Hawker Typhoon IB EK497 armed with RP-3 rocket projectiles. Colourisation of original photograph by RICHARD J. MOLLOY.

Снимок Typhoon Mk IB сделан во время испытаний неуправляемых ракет в Боскомб Дауне. Позже этот самолет вернули в 183-ю эскадрилью "Gold Coast", которая летала на Typhoon с ноября 1942 года по июнь 1945 года. Этот самолет, EK497, был сбит 1 января 1945 года самолетом P-51 ВВС Армии США. Пилот Typhoon флаинг-офицер Д. Вебер погиб.
The Hawker Typhoon IB Rocket Fighter (Napier Sabre IIA engine).
Rocket projectiles were first tested on the Typhoon at the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at Boscombe Down in March 1943 using EK497, seen here with four RP-3s mounted on launching rails on each wing. Sadly, EK497 was later shot down by a USAAF P-51 while in the circuit at Asche in Holland.

A Typhoon pilot enters the cockpit in preparation for another RP sortie, this time with four RP-3s bearing 60lb high-explosive (HE) semi-armour-piercing (SAP) warheads. There were several variants of the RP-3, including 25lb shot or HE warheads, the standard 60lb HE/SAP warhead and training rounds fitted with concrete heads.

An armourer fits the electrical plugs which fired the RP-3. Each weak-link electrical lead-and-plug unit was 21 1/2 in (54·6cm) long and consisted of a pair of conductors in a two-pin plug arrangement in a moulded rubber covering. Two-way weak-link lead-and-plug units were also available for the tier-carriage of two RP-3s on one rail.

A photographic sequence taken during RP-3 trials with a Typhoon, using concrete-headed training rounds. During initial trials of the RP installation, the latter’s proximity to the Typhoon’s wing-mounted pitot head caused the airspeed indicator (ASI) to over-read by some 15 m.p.h. (24km/h) at 340 m.p.h. (547km/h), an issue cured by locating a separate static source.

Looking pugnacious with its distinctive chin radiator and armed with eight RP-3s on its rails (referred to by armourers as projectors), a “Tiffy” taxies out for another sortie in northern France in the wake of D-Day.

Giving a good idea of the weapon’s size, an armourer carries an RP-3 to a waiting Typhoon in July 1944.

Typhoon MN517 of No 609 Sqn shows the Mk Ia RP installation without the RPs attached. The launching rails were essentially box-beams mounted individually directly on to the underside of the aircraft’s wing via struts. The Mk Ia installation differed from that on the Mk I, as used on the Hurricane, in having no blast-plate assembly.

A dramatic artwork showing Hawker Typhoon MN819 of No 245 Sqn unleashing a pair of RP-3s on ground forces below during a lashing rainstorm. The enduring myth of the Typhoon being a formidable “tankbuster” was due in no small measure to its relationship with the RP-3.