Hawker Tempest V

The Tempest was a development of the Typhoon and despite a certain external similarity it was a completely new design. It differed mainly in having a thin-section elliptical wing and lengthened fuselage to accommodate the fuel tanks, which in the Typhoon had been in the wings.

- Murray McLeod

Once again the complex H-form Napier Sabre was specified and powered the Mk.I and Mk.V Tempests while the Bristol Centaurus was installed in the Mk.II. The first production Mk.V flew in June 1943; a total of 800 being built before production ceased in August 1945, the Mk.V being the only variant to see war service.

Nothing was left undone to give the Tempest maximum performance with great attention paid to the riveting, joints and surface polish. The result was a superb combat machine and in spite of the big radiator which gave an angry and wilful appearance it was astonishingly slender. With its 2,400 hp engine it had a considerable margin of power, delivering a true air speed of nearly 400mph at half-power (1425 hp). In an emergency situation it could be boosted to 3000 hp to achieve a maximum level speed of 460mph.

In April 1944 the first Tempest Wing, initially comprising No.3 and 486(NZ) squadrons was formed at New church Kent, commanded by W/ Cdr.R.P. Beamont. This remarkable airman was a staunch proponent of the Typhoon during its troublesome development period in 1941/42 and only for his hands-on involvement the Typhoon was in danger of being withdrawn from service.

After an initial period of train busting and ground-attack operations in Northern France the Tempests were deployed to defend a critical situation facing Great Britain. In mid-June the first of Hitler’s ‘revenge’ weapons, the V-I started to rain on London. It was a case of the Tempests being in the right place at the right time when thanks to their superior performance 632 V-Is failed to reach their primary target. In the initial stages of the onslaught one third of these were brought down by the RAF.