The Hawker Typhoon

The Hawker Typhoon was designed to Air Ministry specification F.18/37 which sought to take advantage of the new generation of 2000hp engines and satisfy the latest requirements in armament. This major step up demanded a larger and more advanced airframe than that of the company's then current Hurricane and by March 1938 work had commenced on the first two prototypes; one with the Napier Sabre, soon called 'Typhoon' and the other with a Rolls-Royce Vulture, later to be named the 'Tornado'; this latter machine was the first to fly, on 6 October 1939. The Vulture did not give too many problems in the Hawker fighter but by the end of 1940 it was experiencing serious trouble with its installation in the Avro Manchester bomber, and as a result the project was abandoned. With the third engine (Bristol Centaurus) of the new generation still some way off, the Air Ministry had little option but to concentrate on the Typhoon, which had made its first flight on 24 February 1940. The new aircraft