Hmmmm....that third rivet from the left in the second row behind the radiator intake seems a bit large......

LOL!

Stellar work! I spent an hour or so this afternoon reading about the development and use of the Typhoons, and later the Tempests. Got me thinking about flying some missions in one - and here ya go!

Great work, Mike, great work!

I knew it, I just knew that whole row was .763 mm off. Damn...

Hi "Jack",

The Typhoon was, like the P47, a heavy and fast brute, though less good in air to air than the Jug - in fact it was nearly cancelled because it was not good as a fighter, but then it was found to be rather good at air to mud. The rest is history as they say.

I have read several books researching this for Mike and the thing that comes over most is just how many were lost. Initially because the tail fell off or because the Sabre engine seized up, but later mostly from ground fire. And yet the pilots liked it and went on flying it in spite of the losses - they were very brave men.

The Tempest with its larger and thinner wing was far better. By that time the engine problems had pretty well been sorted out, it was faster, and could dogfight. The Fury/Sea Fury was even better. When I lived near the old Vickers works in Broughton near Chester (by then where the HS125 was made) the Royal Navy Historic Flight's Sea Fury used to fly low over my house every year at their airshow. The sound of a Bristol Centaurus engine on song was a joy to hear - different to the Merlins and Griffons of the RAF BOB Flight's Spits and Lanc and the local Mossie which also took part but very impressive none the less. Pity there are no Typhoons/Tempests still airworthy as far as I know, at least none with Sabres.

Cheers

Peter

Hi Peter,

Yes, I read with interest the same thing about the Sabres, and about the tails as well. I can only imagine the sound of the Bristol; radials have a sound all their own, especially a powerful one like that! In reference to the changes made, they also added to the length of the craft to help with stalls and spins, as well as to add a fuel tank due to the thinner wing, and led one test pilot to exclaim that "finally, I won't burn my bloody feet off!" Seems in the Typhoon they were right on the firewall!
As a footnote, mentioning the Sabre engine and airshows reminds me that several weeks ago we had an airshow near us which I couldn't attend as I was working. I work for the Post Office and was walking a route when I heard an unmistakable sound - an F-86 flew directly over me, close enough to see the markings! I stood dumbfounded, only to laugh in delight as it was followed by a T-33!!

What a sight....

Hi "Jack"

You are too right about the firewall and due to leakage of engine fumes pilots were ordered to wear their oxygen mask all the time but they were at least rugged enough to come home with tree tops in the radiator bath etc. The Tempest was indeed longer but the Fury was intended to be a lightweight version - longer fuselage again but smaller wing than the Tempest. Bit like the Bearcat compared with the Hellcat I guess.

I am amazed at just how many have raced at Reno, though with new engines and highly modified in many cases I believe. Fast, rugged and manoeuverable so I guess they are ideal for some of the classes.

Cheers

Peter

Hi,

the Typhoon actually had good potential for air to air combat, but the RAF very late saw the advantage of Speed in modern aircombat. Allmost all british fighter developments till the end of the war had a very low wingload.

Initially the typhoon suffered by construction failsures, where the tail got damaged in highspeed dives(many new planes had such problems) and the engine wasnt reliable, but the airframe in general in combination with the high power had good potential.

When the problems of the Typhoon was solved, the Spitfire14, P51D and SpitIXc Merlin66 was good enough to take the fighter part, while the P47D and Tiffi/Temp was big and tough enough to be a good fighter bomber.

At least some very nice Tiffi skins!!

Hi Knegel,

Fair comment. As designed the RAF thought the Tiffie would make a good fighter on the grounds of speed and armament, but early experience showed up a lot of problems, mostly with the Sabre but also structural failures, and the thick wing meant it really could not dogfight so they nearly cancelled it. Fortunately, they kept it in production once they learned to make the most of its strengths. particularly air to mud. And yes Mike is as ever producing some good looking skins with help from Ray and John, and we hope to introduce some early "car door" cockpit types eventually.

Cheers

Peter

RAF 198 Typhoons are finished and on their way to Sandbagger



Typhoon Ib of RAF 198 Squadron
Base HR skin was created by Flying Tiger,
based on original files by Mike1.
Squadron research by Peter M. Booth
Model improvements Col.Gibbons and Rotton50.
Skins Iron Mike 9/10-2009

Well, I'm pleased to see this one done and dusted Mike.

Your car boot, errr sorry door, will require a full rebuild of the canopy and tail, which is a bit to much to do at this time, as I'm doing a few things for Ade's Flying Tiger project.

Aw foot!

I know that the car door will be done eventually. There are still many more projects to work on besides the other Tiffie.

Maybe a Tempest....humm,,,