1/24 Hawker Typhoon Intake Filter

[dambuster]

Researching the intake filter configuration for a model I am building of a 183 Sqn Typhoon as used on 1 Nov 1944 in support of Operation Infatuate II. At that time the Sqn was based at B67 Ursel. I am fairly confident that this will be a 3 bladed example, with bubble canopy and small tail planes. It is highly likely, going on information gleaned from many sources, that the carburettor intake would have been fitted with a dust filter, probably with the cuckoo doors.

 

Now Airfix provide the cuckoo doors as a separate part, but they do not provide any form of filter to sit behind the doors and link up to the carburettor intake in the centre of the radiator/oil cooler housing. Does anyone know how long this filter is, I.e. how far in front of the radiator front face does it project?

 

Secondly, from the Sqn ORB I have 12 candidate aircraft serials but no individual Sqn Code letters.  Is there a source for this information?

 

Thanks

 

Peter

[Ossington 2]

"Fighter Squadrons of the RAF" by J. Rawlings, Macdonalds/Crecy, p.310:

Typhoon Ib (Nov 42-Jun 45)

R8885 E

DN271 M

JP382 M

JR128 S

RB222 K

R8933 F

DN377 P

JP601 L

JR260 J

R8978 R

DN405 T

JP973 E

MN260 A

Squadron code HF in all cases.

[ben_m]

The filter goes from the rear of the cuckoo doors to pretty much the surface of the oil cooler (i.e. further back than the surface of the radiator) see: http://www.whalens.ca/prepb86.html

[Chris Thomas]

Hi Peter

I located 15 different serials for 1 Nov 44 in 183's ORB.  There were a few more but they were typos. By comparing the individual flights with various pilots logs over the years I have these codes.

 

R8926  F

DN248  K

EK497  E

EK498  N

JP682  O

JP969  S

JR141  M

JR263  Z

JR390  U

MN419  G

MN698  W

MN868  H

MN886  X

MN923  P

PD500  T

 

The first 9 were all 3-bladers with small tailplanes, MN419 had a large tailplane but could have had a 3 or a 4-blader, the last 5 all had large tailplanes and 4-bladers.  PD500 had a tropical filter under the fuselage behind the radiator fairing.  

 

The first 8 had all been built as 'car-door jobs' and subsequently modified with canopy, RP etc mods.

 

Chris

Edited April 6, 2021 by Chris Thomas
additional information

[dambuster]

Thanks everyone. Useful info on the filter, I still need to work out how far it extends as the location for the filter doors in the kit seems to be variable. I’m surprised that Airfix missed this part as they pretty well covered all other optional items.

 

Really useful code info Chris, my final choice might depend on how easy it is to create the code/serial combination from available masks/decals.