Geriaviator (your #7887),
...Side by side we thundered down the runway with breathtaking acceleration...
An extract from my p.123 #2455 (and a lesson in humility !)
...I saw my first "Typhoon" there, flown in by the ATA; in early 42 that was a very rare bird indeed. They hadn't got the carburetion sorted out properly yet; every start was a toss-up whether the engine would run or burst into flames. A fire truck had to stand by every time, and this always attracted a crowd (don't we all enjoy a good bonfire?) On the morning of the Typhoon's departure, a small bunch of us, not scheduled to fly till later, strolled round the taxyway to watch the fun from a safe distance.
All was made ready, the pilot came out and jaws dropped. A pert little blonde in a snazzy white flying overall hopped up into the cockpit. This put quite a different face on things. We hadn't come here to watch a re-run of St-Joan-at-Rouen, and were glad to see that she didn't strap herself in before pressing the button. The fire crew gripped their extinguishers, we held our breath.
The ancients believed the unicorn to be a savage beast, only to be subdued by a chaste young maiden. There may have been something in it, the big "Sabre" fired-up with no more than the customary snarl of fire and brimstone from the exhaust stubs, then idled sweet as a nut. Our aviatrix ran through the checks, imperiously waved chocks away, and off she went.
We walked back pensively to our Spitfires with male egos sadly deflated. If this chit of a girl could handle a monster like that, where did that leave us? The message was reinforced as we came up to the marshalling point, she came bellowing down the runway and flashed past us fifty feet in the air. We trudged glumly back to our Flights...
Danny.
EDIT: Only other thing I remember about Typhoons was a tale told me by an old airtrafficker. He'd had to put it down wheels-up, as they were careering along the Sabre broke out and continued bouncing along beside him like a friendly dog. He was rather apprehensive that it might land on top of him, but they came to rest apart. D.