Typhoon most underrated fighter below 20,000 feet?

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I think you'll find RAF 6 Sqn. was the main 'Tankbusting Sqn.', using Hurricane II's with 2x 40mm's in the desert....Typhoon Sqn.'s rocketed and bombed anything considered fair-game, in the drive into Europe, and as Lanc said, they didn't keep score really of those things, except in combat-reports...They kept score of aircraft shot down, including V-1's, making aces just knocking them down...Both Typhoons and Tempests were very deadly fighters, but not quite like Spitfires were...Spits cruise was 1800 rpm., max at 2800 rpm...The cruising speed of the Tiffy/Temps were 3400 rpm., very high, not much less than their top speed rpm. of 3750 rpm., therefore in combat they were hard to get a bead-on initially, and near impossible when they accelerated, which WAS impressive...like their climb-ability. - So, guzzling 3 gallons of fuel a minute, they were GO from lift-off, until landing...The Tempest was more refined than the Typhoon, their thinner high-lift wings gave greater manoevrability, although they gave trouble with the slimmer version of 20mm's they had to install...They even scored against 262's [occasionally]...But they had success against Tanks, and they certainly took care of trains, ships and motor transport, aiming the aircraft to aim the rockets was the tricky bit, due to their high speed and the need to get-in low, shoot, and get-out OK, as by then, German AA was in 'plague-proportions'...- The Germans became very adept at setting 'flak-traps' for them, such was the damage nuisance Tiffy's Tempests created...- The Typhoons 'teething-problems' really stemmed from the fact that they were rushed into service as a foil to counter the Fw-190's...Alot of the parts were subcontracted-out, and the quality wasn't up to scratch, and once Hawker got everything done in-house, all the problems of both aircraft were smoothed-out. During the War, spreading the factories out eliminated vital industries being bombed-out, but after the Blitz when Air Defence gained Air Superiority, it settled down...The tragedy was the number of good pilots lost to these 'gremlin-problems'.....
 

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To further reply to Les's question of Typhoon Tankbusting...

Bill Gunston [OBE, FRAeS; a noted Author on the Airwar,] wrote a book called 'Day of the Typhoon', in which he states...'The Typhoon Squadrons suffered the highest casualty rate of any force in the War, with the single exception of the German U-boats.'[I haven't yet read the book, but... ]

...In a tribute to John Golley, a former 245 Typhoon Sqn. pilot, [in the Feb. 2001 issue of 'Aeroplane' magazine,]... he mentions a day in mid-August 1944 when the 6th SS Panzer Division was caught on a road in daylight. Every 'Tiffy' in the 2nd TAF was called-up. The tanks occupied more than 6 miles of road, and fought back with 88mm and more than a hundred 20mm guns, but by late afternoon the entire Division was a shambles of wrecked and burning vehicles...

- Next to the DH Mosquito, the Typhoon had to be the ultimate Ground-attack aircraft - They were both very fast, but the Mossie had two engines, so I figure they had more chance of getting home shot-up and damaged, with the ' in-line ' engines and all, plus they had the 4 extra .303 guns ....
 

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Damn, I really want that bloody Tempest in AEP/PF!

The Spit Mk.XIV, too...


Those four Hispanos will blow nearly anything to shit...


The Temp's rockets will be fun, too...
 

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