Posted on 01/12/2010 4:44:07 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
I’ll vote for the Typhoon
Looks like the prototype first flew February 24, 1940.
Its shortcomings didn’t become apparent until later.
They seem to be talking about a pure fighter here, rather than a fighter-bomber. And I don’t think the Mosquito project was that far along in January.
I forgot the Typhoon. You are almost certainly right. The Hurricane and Spitfire were already in use. The Meteor was years in the future. They didn’t know that the Typhoon wouldn’t pan out as an air superiority fighter or they would not have wasted the time and money on it. The Typhoon had it’s uses, but a bomber pilot’s worse nightmare is what they needed.
worse=worst
Yeah, we can do that it always has worked befo.....WAIT A MINUTE!!
The Typhoon would be a possibility too.
There is always the possibility that the article is referencing the Spitfire V. The thing that stands out to me in the article is the mention of “long-range fighting planes”. The Spitfire V increased range from the 825 km of the Spitfire L III to 1835 km and made its debut in late 1940.
The Typhoon only had a normal range of 821 km which is on par with the Spitfire L III.
However, the Mosquito has a normal range of 2990 km. Significantly further than the other planes out there at this point. So my vote is still on the Mosquito.
Except that even at that point, the Mosquito was pretty much a light bomber, not a fighter. It did have a role as a night fighter, but it doesn’t seem to fit what they are describing.
As to the Typhoon, oversold and under delivered comes to mind.
A little more digging on the Mosquito. While the company developed the concept in 1938, the specifications weren’t published until March 1940, and it didn’t fly until December.
To have been publicly discussing it in January, under wartime censorship, seems a bit premature.
You may be right. I would think that the War Department knew about the Mosquito by now at any rate. If it’s not the Mosquito I would say my second choice would be the Spitfire V. The Typhoon wasn’t long range. Then again there is the fact that this is a newspaper report and is subject to the fallacies that go along with that. At any rate it is fun to speculate.
One final option - it could be a piece of fictional propaganda, with no actual aircraft in mind.
Lol. Very possible.
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