed with four Hispano Mk II 20 mm cannons flew, as the prototype for Typhoon Mk.IB (the twelve MG-armed version was known as Typhoon 1A).The first production Typhoon first flew just three weeks later, on 27 May 1941. The introduction of the superb Focke Wulf Fw 190 outclassed the main RAF fighter at the time, the Spitfire Mk.V. Therefore, the Typhoons were rushed into service with No.56 and No.609 Squadrons. However, several aircraft were lost to unknown causes and the Air Ministry began consider halting the production of the Typhoon. In August 1942, a test machine was lost over Thorpe, killing the pilot. Investigations revealed that the elevator mass balance has torn away causing an intense flutter to the rear fuselage. This caused structural failure, tearing the tail away.  To overcome this problem (only partially as there were instances of the tail being ripped away until the end of the type's service life), 20 alloy 'fishplates' were riveted externally across the rear fuselage transport joint.

Another problem, the first actually, and also never fully solved, was carbon monoxide seepage into the cockpit. Despite the lengthening of the exhaust stubs and the sealing of the left cockpit access door (for the 'car-door' type), the problem remained and it became an SOP for a Typhoon pilot to use the oxygen mask from engine start-up to engine shut down. As originally designed, the Typhoon was fitted with a car-door style cockpit doors. This restricted the pilot's visibility and from November 1943 onwards, all production aircraft switched to the 'bubble' canopy, offering greater visibility. In order to have as many as possible bubble-canopied Typhoons for Operation Overlord, conversion kits were produced to convert many of the existing car-door Typhoons. Once operating from forward airfields in Normandy, it was found that the 80% of the dust clouds stirred by propeller wash consisted of hard, abrasive materials causing excessive wear and tear to the engine. A dome deflector was hurriedly designed and fitted. These however has the propensity of being thrown off whenever the engine backfired. They were soon replaced by a drum-shaped filter which has a 'cuckoo-clock' door at the front which opened when sensing pressure changes caused by the engine backfiring. Earlier, when it was determined that the Typhoon can carry loads up to 1,000 lb under each wing, a four-bladed propeller was adopted to increase take-off performance. It was also decided that the larger tailplane of the Hawker Tempest improved the handling characteristics of the Typhoon while carrying its bombload. However the modification programme took time and it was several months before the majority of the Typhoon received the four-bladed propeller and the enlarged tailplane.

The Typhoon did not mature into a reliable aircraft until late 1942. It was at one point almost cancelled but for the strong urges of one of its champions, Squadron leader Roland 'Bee' Beamont of No.609 Squadron who also worked as Hawker's test pilot while being rotated from 'line' service. From late 1942 to early 1943, Typhoon squadrons were based on airfields on England's south  and south-east coasts to intercept the Luftwaffe's nuisance raiders (mainly Fw 190s carrying a single bomb) doing 'tip-and-run' attacks. The Typhoons (and also the first of the Griffon Spitfires) were successful in intercepting these raiders. However, the profile of Typhoon resembled a Fw 190 from certain angles, causing friendly fire incidents. This led to the Typhoons being marked with white noses, and later with black and white stripes under the wings. It was then realised that the Typhoon was more suited to the ground attack role rather than being a pure fighter. The powerful engine allowed it to carry two 1,000 lb bombs and the first 'Bombphoon' squadron, No. 181 was formed in September 1942. A year later, four RP-3 60 lb rocket projectiles were mounted on each wing. Although requiring more skills to use, a full salvo of the rockets from a single Typhoon was said to be an equivalent of a full destroyer's broadside.

The rocket-armed Typhoons formed the basis of the RAF's Second Tactical Air Force. Although interchangeable with bomb racks, line squadrons were specifically assigned as rocket- or bomb-armed units, in order to simplify logistics. It also allowed units to be proficient in one particular weapon. By the time Operation Overlord commenced, 2 TAF had 18 Typhoon squadrons (Fighter Command has another 9 for anti-raider duties). The Typhoon proved to be the most effective ground support aircraft, making interdiction raids against communication and transport targets prior to D-Day and giving direct support on D-Day and beyond. Despite a rather poor hit rate of the rockets, a combined bomb and rocket attack was devastating to the morale of German troops. The usage of air observers, acting as liaison between the troops in contact and air support further increased the effectiveness of Allied air support. Typhoons were used until the end of the war and were totally removed from the inventory in October 1945. 3,317 Typhoons were built, most of them by Gloster.

The Kit

Hasegawa released their first 1/48 Hawker Typhoon, a car-door version, in 1998. This was followed by the bubbletop version in 1999. As 'Kings of Reboxings' they re-released the two Typhoon types in the following years with different markings. The kit I used here was released in 2003. The parts were spread among 13 medium grey and one clear sprues, some poly caps plus the usual decal and instruction sheets. The parts, as usual, are well moulded and feature nice engraved surface detail. In order to save production costs, the main fuselage was moulded sans the mid-upper part. These were moulded separately so that Hasegawa can mould just the cockpit area for the car-door and bubbletop versions. The decal sheet provide markings for two aircraft:

- ZY-B / MN316, No. 247 (China British) Squadron

- HF-L / JR128, No.183 Squadron

Construction

As usual construction started at the cockpit. Hasegawa provided the basics of a Typhoon cockpit, including a separate tubular framework. There is some confusion about the colour of the cockpit but I decided to go with Hasegawa's recommendation of British Interior Green. The colour was a mixture of Tamiya XF-21 Sky, XF-5 Flat Green and XF-65 Field Grey. The assembly was then cemented to the right fuselage half, along with the XF-1 Flat Black-painted radiator. The fuselage inserts were then cemented to the respective sides of the fuselage halves.They fit OK to the main fuselage but when the fuselage were mated, there was quite a sizeable gap down the spine. which I couldn't eradicate fully. The two-piece horizontal tail was cemented together and mated to the fuselage with no fuss. After the cement has cured, I found that bubble-top Typhoons have flat black interiors with natural metal seats!

Before assembling the wings, holes were drilled into the lower wing half for the rocket pylons and the entry footstep. The upper wing halves were then mated to the lower half and the entire assembly was then cemented to the fuselage. While other modellers said there wasn't any problems here, I found a gap and each of the wing roots; but nothing too serious. The radiator flap was put in place and as usual, the landing gear parts were left off at this time.

Painting and Decalling

RAF tactical aircraft in Europe after 1941 were painted Medium Sea Grey (bottom) and a camouflage pattern of Ocean Grey and Dark Green. The paints I used for the colours are Tamiya XF-83 (Medium Sea Grey) and XF-81 (Dark Green). IPMS Stockholm suggested that XF-54 is a good match for Ocean Grey and that's what I use, although I modify it a bit by adding XF-18 Medium Blue. The ID band on the leading edge and propeller blade tips were painted XF-3 Flat Yellow. The prop spinner was painted XF-21 Sky while the blades were painted Flat Black. The wheel bay and landing gear were painted Gunze 8 Silver. Being invasion stripe-challenged, I chose the markings for HF-L. Looking at a photo HF-L/JR128 in flight, I noticed a slightly different camouflage pattern than suggested by Hasegawa, so I touched up the relevant areas and thankfully the tonal difference was not that apparent. The decals were then applied the usual way. There were also a number of stencils seen in the photo but was nowhere seen on the decal sheet.

Finishing

As usual, I started by assembling the landing gear and then cementing them to the fuselage. Because of the flat spot on the tire, the tail wheel was cemented first. The main wheels were then cemented and adjusted so that the flat area is well, flat to the surface.The rocket rails, which was painted separately were then fixed to their places under the wings, followed by the rocket projectiles. The propeller assembly was inserted into place and was followed by the canopy. A wash using watercolour sludge technique was used and the model received a layer of Flat Clear to finish. And one thing I didn't realise until the model was finished was that the starboard landing light has already been omitted and faired over on production, bubble-canopy Typhoons. Fairly typical of my builds...... 

Conclusion

Apart from older Monogram offering, I guess the Hasegawa Typhoons are the only game in town for that aircraft in 1/48 scale (the Italeri offering is a reboxing of Hasegawa kit). On the plus side, the kit has good overall detail, on the inside and on the surface. On the negative side, chief among them was that fuselage insert (although, I think, with careful handling, it might fit without problems). . And finally, the bad fit between the wing and the fuselage. Nevertheless, it was still an enjoyable build. And as a postcript, JR128, the aircraft I represented here did not served in No. 183 Squadron during the war - it only received the 'HF' code during trials with rocket launchers at Hawker's factory. It was transferred to No.181 Squadron on 7 August 1944 before being lost over Falaise on the 18th of the same month.