awker Typhoon Sherman Firefly Aviation Art print by Stephen Chard GAvA

By 1944 it was understood that the 75mm-armed M4 Sherman was inferior to the more recent armoured vehicles of the Wehrmacht and that some upgrading was required to give the troops at least some chance in tank-on-tank combat. While American units were equipped to some degree with 76mm armed vehicles, the British were determined to fit the powerful, but large and heavy 17 pounder into the turret of the standard Sherman. This was done in a rather haphazard way and involved adding an armoured box for the radio and a separate hatch for the loader, but the Firefly became the best tank available to the British for anti-tank work  by the D-Day landings.

Hawker's Typhoon became one of the most important aircraft in the RAF inventory during the lead-up to and months following D-Day, being employed in the ground-attack role until the end of the war.