Introduction

The following introduction is supplied by Pen and Sword:

Although first designed as a fighter, during the fighting in and over Europe during 1944 and 1945 the Hawker Typhoon gained a tremendous reputation and true fame as a ground-attack aircraft and tank-buster. This was a remarkable achievement because, during its development and early career, the Typhoon had experienced severe problems with its Napier Sabre engine and catastrophic failures of its airframe.

The Typhoon’s offensive ground-attack work is well known, but that tends to overshadow the type’s successes operating from 1942 as a true fighter based in the UK. Nevertheless, during the final year of World War Two, following the D-Day landings in June 1944, the Typhoon performed a crucial role in the European theatre. After May 1945 it disappeared from RAF squadrons very quickly, so to leave such a record of success over such a short time is nothing short of outstanding! It was not a world-beater, but the Typhoon was perfect for the job that was required of it. Many books that document the Typhoon cover it in conjunction with its successor, the Hawker Tempest. However, this work, fully illustrated with over 180 photographs, gives this heavyweight machine a well-deserved volume of its own.

Review

This offering provided by Pen and Sword is published under the Key Books name and this publidher also produces a range of Aviation magazine titles. The author of this release is Tony Buttler who is also the author of a number titles in this book series. This is a soft back book with the card cover protecting the 128 pages within, the paper itself looks and feels to have a good weight with a satin finish.

The contents of this title are:

Development Process

The Tornado

Typhoon Flight Test

Typhoon Operations UK

Typhoon Operations Europe

Memories

Description

This title from Key Books covering an aircraft that had troubled early years both before and after the rolling out of the Typhoon. My understanding is that most of the issues came from the engine, not because it was a bad engine but due to it being rushed into service far too soon. Then to rub salt into the wound two aircraft were shot down by Spitfires who mistook the aircraft for enemy Fw 190’s. The aircraft had been intended to perform as fighter bombers, but the aircraft was never the greatest in the fighter role. The story is well told in this release with a very good number of photographs to add the visual interest to the words.

The story of the Typhoon in service is well told and kept interesting due to the information being relayed at a pace and style that keeps you reading. I particular like that author does not try to colour the service of the aircraft and so presented in a style that is easily absorbed and understood. I suspect we all know how formidable the Typhoon was against ground targets such as trains and armour, but I did not know the aircraft performed especially well against coastal shipping using a combination of bombs and cannons.

What I suspect many readers will be interested in during the early years are the modifications that were carried out on the aircraft to improve its attributes and reliability. The changes shown to various clarity will make some modifications easy to do if desired. The Tornado variant is also very well covered in this title and is a story I knew very little of as I had seen some images but believed it was the Typhoon. Perhaps the saddest part of this story is that having served so well in the ground attack role the Typhoon basically died at the end of the World War II being taken out of service at the end of 1945 and replaced by the Tempest.

Conclusion

This offering from Key Books is a great offering that can be obtained at a very affordable price. The presentation style was one that I enjoyed due to the text being broken up with images that made reading less of a chore and kept me reading for longer and more than intended. I really enjoyed how the story of the Hawker Typhoon was told and perhaps the greatest tribute I can pay it is that I will be seeking out other titles in the series.