Hasegawa 1:48 Hawker Typhoon Mk.1B.

[Dartskipper]

Hawker Typhoon 1B. EK139. HH-N "Dirty Dora."

Also known as a "Bombphoon", as this aircraft wasn't rigged for carrying rockets.

The model represents an aircraft based in Southern England in the Spring of 1943. It belonged to No. 175 Squadron which was shuttled around a number of bases as operational requirements demanded. The non - standard colour scheme is the result of various repaints during this time. The scheme as applied at the factory (this aircraft like nearly all Typhoons was built by the Gloster Aircraft Co. Ltd.) was ocean grey and dark green camouflage with light grey undersides.It would have had a duck egg green spinner and band around the tail. Also the Squadron letters would have been duck egg green, (or Sky to give it its official name.) At the time that the Typhoon was introduced in something of a rush, the Luftwaffe had the Focke Wulf 190 in service and it was faster than anything the RAF had available, except for the new Typhoon. Unfortunately anti - aircraft gunners weren't always sure what this new fast plane was, and at a quick glance it did resemble the Focke Wulf, so some were accidentally shot down. To try and prevent this a recognition marking scheme was devised which included an all white nose and propeller spinner, as well as black and white stripes beneath the wings. The all white nose wasn't liked by the pilots as they said it made them too noticeable, and so it was painted out, leaving the stripes under the wings. When this aircraft was repainted, a different shade of green was used on the nose. Also at around this time the plane suffered some damaged to the aft fuselage in the area of the starboard roundel. As the squadron didn't have any duck egg green (or sky) paint available in the stores, the spinner was left white, and the codes were repainted in light grey. The last digit of the serial was not repainted on the Squadron code letter on the starboard side, possibly as an oversight.

[Makko]

Very nice, Roy! Congrats. What an interesting history too regarding the colour differences etc. I am amazed at the cockpit doors, they look almost as if they were an afterthought by the designers.
Best Rgds.
Dave

[Dartskipper]

Thanks Dave, it was a project that I started a long time ago. This lockdown period was a good opportunity to finish it !

Yes, those doors. There was one on each side of the cockpit, but they proved to be a problem and would sometimes open in flight. In service the port hand door was sealed up. Eventually, a full sliding bubble hood replaced them. The Typhoon always seemed to be "work in progress" during its career. There were several faults that had to be cured before it became a very effective ground attack machine. The major fault was the breaking away of the rear fuselage complete with fin and tailplane. A quick fix was a real bodge by riveting fishplates around the seam where this assembly joined the fuselage. Eventually it was found to be a problem with an internal counter balance, so this was adjusted along with fitting a larger tailplane assembly that was designed for the Tempest. There were also problems with the early Napier Sabre engines which caused availability issues, but even these were overcome. The basic design of the Typhoon evolved through the Tempest and finished as the Sea Fury that saw action in Korea.

I'm looking through my stash to see what I can throw together next.

Happy modelling!

Roy.

[Makko]

........Me 262 "Destroyer" version on the way.............

[Dartskipper]

I found a Sea Fury with Korean War markings. 1:72 scale, so shouldn't take as long as the Typhoon!