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Hawker's eagerly awaited and much heralded replacement for the Hurricane, the Typhoon, was initially a disappointment of giant proportions. Rushed into RAF squadron service in April 1942 to combat the new threat posed by the Luftwaffe's outstanding high performance FW 190, the Typhoon arrived on the front line with a mighty catalogue of defects. Its high wing loading curtailed the high altitude performance intended; sudden engine stoppages were frequent; and elevator flutter caused regular failure of the rear fuselage. Many pilots were lost. If it had not been for his belief in the aircraft and the sheer tenacity of 609 Squadron's CO, Roland Beamont, the entire Typhoon programme might have been cancelled.
Beamont had played a major role in the development of the Typhoon and was convinced that once the teething problems were sorted, this rugged aircraft would become invaluable in the ground attack role and, with its speed in excess of 400mph, a match for the hit-and-run tactics of the FW 190. Beamont was right and by late 1942, armed with 20mm guns and two 1000lb bombs, the Typhoon squadrons began to make their presence felt day and night on the battle fronts in Europe. By the invasion of Normandy, now equipped also with eight 60lb rockets, Typhoons roamed over the battlefronts decimating Hitler's Panzer Divisions, wreaking havoc with enemy road and rail communications wherever they engaged the enemy. This tough fighter-bomber ultimately becoming the most outstanding ground attack aircraft of World War II.
What better aircraft for the emerging young artist Richard Taylor to portray as a subject for his very first limited aviation print edition. Led by squadron commander Roland "Bee" Beamont, Typhoons of 609 Squadron are dramatically illustrated as they scramble from their base at Manston in April 1943, the brute force and raw aggression of this tough warbird leaving nothing to the imagination. A collector's piece for the future, of this there's no doubt.
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