Anonymous commented at 2013-01-07 21:32:43 » #1241134

This is a Hawker Typhoon. It was designed to succeed the Hurricane, but it took a long time to be of any use to the British military because its extremely complex Napier Sabre engine went through extended development trouble. Once the engine was working properly, however, it was a beast to be reckoned with; at low altitude it was faster than a Spitfire and packed considerably heavier armament (initially 12--yes, 12--machine guns, and later four cannon as seen here, plus rockets). It was given the role of intercepting low-altitude hit-and-run German Fw190 fighter-bombers, as it was the only British plane fast enough to catch them. Toward the end of the war it was used to intercept V-1 flying bombs, and I believe it shot down a few Me262 jets as well. The thick wing could cause handling problems in high speed dives because of the sound barrier, so Hawker created a modified version with a thinner wing called the Tempest, which only entered service very late in the war.

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