THE WHIRLWIND!! not actually what 'Bomber' Harris was refering to but it fits the time frame. Born from the issue of Air Ministry Specification F.37/35 for a single seat day and night fighter in 1936.Westlands design was approved and two prototypes were ordered in February 1937. The Westland P.9 was designed by W.E.Petter who would go on to design the E.E Canberra, the E.E Lightning and the Folland Gnat. The P.9 was powered by two Rolls Royce Peregrine engines, developed exclusively for this aircraft.The Peregrine was delayed and dogged by problems and so the first test flight was not made untill October 11th 1938.The aircraft was a revelation....known to the Air Ministry as 37/35, still known as P.9 at Westland, as it ripped across the rooftops around Yeovil it became known as 'Crikey !' to the residents. In January 1939 an order was placed for 200 aircraft, now named 'Whirlwind'.With four 20mm Hispano MkI cannons in the nose, it was the most heavily armed fighter in existance at that time.A further order for another 200 was placed just prior to the outbreak of war.This presented Westland with a problem, already committed to producing large numbers of Lysander aircraft, the problems with delivery and reliability of the Peregrine led to an emphasis being placed on the Lysander.When the first operational Whirlwinds were ready to fly in May 1940 the aircrafts future was already in doubt.The Air Staff began questioning the wisdom of forging ahead with production when the single engined Spitfire and Hurricane showed such promise.The order for the second 200 was cancelled and the original order was cut to 114.This would remove the need for the Peregrine engine and allowed RR to increase Merlin production at a time when they were sorely needed. The Whirlwind is notable in that no other fighter aircraft in British military service was ever subjected to such rigid security measures.Although the prototype flew in 1938 the existence of the Whirlwind was not publicly revealed until February 1942.However, early in 1940 the Germans published silhouettes in their aircraft recognition charts.What other information German aircrews had is unknown, however, early in the Battle of Britain, 2 Ju88's set course for England on a nuisance raid.As the Germans approached the English coast they sighted the distinctive high tail of a Whirlwind approaching at speed.Executing a 180 deg course correction, the two German planes climbed into the cover of cloud and headed home, probably claiming to have been set upon by a dozen Spitfires.What the Germans didn't see was the test pilot in the unarmed Whirlwind prototype doing exactly the same thing... The Whirlwind filled a vital role following the Battle of Britain, supplementing Fighter Command's strength.However it really came into it's own when tasked with the ground attack role.With it's 4x 20mm cannons supplemented with 2x 500Lb bombs, the Whirlwind was capable of immense destruction and locomotives, road convoys, shipping and airfields became the prime targets of this fast, low flying fighter bomber. Only 2 squadrons No 137 and No 263 were equipped with the Whirlwind.The Whirlwind had a short life with the last 16 examples retired from service and declared obsolete for all RAF purposes in June 1944.Held at No18 Maintenance unit Dumfries until November 1946, they were finally 'reduced to produce' by the Airwork General Trading Company. The last surviving Whirlwind was P7048, which had been damaged in May 1943 and returned to the Westland works at Yeovil for repair. After it was repaired it remained the only serviceable Whirlwind, and the only one to survive the Second World War. The aircraft was eventually civil registered postwar as G-AGOI and used as a company hack for a short time before being withdrawn in 1947, the aircraft was used for rescue training and then,engineless,it was buried under Westlands airfield.