Hawker Tempest

Design

New design from Hawker (after the famous Hurricane then the Typhoon), big brother of the Typhoon, Tempest was the most modern hunter of all the allied forces. Its engine is a Napier Saber of 24 cylinders out of H without valve, able to develop 3 000 CH. Sydney Camwood (chief engineer which also drew Hurricane) which was the draftsman, was based on Typhoon, plane of carrying, solid, massive large attack and presenting a wing strong thickness. Tempest V was born in only 6 months. Its fuselage was increased of one meter to accommodate 400 liters of gasoline additional there with 130 of octane. It had a four-bladed propeller 4 meters in diameter and an oil and air landing gear of 5 meters spacing, to increase its stability on the ground. Tires of small size were developed by Dunlop in order to be able to place them in the wings. Its wings with laminar flow were so fine that shortened special guns Hispano standard V were necessary. Its tiny cockpit was laid out behind to increase the visibility. The shutters were worked over again to increase stability with the landing which was done all the same to 200 km/h. Aerodynamic additional tanks were even drawn.

With its 2 tanks, Tempest went up to 580 km/h and 640km/h in fast cruising. At full maximum speed and boost level: 735 km/h with 5 000 meters. In piqué with 5 000 meters Tempest reached 800 km/h. The tempest was the only apparatus of the allies to reach a speed of the sonic order.

With an autonomy of 1 400 km (to go/return), its 1 400 liters of gasoline and 4 guns of 20 mm firing 800 shells each one (that is to say a score of seconds of fire), Tempest was a worthy complement of the Mosquito, corsair of night.

For the anecdote, Sydney Camm declared that if Tempest had elliptic wings, it is because the R.A.F would have only accepted only one hunter resembling Spitfire…

Engagements

(See descriptions of the engagements in the Large Circus of Pierre Clostermann). Tempest was enormously finicked a miracle in time of war, but Sydney Camm wanted that this plane was perfect, drawing even for him special additional tanks. Tempest was in particular intended has to counter the V1, only squadrons 3 and 56 of RAF (Royal Air Force) were teams for this kind of mission. Tempest was the only plane of all the allies to being able to destroy V1 while positioning behind him whereas the P-47, P-51 and Spitfire were to make a piqué.

Unfortunately its launching in haste created troubles because of the gasoline with 150 of octane which the engine hardly appreciated. Abrupt falls of oil pressure, infiltrations of carbonic gas in the cockpit were noted inter alia…

In 1944 the American raids beat their full but the Luftwaffe - equipped with new apparatuses like the Focke-Wulf 190 D9 able to climb with 700km/h and equipped with 2 machine-guns with 13 mm, 2 guns of 20 mm and sometimes even of a gun of 30 mm in the engine, with the Messerschmitt 262 and the Heinkel 162 which were, them, of the jet fighters - was present at each raid and the raids were transformed into disaster (raid of August 15th when the Eaker general submitted a special report/ratio after the massacre of the Boeing B-17 and the stop during 2 to 3 weeks of any activity of the 8th Air Force). Moreover the burial of the factories allowed Germany to even keep to increase its production.

To rectify this situation squadron 122 of the RAF was sent in Holland on the airport of Volkel with of Tempest. This squadron was a unit of elite which only the most experienced pilots could reach. Five will squadrons formed the 122.

The main missions of Tempest were to neutralize Luftwaffe and particularly its jets and to block any rail traffic. Tempest excelled in the field of the attack on the ground, thanks to its guns and also with its large resistances to the damage. The results spoke about themselves: in two weeks of operation, 23 German hunters of which three with reaction were cut down and 89 mitraillées engines. But the losses were high: 21 Tempest gone down.

The blow of January 1st arrived: L `Operation Bodenplatte which aimed at mitrailler the maximum of planes combined on the ground. This operation was a success (400 allied planes destroyed and damaged) but the undergone losses (193 German planes plus 251 wounded or killed pilots) gave the blow of thanks to Luftwaffe. The in wing 122, which one of was miraculés of this operation, had to hold only the line during one week. In 6 days 10 pilots were killed and 20 descended planes.

Until the end of the war there was only one alone flotilla equipped with Tempest: 122.

Score of the 122 at the end of the war:

391 destroyed planes, 27 probable and 275 damaged;
1 615 trucks;
78 destroyed engines and 1 079 damaged.

60% of the attacks of engines were made by the 122 which are the second flotilla with the greatest number of victories against planes.

To note that Pierre Clostermann, 1st French ace, finishes the war on board Tempest.

Alternatives

Tempest Mk I : Engine Sabers IV with radiators in the wings (1 specimen N° HM599).

Tempest Mk II : Prototypes and preproduction (36 built by Bristol-board and 100 by Hawker).

Tempest BFR Mk II : version hunter Bomber (14 products per Bristol and 300 by Hawker). 89 sold to India and 24 in Pakistan after the war.

Tempest Mk III and IV : prototypes been driven by engine Griffon IIB and Griffon 61.

Tempest Mk V : 100 specimens with guns Mk II and 705 with guns Mk V.

Hawker Tempest PW2800

Translation: A temporary prototype of Tempest equipped with the Radial engine Twin Wasp of Pratt & Whitney. This version was developed because of the unreliability of the Saber engine and the unavailability of Centaurus de Bristol.

Hawker Tempest MkII: Version equipped with the radial engine Centaurus Bristol-board. This version, surer than MkV with engine Sabers, was born only after the second world war, in spite of the complaints of the various heads of unit of Wing 122 to obtain them as soon as possible.

Hawker Fury and Hawker Sea Fury: Version reduced and reduced of Tempest MkII. Especially used in its navalized version (" Sea Fury") during the war of Korea. Not to confuse with the biplane hunter Fury of the same manufacturer equipping the RAF with the years 1930.

Other characteristics

See too

List of the military aircrafts

External bonds

The Hawker Tempest Page

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