I'm going to split this post into 2 parts; this first part is going to be a Squadron history. This will be from start to finish of the Squadron during the Second World War. The second part will be about the Hawker Typhoon herself.
No.197 Squadron History
Formation: 9 August 1917
Disbanded: 17 November 1917
Reformation: 21 November 1942
Disbanded: 31 August 1945
Squadron Codes: OV (Nov 1942 - Aug 1945)
Motto: "Findmus caelum" ("We cleave the sky").
Badge: A lion's jamb holding a sabre
No. 197 Squadron was formed on 21 November at Turnhouse and received Typhoons during December, becoming operational on 27th January 1943. In March 1943 it moved to southern England for fighter patrol and bomber escort missions. The squadron began part of Second Tactical Air Force, joining No.146 Wing in March 1944. Apart from one very short spell in No.123 Wing and a period of rest late in 1944 the squadron spent the rest of the war with No.146 Wing.
By this time of the war, most Typhoons were carrying rockets rather than bombs. in theory it was possible to re-role the Typhoons of the carriage of rockets or bombs quite easily, but in practice a number of squadrons, including 197 Squadron, retained bombs as their principle air-to-ground weapon. In preparation for the Allied landings in France, the Squadron attacked enemy transport and troop concentrations with 500 lb bombs and moved to Normandy in mid-July. After the D-Day landings the wing was used to provide close support for the army, using the 'cab rank' system, with aircraft circling over the battlefield waiting for instructions from controllers travelling with the troops.
No.197 Squadron was a Typhoon-equipped ground attack squadron that fought with 2nd Tactical Air Force during the campaign in north-western Europe.
On 27 June the wing attacked the HQ of Leutnant General Dohlman's infantry division around St Lo, killing the general and destroying much of his HQ.
The wing moved to Normandy in mid-July, initially to airfield B.3. During the German retreat from Normandy Typhoons of No.146 Wing destroyed the last permanent bridge remaining over the Seine, trapping many of the survivors.
Over the winter of 1944-45 the wing was used to attack the remaining isolated German garrisons on the Scheldt estuary and Walcheren Island, left behind by the retreat of the main German armies. At the start of October the squadron moved to Deurne airfield at Antwerp, where it found itself under fire from V2 rockets - five airmen were killed by one rocket on 25 October.
As the advance came to a halt in the winter of 1944-45 the Typhoon squadrons flew fewer sorties in direct support of the armies and instead began to operate further behind German lines. Attacks on Geman headquarters continued, with No.146 Wing making an attack on the believed location of the German 15th Army in a park in the center of Dordrecht on 24 October. This attack killed two German generals, seventeen staff officers and 236 others, a massive blow to the efficiency of the 15th Army.
The wing's next targets were isolated garrisons around Arnhem and Nijmegen. The squadron also took part in an attack on a 'human torpedo' factory at Utrecht, and an attempted attack on the Gestapo HQ at Amsterdam on 19 November, but this second attack was stopped by the weather.
The wing was largely unaffected by Operation Bodenplatte, the Luftwaffe's attempt to destroy the Allied air forces on the ground on 1 January 1945. One three of the wing's aircraft were damaged, and none from No.197 Squadron.
Another headquarters target was attacked on 18 March in the build-up to the crossing of the Rhine. This time General Blaskowitz's Army Group H was the target and 62 members of his staff were killed. In April the wing used Mk 1 supply containers to drop supplies to SAS troops operating behind German lines.
The squadron was disbanded on 31 August 1945.
Aircraft
December 1942-August 1945: Hawker Typhoon IB
Location
• November 1942: Turnhouse
• November 1942-March 1943: Drem
• March 1943-March 1944: Tangmere
• March-April 1944: Manston
• April 1944: Tangmere
• April-July 1944: Need's Oar Point
• July 1944: Hurn
• July-September 1944: B.3 St. Croix
• September 1944: Manston
• September-October 1944: B.51 Lille-Vendeville
• October-November 1944: B.70 Deurne
• November-December 1944: Fairwood Common
• December 1944-February 1945: B.70 Deurne
• February-April 1945: B.89 Mill
• April 1945: B.105 Drope
• April-June 1945: B.111 Ahlhorn
• June-August 1945: B.16 Hildesheim
Hawker Typhoon IB
General characteristics
• Crew: One
• Length: 31 ft 11.5 in(9.73 m)
• Wingspan: 41 ft 7 in (12.67 m)
• Height: 15 ft 4 in (4.66 m)
• Wing area: 279 ft² (29.6 m²)
• Empty weight: 8,840 lb (4,010 kg)
• Loaded weight: 11,400 lb (5,170 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 13,250 lb (6,010 kg)
• Powerplant: 3 or 4-blade de Havilland or Rotol propeller × Napier Sabre IIA, IIB or IIC liquid-cooled H-24 piston engine, 2,180, 2,200 or 2,260 hp (1,626, 1,640 or 1,685 kW) each
Performance
• Maximum speed: 412 mph with Sabre IIB & 4-bladed propeller (663 km/h) at 19,000 ft (5,485 m)
• Stall speed: 88 mph (142 km/h) IAS with flaps up
• Range: 510 mi (821 km)
• Service ceiling: 35,200 ft (10,729 m)
• Rate of climb: 2,740 ft/min (13.59 m/s)
• Wing loading: 45.8 lb/ft² (223.5 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.20 hp/lb (0.33 kW/kg)
Armament
• Guns: 4 × 20 mm Hispano Mk II cannon
• Rockets: 8 × RP-3 unguided air-to-ground rockets.
• Bombs: 2 × 500 lb (227 kg) or 2 × 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs
Flight Lieutenant Ken Trott flew Typhoons with 197 Squadron and recalled:
"Rather a large aircraft shall we say, for a single-engine fighter. Terrific power. Quite something to control. I liked it from the point of view of speed and being a very stable gun platform. You could come in on a target at 400 mph and the thing was as steady as a rock."
The Hawker Typhoon or Tiffy in Royal Air Force(RAF) slang, was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was designed to be a medium–high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane but several design problems were encountered and it never completely satisfied this requirement.
Its service introduction in mid-1941 was plagued with problems and for several months the aircraft faced a doubtful future. When the Luftwaffe brought the formidable Focke-Wulf Fw 190 into service in 1941, the Typhoon was the only RAF fighter capable of catching it at low altitudes; as a result it secured a new role as a low-altitude interceptor.
From late 1942 the Typhoon was equipped with bombs and from late 1943 RP-3 ground attack rockets were added to its armory. Using these two weapons, the Typhoon became one of the Second World War's most successful ground-attack aircraft.
Introduction into service.
In 1941 the Spitfire Vs which equipped the bulk of Fighter Command squadrons, were outclassed by the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and suffered many losses. The Typhoon was rushed into service with Nos. 56 and 609 Squadrons in the summer of 1941, to counter the Fw 190. This decision proved to be a disaster and several Typhoons were lost to unknown causes and the Air Ministry began to consider halting production of the Typhoon.
In August 1942, Hawker’s second test pilot, Ken Seth-Smith, while deputizing for Chief Test Pilot Philip Lucas, carried out a straight and level speed test from Langley, Hawker’s test center and the aircraft broke up over Thorpe, killing the pilot. Sydney Camm and the design team immediately ruled out pilot error, which had been suspected in earlier crashes. Investigation revealed that the elevator mass-balance had torn away from the fuselage structure and intense flutter developed, the structure failed and the tail broke away. Modifications to the structure and the control runs solved the structural problem. Much earlier Philip Lucas had landed a prototype aircraft with structural failure but this had been due to other failings. Mod 286 was a partial remedy, although there were still failures right up to the end of the Typhoon's service life. The Sabre engine was also a constant source of problems, notably in colder weather, where it was very difficult to start.
The Typhoon did not begin to mature as a reliable aircraft until the end of 1942, when its good qualities—seen from the start by S/L Roland Beamont of 609 Squadron—became apparent. Beamont had worked as a Hawker production test pilot, while resting from operations and had stayed with Seth-Smith, having his first flight in the aircraft at that time. It was extremely fast, tough and capable and its unplanned bomb load was doubled and then doubled again. During late 1942 and early 1943, the Typhoon squadrons on the south coast, finally countered the Luftwaffe's "tip and run" low-level nuisance raids, shooting down a score or more fighter-bomber Fw 190s. Typhoon squadrons kept at least one pair of aircraft on standing patrols over the South coast, with another pair kept at "readiness"; ready to take off within two minutes, throughout daylight hours. These sections of Typhoons flew at 500 feet or lower, with enough height to spot and then intercept the incoming enemy fighter-bombers. These tactics were successful during early 1943 and while flying patrols against these "nuisance" raids, No. 486 (NZ) Squadron claimed 11 fighter-bombers shot down during two months.
The first two Messerschmitt Me 210 fighter-bombers to be destroyed over the British Isles fell to the guns of Typhoons in late 1942 and during a daylight raid by the Luftwaffe on London on 20 January 1943, five Fw 190s were destroyed by Typhoons. As soon as the aircraft entered service, it was apparent the profile of the Typhoon resembled a Fw 190 from some angles, which caused more than one "friendly fire" incident, with Allied anti-aircraft units and other fighters. This led to Typhoons being marked up with high visibility black and white stripes under the wings, a precursor of the markings applied to all Allied aircraft on D-Day.
Switch to ground attack.
By 1943, the RAF needed a ground attack fighter more than a "pure" fighter and the Typhoon was suited to the role. The powerful engine allowed the aircraft to carry a load of up to two 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs, equal to the light bombers of only a few years earlier. The bomb-equipped aircraft were nicknamed "Bombphoons" and entered service with No. 181 Squadron, formed in September 1942.
From September 1943, Typhoons could also be armed with four "60 lb" RP-3 rockets under each wing. In October 1943, No. 181 Squadron made the first Typhoon rocket attacks. Although the rocket projectiles were inaccurate and took considerable skill to aim and allow for the drop after firing, "the sheer firepower of just one Typhoon was equivalent to a destroyer's broadside." By the end of 1943, 18 rocket-equipped Typhoon squadrons, formed the basis of the RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2nd TAF) ground attack arm in Europe. In theory, the rocket rails and bomb-racks were interchangeable; in practice, to simplify supply, some 2nd TAF Typhoon squadrons (such as 197 Squadron) used the 500lb only, while other squadrons were armed exclusively with rockets.
By the Normandy landings in June 1944, 2 TAF had 18 operational squadrons of Typhoon IBs, while ADGB had a further nine. The aircraft proved itself to be the most effective RAF tactical strike aircraft, on interdiction raids against communications and transport targets deep in North Western Europe prior to the invasion and in direct support of the Allied ground forces after D-Day. A system of close liaison with the ground troops was set up by the RAF and army: RAF radio operators in vehicles equipped with VHF R/T, travelled with the troops close to the front line and called up Typhoons, operating in a "Cab Rank" which attacked the targets, marked for them by smoke shells fired by mortar or artillery, until they were destroyed.
Against the Wehrmacht's tanks, the rockets needed to hit the thin-walled engine compartment or the tracks, to have any chance of destroying or disabling the tank. Analysis of destroyed tanks after the Normandy battle, showed a "hit-rate" for the air-fired rockets of only 4%. In Operation Goodwood (18 to 21 July), the 2nd Tactical Air Force claimed 257 tanks destroyed. A total of 222 were claimed by Typhoon pilots using rocket projectiles. Once the area was secured, the British "Operational Research Section 2" analysts could confirm only 10 out of the 456 knocked out German AFVs found in the area could be attributed to Typhoons using rocket projectiles.
At Mortain, in the Falaise pocket, a German counter-attack which started on 7 August, threatened Patton's break-out from the beachhead; this counter-attack was repulsed by 2nd Tactical Air Force Typhoons and the 9th USAAF. During the course of the battle, pilots of the 2nd Tactical Air Force and 9th USAAF claimed to have destroyed a combined total of 252 tanks. Only 177 German tanks and assault guns participated in the battle and only 46 were lost – of which 9 were verified as destroyed by Typhoons, 4% of the total claimed.
The effect on morale of the German troops caught up in a Typhoon RP and cannon attack were decisive, with many tanks and vehicles being abandoned, in spite of superficial damage, such that a signal from the German Army's Chief of Staff stated that the attack had been brought to a standstill by 1300 hrs '...due to the employment of fighter-bombers by the enemy, and the absence of our own air-support. The 20 mm cannon also destroyed a large number of (unarmoured) support vehicles, laden with fuel and ammunition for the armoured vehicles. On 10 July at Mortain, flying in support of the US 30th Infantry Division, Typhoons flew 294 sorties in the afternoon that day, firing 2,088 rockets and dropping 80 short tons (73 t) of bombs. They engaged the German formations while the US 9th AF prevented German fighters from intervening. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, said of the Typhoons; "The chief credit in smashing the enemy's spearhead, however, must go to the rocket-firing Typhoon aircraft of the Second Tactical Air Force... The result of the strafing was that the enemy attack was effectively brought to a halt, and a threat was turned into a great victory."
Another form of attack carried out by Typhoons were "Cloak and Dagger" operations, using intelligence sources to target German HQs. One of the most effective of these was carried out on 24 October 1944, when 146 Typhoon Wing attacked a building in Dordrecht, where senior members of the German 15th Army staff were meeting; 17 staff officers and 36 other officers were killed and the operations of the 15th Army were adversely affected for some time afterwards.
On 24 March 1945, over 400 Typhoons were sent on several sorties each, to suppress German anti-aircraft guns and Wehrmacht resistance to Operation Varsity, the Allied crossing of the Rhine river that involved two full divisions of 16,600 troops and 1,770 gliders sent across the river. On 3 May 1945, the Cap Arcona, the Thielbek and the Deutschland were sunk, in four attacks by RAF Hawker Typhoon 1Bs of No. 83 Group RAF, 2nd Tactical Air Force: the first by 184 Squadron, second by 198 Squadron led by Wing Commander John Robert Baldwin, the third by 263 Squadron led by Squadron Leader Martin T.S. Rumbold and the fourth by 197 Squadron led by Squadron Leader K.J. Harding.
The top scoring Typhoon ace was Group Captain John Robert Baldwin (609 Squadron and Commanding Officer 198 Squadron, 146 (Typhoon) Wing and 123 (Typhoon) Wing), who claimed 15 aircraft shot down during 1942–44. Some 246 Axis aircraft were claimed by Typhoon pilots during the war.
Production of the Typhoon, almost entirely by Gloster, was 3,317 machines. Hawker developed an improved version of the Typhoon, the Typhoon II but the differences between it and the Mk I were so great that it was effectively a different aircraft, thus it was renamed the Tempest. Once the war in Europe was over, the RAF was quick to remove the aircraft from front line squadrons; by October 1945 the Typhoon was no longer in use as an operational aircraft, with many of the wartime Typhoon units (for example, 198 Squadron) either being disbanded or renumbered.
