Placing the Fairey Battle.

[Franek Grabowski]

Graham
Typhoon was too late and only filled the unexpected gap, never becoming the main RAF fighter. Even this was achieved with plenty of problems - I would hardly call that a success. Still, there were some alternatives, eg. Spitfire XII for low level interceptions - actually they were faster that Typhoons. There is a very interesting comparison between Tempest and Griffon Spitfire and Merlin Mustang in the mentioned AFDU report. Even far superior Tempest was a niche aircraft that actually was not that necessary, and could have been well replaced by the other types in the inventory.
Going back to 1940, indeed there was no serious alternative for Spitfire and as a stop-gap - Hurricane. But was not production of Hurricanes in later period a waste of resources?
The another question is - do we need a monster engined fighter at all? Perhaps less power, however wise designed aircraft is a better sollution? This is what lightweight Mustang actually followed.
P-39 could have been not an ideal choice but it had several advantages. Indeed it was slower, but it was still pretty fast, one of the fastest low level aircraft at the time. Forward view must have been superior to the one of Typhoon for obvious reasons and it is often crucial in ground attack duties. It was much more streamlined, thus a harder target to hit with all the internal fittings hidden behind the structure. Certainly there was a potential in the type.
On the other hand, Thunderbolt was available for RAF just for Normandy landings but it was send overseas to replace Hurricanes, which then could have been replaced by increased Spitfire production and already mentioned Vengeances. This would leave Hawker with no own type in production, however, and Hawker was the main supplier of RAF through the 1930s.
There were possible alternatives, but going to the main topic, Battle was no alternative.