This Hawker Tempest II was on display at RAF Cosford.
The Hawker Tempest was a British fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the Second World War. It was an improved version of the Hawker Typhoon, and was designed to address the Typhoon’s unexpected deterioration in performance at high altitude. The Tempest was renamed after it diverged considerably from the Typhoon. It emerged as one of the most powerful fighters of World War II, and was the fastest single-engine propeller-driven aircraft of the war at low altitude.
The Hawker Tempest was powered by a 2,210 hp Bristol Centaurus V air-cooled radial engine. The Hawker Tempest was a highly successful aircraft, and was considered to be one of the best British fighters of the Second World War. It was fast, powerful, and well-armed, and proved to be very effective in both ground attack and air-to-air combat.
The Hawker Tempest II was designed to use the Bristol Centaurus 18-cylinder radial engine, as an alternative to the liquid-cooled engines that were originally proposed. The new engine and cowling were the only major differences between the Tempest II and the earlier Tempest Vs. The carburettor air intakes were in the inner leading edges of both wings, an oil cooler and air intake were present in the inner starboard wing. The engine installation owed much to examinations of a captured Focke-Wulf Fw 190.