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Not to be confused with the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber aircraft produced by manufacturer Hawker. It was designed to serve as a high-altitude interceptor that could replace the Hawker Hurricane. However, several major design challenges ultimately restricted the aircraft's potential and hamstrung its ability to truly replace the Hawker Hurricane.
The Hawker Typhoon was originally designed to be armed with twelve .303-inch Browning machine guns and powered by a pair of next-generation 2,000- horsepower engines. The aircraft entered service in mid-1941 but was quickly plagued by problems that left it without a real service future for months. However, the introduction of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 by the Luftwaffe later that year meant that the Typhoon was the only aircraft in the Royal Air Force's operational inventory capable of catching this Nazi combat aircraft at low altitudes, solidifying its future as a low-altitude interceptor.
The Typhoon soon became the go-to aircraft for nighttime intrusion and long- range fighter roles. From 1942 onwards, it was equipped with bombs and dubbed "Hawker Bombphoon" by the press. Starting in 1943, RP-3 rockets were added to its armaments. In addition to these weapons, it was fitted with four 20-mm Hispano autocannons, making it one of the most important ground-attack aircraft of World War II.
