Merlin Barn Find - Chapter 1

Footage and images from the beginning! Episode 21, chapter 1, covers what we've been up to with the Merlin rebuild since the beginning. This chapter includes bringing the engine home, disassembly, findings, first power and more!


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Hawker Typhoon JP843 is a British designed aircraft of the Second World War, originally intended as a fighter / interceptor, but ultimately ending up excelling as a ground attack aircraft. The Typhoon was the Royal Air Force's ( RAF ) first 400mph fighter, and although it had troubled development in its early years (partially due to the massive Napier Sabre sleeve valve engine that had been pushed into service), it came to be one of the premier ground attack aircraft of the war, scourge of the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe alike; excelling through D-Day, the Normandy campaign, and the Allied advance through Europe and VE Day.

While there were many nationalities of pilots and crew involved in Typhoon operations, the primary operators of the Hawker Typhoon were:

Royal Air Force ( RAF )
Royal Canadian Air Force ( RCAF )
Royal New Zealand Air Force ( RNZAF )
Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF )

Hawker Typhoon JP843 served with 197 Squadron RAF, 198 Squadron RAF, and 609 Squadron RAF between September of 1943 and July of 1944. She was lost, along with her pilot, Peter March Price, RNZAF on the 27th of July 1944 in the battlefields of France.

The development of the Typhoon led to the Hawker Tempest V, which outperformed the Typhoon. Due to this, and the end of World War II, the Hawker Typhoon was quickly scrapped and replaced, with only one example of over 3300 surviving. This example, Hawker Typhoon MN235, only survived by chance after being sent to the United States Air Force ( USAF ) for evaluation during the war. With approximately 9 hours of flight time, the USAF crated the Typhoon and stored the aircraft with many others. Eventually becoming an asset of the Smithsonian, the Typhoon was traded back to the UK's RAF Museum Hendon in 1968 for a Hawker Hurricane.