The Mark V Tempest on the left, EJ743 was built by Hawker and was part of the 300 aircraft second contract. It was flown by number 56 Squadron and coded US-H and was based at Vokel in Holland in December 1944
The Mark II Tempest on the right, MW742, was built by Hawker and was part of their 100 aircraft first contract. It was one of the 89 aircraft supplied to the Indian Air Force in May 1948.
The Tempest was a single seat monoplane fighter powered the following engines:
Marks I, V and VI - A Napier Sabre 37 litre 24 cylinder in-line H-configuration liquid cooled engine
Mark II - A Bristol Centaurus 54 litre 18 cylinder, two-row radial air cooled engine.
Marks III and IV - A Rolls-Royce 37 litre 12 cylinder in-line V-configuration liquid cooled engine.
The Marks V and VI were very similar in appearance to the Typhoon. Hawkers realised that the Typhoon thickness to chord ratio, about 18% at the root tapering to about 13% at the tip, was too high. So for the Tempest, a thinner wing was designed with a semi-elliptical plan and a thickness to chord ratio of 14.5% at the root tapering to 10 % at the tip. This lower thickness to chord ratio resulted in the Tempest wing being five inches thinner at the root than the Typhoon and was a vast improvement in view of the Typhoons' troubles with compressibility.
The internal fuel system consisted of four tank, a fuselage tank of 76 gallons in front of the pilot, 28 gallon tanks between the spars of both inner wings and a 30 gallon tank (not always fitted) in the leading edge of the port wing; giving a total capacity of 162 gallons. The fuselage tank necessitated the Tempest being 2 feet longer than the Typhoon.
The Tempest was originally to be known as the Typhoon Mk.II, but with so many design modifications introduced, it was decided to give the aircraft the new name, Tempest. The aircraft was to be produced in three main Marks, II, V and VI. These all had four-bladed Rotol or deHavilland propellers. The Tempest was armed with four 20 mm cannon, two in each wing, firing outside the propeller disc. The 150 rounds per gun gave a firing time of 15 seconds, compared to 9 seconds for the Hurricane.
The Tempest Mark I had a four bladed airscrew with an uprated Napier Sabre engine. A very much cleaner appearance, with the radiators taken away from the distinctive bulky chin of the Typhoon and placed in the wing root leading edge. There was only a prototype.
The Tempest Mark II was fitted with a Bristol Centaurus sleeve-valve radial engine.
The Mark III was fitted with a Rolls-Royce Griffin IIb engine. There was only a prototype.
The Tempest Mark IV was also fitted with a Rolls-Royce Griffin 61 engine. It was not flown.
The Tempest Mark V, with the same Napier Sabre engine as the Typhoon, had a longer nose and an extended radiator put back in the same position as the Typhoon, under the nose.
This was the Tempest Mark V modified for service in the tropics. It had a more powerful Napier Sabre engine which necessitated moving the oil cooler intakes to the wing roots.
After testing the Tempest it soon became apparent to the pilots, that they had on their hands a much quicker,livelier and aggressive thoroughbred than the Typhoon. With the same engine as the Typhoon, the Tempest Mark V was 20 mph faster.The Tempest was built by Hawkers at Kingston and Langley and in addition 50 Marks II were built by Bristol.
A total of 1414 Tempests were produced as follows:
| Mark | Manufacturer | Number of Aircraft | Serial Numbers | |
V |
Hawker | 100 Dec 43-May 44 | JN729-773, JN792-822, JN854-77 | |
II |
Bristol | 50 | MW374-423 | |
II |
Hawker | 100 | MW735-778, MW790-835, MW847-856 | |
VI |
Hawker | 142 | NX113-156, NX169-209, NX223-268, NX281-288, NX997-999 |
| Mark | Mark V | Mark II | Mark VI | |
First Flight Dates: |
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| Mark | Mark I | Mark III | Mark IV | |
First Flight Dates: |
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| Mark | Mark V | Mark II | Mark VI | |
First Squadron |
486 | 54 | 249 | |
Last Squadron |
3 | 33 | 8 |
The following 25 Royal Air Force squadrons flew the Hawker Tempest at some time:
| Squadron | From | To | Squadron | From | To | |
3 |
April 1944 | April 1948 | 5 |
March 1946 | August 1947 | |
6 |
January 1947 | November 1949 | 8 |
March 1947 | March 1950 | |
16 |
April 1946 | January 1949 | 20 |
May 1946 | July 1947 | |
26 |
June 1946 | May 1949 | 30 |
March 1946 | December 1946 | 33 |
December 1944 | June 1951 | 39 |
June 1948 | February 1949 |
54 |
November 1945 | October 1946 | 56 |
June 1944 | March 1946 |
80 |
August 1944 | January 1948 | 152 |
August 1946 | January 1947 |
174 |
September 1945 | March 1946 | 183 |
August 1945 | November 1945 |
213 |
January 1947 | January 1950 | 222 |
December 1944 | October 1945 |
247 |
August 1945 | April 1946 | 249 |
June 1946 | February 1950 |
274 |
August 1944 | September 1945 | 287 |
November 1944 | June 1946 |
349 |
February 1945 | April 1945 | 486 |
April 1944 | October 1945 |
501 |
July 1944 | April 1945 |
The Tempest Mark V went into RAF service with numbers 3 and 486 squadrons in April 1944, based at Newchurch in Kent. Following operations over Europe, including attacks on "Noball" sites (later became known as V1 launching sites), from mid June 1944 the Tempests were confined to England in order to defend against the V1 flying bombs (the first cruise missiles). The Tempest squadrons between 13 June and 5 September 1944 shot down 638 V1s out of the RAF total of 1,771.
Following the end of the main V1 attacks in September 1944 (although the last one did not fall until 25 March 1945), the Tempest squadrons were temporarily withdrawn from service for modifications. In December 1944 numbers 56, 80, 274 and 486 squadrons were based at Volkel airfield in Holland. Their task was to 1) combat German fighters and bombers specially the jet powered ones, 2)paralyse the railway system from the Rhine to Berlin by attacks on locomotives,3) general attacks on German ground targets including airfields. These sorties continued to the end of the War in Europe by which time Tempest squadrons had destroyed in air combat 239 German manned aircraft including 20 Messerschmitt 262 jet fighters and also 638 unmanned ones.
In addition to the Tempest squadrons already mentioned, numbers 33, 222 and 501 were also operational and number 349 flew the Tempest for two months but did not become operational. The peak wartime strength was 10 squadrons between February and April 1945.
The Tempest Mark II entered RAF service with number 54 squadron at Chilbolton in November 1945 and the only other home based squadron was number 247 which relinquised its Tempests in April 1946. From 1946 to 1949, numbers 16, 26 and 33 squadrons were based in Germany and from 1946 to August 1947 numbers 5, 20, 30 and 152 squadrons were based in India. In July 1949, number 33 squadron moved to the Far East and was originally based at Hong Kong and later in Malaya where it was used against the communist terrorists until June 1951. It was the last RAF Tempest squadron.
The Tempest Mark VI was flown by numbers 6, 8, 39, 213 and 249 squadrons in the Middle East and numbers 3, 16, 56 and 80 squadrons in Germany between between 1946 and 1949.
The peak all time strength of all Marks of Tempest was 12 Squadrons in January 1947.
Following the disbanding of the last RAF Tempest squadron in June 1951, the Tempest continued in RAF service towing target flags for air to air gunnery training. From February 1950 to May 1952, 80 Tempest Mark F5 were converted by Hawkers at Langley, to Tempests Mark TT5. The Tempest TT5 was flown by 233 OCU from October 1952 to July 1955, when the Tempest finally retired from RAF service.
A total of seven RIAF squadrons were equipped with the Tempest Mark II ; number 3 from September 1946, number 8 from October 1946, number 10 in May 1947, numbers 7 and 9 in June 1947 and numbers 1 and 4 in July 1947. They did not engage in any military actions.
The Indian sub-continent became independent on 14 August 1947 and was partitioned into India and West Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The Tempests of what were RIAF squadrons 1 and 9 were passed to RPAF squadrons 5 and 9 respectively.
124 Tempests Mark II were handed over the the Indian Air Force in September 1947 and a further 89 Tempests supplied in May 1948 and a final 20 in July and August 1951. They attacked Pakistan ground targets in the 1947 to 1948 Jammu and Kashmir wars and were also engaged in internal Indian wars. They served with six squadrons, numbers 2 to December 1947, 3 to December 1952, 4 to April 1954, 7 to December 1949, 8 to November 1951 and 10 to December 1953. The last squadron, number 4, disbanded in April 1954 and the last Tempest was retired from target towing duties in July 1955. See the following website for a detailed account: The Temperamental Tempest.
The Royal Pakistan Air Force was formed on 14 August 1947 and had 35 Tempests Mark II and a further 24 were supplied in May 1948. They fought against the Indian Air Force in the 1947 to 1948 Jammu and Kashmir wars. They patrolled the northern areas during first Kashmir war of 1948. Tempest IIs of No.5 Squadron based at MiranShah were used for policing the North Western Frontier region. They served with numbers 5 and 9 squadrons. The last squadron disbanded in 1953? and the last Tempest was retired from target towing duties in 1956
The Tempest Mark V performance was for the engine at 3700 rpm and 9 lb boost. The Sabre was eventually cleared for wartime emergency rating of 3850 rpm at 13 lb boost and the performance was then much higher.
| Type Mark | Tempest Mark I | Tempest Mark II | Tempest Mark III | Tempest Mark IV | Tempest Mark V | Tempest Mark VI | |
Engine |
Sabre IV | Centaurus V | Griffon IIb | Griffon 61 | Sabre II | Sabre V | |
Span ft:in |
41:0 | 41:0 | 41:0 | 41:0 | 41:0 | 41:0 | |
| Weights lb Empty Normal Loaded Maximum Loaded |
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| Speed mph at Sea Level Speed mph at Altitude : kft |
- | - | - | - | 378 | - | |
| Altitude Performance Initial climb : fpm Altitude climb : fpm at - kft Mins to kft Mins to kft Service Ceiling kft (100 fpm) Absolute Ceiling kft |
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| Range miles With 162 gal internal fuel With two 90 gal drop tanks |
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Armament |
The Tempest was armed with four 20 mm cannon mounted in the wings outside the propeller disc, the 150 round each gave a total firing time of 15 seconds. In addition up to 2,000 lb of bombs, rockets etc could be carried. |
| Mark | RAF Serial | Other Numbers | Location | Notes | |
- |
- | - | - | - |
| Mark | RAF Serial | Other Numbers | Location | Notes | |
V |
EJ693 | N7027E | Personal Plane Services | Owner is Kermit Weeks,Tamiami, | |
II |
MW763 | G-TEMT | Tempest Two Ltd, Lincolnshire, England | The aircraft may fly in 2010. |
| Mark | RAF Serial | Other Numbers | Location | Notes | |
II |
LA607 | N607LA | Florida Air Museum, Tamiami, Florida, USA | - | |
II |
MW376 | G-BSHW IAF HA564 | France or USA | - | |
II |
MW401 | G-PEST IAF HA604 | Tempest Two Ltd, Lincolnshire, England | Stored | |
II |
MW404 | IAF HA557 | Tempest Two Ltd, Lincolnshire, England | For sale- | |
II |
MW758 | IAF HA580 | Tempest Two Ltd, Lincolnshire, England | Stored | |
II |
MW810 | IAF HA591 | Nelson Ezell, Texas, USA | Stored | |
II |
MW848 | IAF HA623 | Indian Air Force Museum, Pallan AB, | - | |
V |
NV778 | None | RAF Museum, Hendon, London, England | Built by Hawker in November 1944. It served | |
II |
PR536 | IAF HA457 | RAF Museum, Hendon, London, England | Built by Hawker in 1945 and from March |
Tim Hammond, February 2010. Revised and Index added, August 2010.
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