Typhoons

[Tony Whittingham]

Hello All,

I know it is possible to have a 3 blade propeller on a Typhoon with the Tempest tailplane, but I am wondering if the reverse is true.

Is it possible to have a 4 blade prop on an airframe with the small (Typhoon) tailplane? There are at least 2 Car door Typhoons with 4 blade props, and I am wondering if the Tempest tail was a necessary modification for a Typhoon to be fitted with the 4 blade propeller?

 

Tony

[Stuart Wilson]

I believe that the larger tailplanes were a requirement for the 4 bladed prop. Others may know more though.

 

Stuart

[Graham Boak]

Apart from development aircraft, which presumably were the examples you mention, the large tailplane was a requirement for the 4-blade prop.  The extra blade was destabilising, effectively adding area forward of the cg/aerodynamic centre.

[Chris Thomas]

A Typhoon with a 4-blader cannot have been too much of a problem with the small tailplane as trials with this configuration took place as early as November 1941.  One (R7577) was delivered to 56 Sqn, just weeks after they received their first Typhoon, albeit just for trial. 266 Sqn had a handful the following year for further trials. Unfortunately photos of these have never surfaced

 

The photos usually seen are of JP752, which was on trial with Hawker in Sept 43, R8943 force landed on trials with De Havilland (propellors)  in March 1944, and R8803 which also force landed in September 1944 on Napier trials.

 

However, no production Typhoons were delivered with the 4-blader/small tailplane combination and none saw operational service use. As far as I know ....

CT

[Graham Boak]

There's always a difference between what a test pilot can be expected to handle, and the flying qualities that can be cleared for an average service pilot.  Sometimes this difference only appears during early trials.  A less-stable aircraft may be flyable but a poor weapon platform.  If a pilot has to give a lot of his attention just to flying the aircraft, he has less available for combat awareness.  It's perhaps worth remembering that many WW1 types - notably the Sopwith Camel - would have had severe difficulties in being accepted under later rules, yet it went on to become a very successful fighter.  The cost was the lives of a great many inexperienced pilots in training, and indeed later.