Hawker Typhoon - Why only ETO?

[percydanvers]

It seems like most RAF aircraft made it to every theater where British/Commonwealth forces were fighting, but I can see nothing about Typhoons in any theater other than the ETO, and particularly Normandy/Channel. Was there a particular reason for this or was it just a matter that there weren't enough Typhoons to go around and Normandy had the highest priority? 

[Dakpilot]

Logistics and specialist  maintenance, I would hazard a guess

 

Cheers, Dakpilot 

[Bremspropeller]

I think the conventional wisdom is circling around reliability issues and logistics around the Sabre engine. Conventional wisdom is often disproven, at the end.

It may or may not be the case here.

 

It probably also boils down to things like

- the Tiffie was most useful in the ETO for ground attacks

- the ETO had the most serious ground-opposition

- it's range wasn't really all that great for PTO ops

- other theaters had been covered by lend-lease aircraft (e.g. Thunderbolts for the Far Eastern RAF)

[ZachariasX]

21 hours ago, percydanvers said:

It seems like most RAF aircraft made it to every theater where British/Commonwealth forces were fighting, but I can see nothing about Typhoons in any theater other than the ETO, and particularly Normandy/Channel. Was there a particular reason for this or was it just a matter that there weren't enough Typhoons to go around and Normandy had the highest priority? 

Because it makes sense to put "the fast" (of which there are few because of its engine) attacker aircraft where a kind oposition is that is actually capable of denying your operations, if your aircraft are not the dernier cri. In Burma, you're mainly fighting the weather and the Hurricane suits that even better. The MTO was over by that time and the PTO didn't require that kind of aircraft. Actually, maintaining a Sabre in that climate would certainly have been a nightmare. Getting all the logistics and training half around the globe to the most desolated places imagineable, for what?

[Avimimus]

That is my instinct too: Engine issues would mean that it was desirable to keep them near England where they could be more easily maintained and upgraded. However, there is also the fact that they were initially deployed to counter the Fw-190 and would have been held back for that purpose. They were then gradually converted to ground attack duties, and replaced Hurricanes in this role. I suspect that they simply had enough work in the ETO supporting Normandy, by that time, and thus there wasn't a surplus of aircraft to send to Burma (even if engine troubles were resolved).

 

But this is all guesswork on my part. Just because we're all making the same guesses doesn't mean we're right (as Bremspropeller hints at).

[cardboard_killer]

[ZachariasX]

That puts three Typhoons Ib to Egypt, probably at Idku. Mission of the day: Clear 24 sleeve valves from Sahara dust.

[unreasonable]

The Typhoon was just not needed in the Far East anyway.  By July 1944 the Japanese army had been thrashed at Imphal-Kohima by 14th Army and the Allies had air supremacy in Burma. There was not a lot of point in sending untropicalised planes fitted out for rocket attacks on vehicles and tanks, to attack an army with hardly any vehicles or tanks, in the jungle. As noted above, a tropicalised Hurricane or Spitfire could do an adequate ground attack job - mostly strafing mules -  much more cost effectively.

 

The Tempest was intended to be used in the Far East, in the MkII (Centaurus) version, which was tropicalised from the start. By the time modern types were needed in the Pacific to deal with the home defense air force the Tempest II was ready to equip an RAF contingent but the Japanese surrendered anyway. ( I like to think that they did this because they did not want to lose to a force that had a "divine wind" on the wrong side: I know the bomb and the Russians make for a more practical story, but the Japanese had - and still have - some very strange ideas!)  

Edited November 9, 2021 by unreasonable

[percydanvers]

Hmmm all the reasons everyone lists make a good deal of sense. There just weren't many sabre engines to go around and no need for them in any place but Europe.

I guess it just struck me as odd since most allied planes I can think of were present on multiple fronts to some degree or another. 

[MiloMorai]

3 hours ago, unreasonable said:

The Typhoon was just not needed in the Far East anyway.  By July 1944 the Japanese army had been thrashed at Imphal-Kohima by 14th Army and the Allies had air supremacy in Burma. There was not a lot of point in sending untropicalised planes fitted out for rocket attacks on vehicles and tanks, to attack an army with hardly any vehicles or tanks, in the jungle. As noted above, a tropicalised Hurricane or Spitfire could do an adequate ground attack job - mostly strafing mules -  much more cost effectively.

 

The Tempest was intended to be used in the Far East, in the MkII (Centaurus) version, which was tropicalised from the start. By the time modern types were needed in the Pacific to deal with the home defense air force the Tempest II was ready to equip an RAF contingent but the Japanese surrendered anyway. ( I like to think that they did this because they did not want to lose to a force that had a "divine wind" on the wrong side: I know the bomb and the Russians make for a more practical story, but the Japanese had - and still have - some very strange ideas!)  

Tempest MK VI was also a tropical version.

3 hours ago, ZachariasX said:

That puts three Typhoons Ib to Egypt, probably at Idku. Mission of the day: Clear 24 sleeve valves from Sahara dust.

The 3 tropicalized Typhoons (R8891, CN323, EJ906) in Casablanca with 145 MU. After assembly they were flown to Aboukir. 451 then began operational trials. They flew until Feb 1944 when lack of spare parts grounded them.

 

With the Allied success in the area (MTO), it was decided the Typhoons were not needed.

 

The 12 "desert" Typhoons still in GB were converted back to "temperate" condition.

[Jaws2002]

Specialized maintenance for that big engine and the high speed, down low, of the typhoon made it the best tool to counter the FW-190 tree trop intruders.