THE LAST TYPHOON

Late in November 2018, the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, England, put its Hawker Typhoon Mark IB, serial no. MN235, back on static display. Although it is not slated to fly, the museum has good reason not to risk it, for in one respect it is the last of its kind.

Originating from Air Ministry Specification F.18/37 calling for a single-engine fighter armed with four cannons, the Hawker Typhoon underwent a long, frustrating genesis before entering service in September 1941 with a still-troublesome 2,000-hp 24-cylinder Napier Sabre engine. While it was the first