General info for Typhoon Mk Ia

• Country Britain
• Vehicle role Fighter / Strike fighter
• Rank 2

• Battle rating in
  • arcade battles 2.7
  • realistic battles 2.7
  • simulator battles 2.7

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Wiki info about Typhoon Mk Ia

Official War Thunder wiki

The Hawker Typhoon was a single-seat, all-metal monoplane fighter, first designed as a high speed interceptor. Even before the new Hurricane fighter was launched into full-scale production, the engineers of Hawker Aircraft Ltd.'s design office, headed by Sir Sydney Camm, embarked on the development of а next-generation interceptor for the RAF. It was proposed that the new aircraft would be equipped with a new engine whose power would surpass that of the Rolls-Royce Merlin. Hawker Aircraft received a contract to develop two prototypes: one had a Rolls-Royce Vulture liquid-cooled engine (an Х-block); the second had a Napier Sabre engine (an Н-block). Both engines had 24 cylinders and provided about 2,000 hp. The first prototype was named the Hawker Tornado and featured a ventral radiator in the same position that the Hurricane did. The second prototype, named the Typhoon, was equipped with a distinctive chin-mounted radiator in the forward fuselage. Since the development of the Rolls-Royce Vulture engine progressed more quickly, the Hawker Tornado was the first to be test flown in October 1939. The first Hawker Typhoon (P5212) prototype made its maiden flight in February 1940. After delays caused by the Battle of Britain, the full-scale production of Typhoon Mk IA, with a 2,100 hp Napier Sabre Mk.IIA engine and a de Havilland Hydromatic three-bladed propeller, was launched. Work on the Hawker Tornado was ceased due to serious problems with the Rolls-Royce Vulture engine after the first production aircraft was built. Subsequent to the results found during flight trials, the tail fin of the Typhoon Mk.IA was enlarged to improve longitudinal stability and the aircraft obtained its distinctive rudder with a straight rear edge. The starboard door and the folding part of the canopy were used to enter the fighter's cockpit; in an emergency both doors and the folding part of the canopy could be jettisoned. The armament provided for the aircraft consisted of wing-mounted machine guns in the "A" type wing (Mk.IA) and cannons in the "B" type wing (Mk.IB). The first 110 fighters built were of the Typhoon Mk.IA version, with 12 wing-mounted 0.303 inch Colt-Browning Mk.II machine guns, because of the shortage of belt-feed mechanisms for the Hispano Mk.II cannons. The early service life of the Typhoon was less than impressive. With a relatively poor rate of climb and sluggish performance at high altitudes, it was not able to maintain pace with the latest enemy fighters in its planned role as an interceptor. Furthermore, the first RAF squadrons to use the Typhoon found, like the test pilots who had helped to develop the Typhoon, that an alarming number of accidents, sometimes fatal, were attributed to the new fighter. Hawker was able to ascertain that the cause of many accidents was metal fatigue resulting in several cases of the entire tail section detaching in flight. However, even after this issue was resolved, high speed buffeting and an unreliable engine caused the early Typhoons to be less than popular with their crews.