Afternoon walkaround of a thoroughbred Hawker Tempest Mk II
Afternoon walkaround of a thoroughbred Hawker Tempest Mk II
This Tempest II is displayed at the Florida Air Museum and was photographed during a beautiful November afternoon day when it had been luckily been pulled out of the hangar for an event. The Tempest II was an evolutionary airplane designed later in WW II for air superiority and interception missions. It was fast (Bristol Centaurus radial 2520 hp/1880kW radial engine giving 440 mph/704kph airspeed with a then new laminar flow wing), nimble (using knowledge learned from the Typhoon, Fw 190 and P-51) and powerfully armed (4 x 20mm cannon). Like a modified racer the engine is closely cowled and the drag inducing radiator chin scoop of the Typhoon was dropped in favor of wing inlets — though the chin scoop was reintroduced with later variants.
The Bristol Centaurus radial engine is housed in a highly streamlined cowl on the Hawker Tempest Mk II, note the air inlets in each wing as well as the oil cooler inlet in the right wing — photo by Joseph May
The Hawker Tempest Mk II is a seascape livery — photo by Joseph May
Profile of LA607, when the canopy is slid back a step lowers from the right wingroot — photo by Joseph May
The Bristol Centaurus’s exhaust stacks were also with the streamlined nose — photo by Joseph May
Bulges for the pair of 20mm cannon in the right wing — photo by Joseph May
A better view of the narrow profile wing of the then new laminar flow design — photo by Joseph May
The Mk.II was definitely the best looking of the Tempest line. The Napier Sabre powered ones always had that big chin radiator messing up their looks. That look was fine for a mud mover like the Typhoon but not so much for a fighter like the Tempest.
Agreed, hard not to
Reading about the development of the Tempest shows the emphasis was on speed and the Tempest II has the most thoroughbred lines, I think.