Squadron Leader B. G. Stapleton, No. 247 Squadron, 1944 flew this Spitfire MK.I. The Hawker Typhoon MK1B was built with 20mm cannon, as opposed to the 12 machine gun armament of the MK1A and the first of them were assigned to 609 Squadron, commanded by Sqn Ldr R P (Roley) Beaumont in November 1941. Roley Beaumont was to become one of the famous test pilots after the war. The MK1b performance at high levels was disappointing but they made up for it at lower altitudes. At the time, the Focke Wulf Fw 190s were causing a lot of damage during sneak low level raids over the south east coast of England, but they misjudged the power of the Hawker Typhoons, which excelled in this low level form of aerial combat. The Typhoons were faster than the Fw 190s, scoring great success against the Luftwaffe aircraft. This subsequently lead to their elevation to the status of fighter bomber and, armed with rockets, they went to attack enemy ships in the English Channel, as well as performing very successful attacks over many Western European battle grounds during the final stages of the war. The last Typhoon came off the production line at the end of 1945, at which point it had become a legend in its time.