MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
I have never read anything about the actual combat service of the twin engined Westland Whirlwind fighter in WWII, but I just finished reading two books that have quite a bit about the airplane.
One book is "Flying Under Fire" which are stores of Canadian pilots in WWII. The other book is "Victory Fighters: the Veterans' Story."
The Whirlwind was used in combat by 263 Squadron and was used as a fighter bomber, carrying two 500 lb bombs on anti-shipping strikes and for dive bombing targets in France, such as airfields in the Cherbourg area. Whirlwind pilots all seemed to like the airplane, which appears to have the Spitfire beat as a fighter bomber. At least one pilot said it was the best thing he flew in the RAF, even better than the Mosquito
They describe taking off from their base in England and climbing out quickly with two 500 lb bombs as their Spitfire escorts called over the radio, saying they could not keep up.
One of the more surprising features of the airplane was that it did not have fully feathering propellers. Despite that fact, they could get one engine knocked out over France and still make it home.
In fact , it seems that no British built airplanes of that time frame had that feature, the sole exception being the AVRO Manchester, which really needed it, given the reliability problems of those powerplants.
Ironically, while the Spitfire was much better air to air, by the time of Overlord, the 2nd TAF needed fighter bombers, more that Spits, but had so many Spits they had little choice but to bomb them up. The Typhoon replaced the Whirlwind in 263 Squadron beginning in December 1943 .
One book is "Flying Under Fire" which are stores of Canadian pilots in WWII. The other book is "Victory Fighters: the Veterans' Story."
The Whirlwind was used in combat by 263 Squadron and was used as a fighter bomber, carrying two 500 lb bombs on anti-shipping strikes and for dive bombing targets in France, such as airfields in the Cherbourg area. Whirlwind pilots all seemed to like the airplane, which appears to have the Spitfire beat as a fighter bomber. At least one pilot said it was the best thing he flew in the RAF, even better than the Mosquito
They describe taking off from their base in England and climbing out quickly with two 500 lb bombs as their Spitfire escorts called over the radio, saying they could not keep up.
One of the more surprising features of the airplane was that it did not have fully feathering propellers. Despite that fact, they could get one engine knocked out over France and still make it home.
In fact , it seems that no British built airplanes of that time frame had that feature, the sole exception being the AVRO Manchester, which really needed it, given the reliability problems of those powerplants.
Ironically, while the Spitfire was much better air to air, by the time of Overlord, the 2nd TAF needed fighter bombers, more that Spits, but had so many Spits they had little choice but to bomb them up. The Typhoon replaced the Whirlwind in 263 Squadron beginning in December 1943 .
