Using one of the many scale models of a Typhoon fighter plane that are on display in his Burnaby home, Harry Hardy demonstrates some of the manouvres that kept him alive flying bombing missions during WWII. (MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER)

Harry Hardy could be accused of being biased when he says the “Typhoon won the war.”

If the 83-year-old is biased it probably comes from his close attachment to the World War II fighter plane. He flew 96 missions in the Typhoon over France, Holland, Belgium and Germany. Hardy lost three of the fighters during the war after being hit by enemy fire and limped home six times with his plane shot up.

So with such memories, imagine the Burnaby veteran’s disappointment when he visited the Juno Beach Centre last year and couldn’t find a model of his beloved Typhoon. There was a model of the Spitfire, a high altitude fighter, but none of the dive-bombing Typhoon.

“All they had was this small little photo,” he said, arranging his hands to form a four-inch by six-inch picture frame. “That wouldn’t do.”

After finding no Typhoon, he told the staff at the Juno Beach Centre – Canada’s World War II museum in Normandy, France – about the missing museum piece. The response was to find a model and they would display it. So after visiting the museum, during the 60th anniversary of D-Day – Hardy found them a model and brought it back.

And what a model, with a wingspan of almost six feet, it holds a dominant spot in the exhibition.

“They were vital during the war and that has to be [acknowledged],” said Hardy.

The museum, which now displays the model, also explains the Typhoon had the highest losses of any Canadian-flown aircraft. That wasn’t because they were unsafe or unreliable. It was because of the missions they were used on.

A typical Typhoon mission was to fly just off the ground and strafe enemy vehicles and troops. Occasionally they would go after tanks. What made things so dangerous was every enemy soldier would fire at them when they skimmed the ground at 400-miles-per-hour.

Or the Typhoon pilots would be given surgical bombing missions. Carrying two 1,000-pound bombs, they would dive bomb bridges, trains and other targets. Bridges were the worst because German artillery would all be aimed into the path they had to fly. It was called the “cone of fire” and it resulted in the greatest Typhoon losses.

But it was a remarkable plane, said Hardy. It packed bombs under each wing and cannons that fired 20 mm shells, making it the heaviest fighter at seven tons fully loaded.

Hardy kept many of his flight logbook entries and that reminds him of the heavy casualties. His logbook from Aug. 11 to Sept. 6 records four Typhoon pilots shot down and presumed dead. One notes: “Aug. 18... F.O. (Flight Officer) Colville... Killed Strafing... Bail out. Parachute did not open.” Beside it is a photo of the pilot.

“It was just the older guys I had photos for. Some of the younger guys hadn’t been around long enough, so I didn’t include their photos,” said Hardy.

In the autobiography Hardy has written, he recalls his last recollections of a fellow flyer, Buck Jenvey. They were flying a “train busting” mission when Jenvey had to make a forced landing in occupied territory. Hardy flew low past the pilot as he hopped out of his Typhoon and made for the woods. Jenvey stopped momentarily to wave at Hardy.

Three months later Jenvey was caught by the Germans and shot.

“During the two-minute silence on [Remembrance Day], I always see Buck standing there waving at me.”

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