Hawker Tempest

what is it?

The Hawker Tempest is a British fighter aircraft that was primarily used in its Mk.V form by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the later stages of the Second World War. The Tempest, originally known as the Typhoon II, was a significantly improved derivative of the Hawker Typhoon, intended to address the Typhoon's unexpected deterioration in performance at high altitude by replacing its wing with a thinner laminar flow design. Since it had diverged considerably from the Typhoon, it was renamed Tempest.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 12.5 m wingspan

base stats

• size 5,171 kgmax take-off weight
• built 1,394made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 84 years ago, in 1942.
• 🚗Wingspan of 12.5 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1942-09-02

introduced

1944

retired

1953

status

retired

number built

1,394

role

fighter aircraft

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Hawker Aircraft

engines

1× Napier Sabre IIB

crew

1

length

10.3 m

wingspan

12.5 m

height

4.5 m

max take-off weight

5,171 kg

top speed

—

range

—

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.