Military Illustrated Modeller - September 2019FEATURE ARTICLEÊ
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FINAL
STORM
Brett Green builds
Eduard’s excellent new
1:48 scale Tempest Mk.V
Series 2.
T
he Hawker Tempest was a British fighter aircraft
primarily used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in
the Second World War. The Tempest was an
improved derivative of the Hawker Typhoon, the
type originally being known as the Typhoon II, which
was intended to address the Typhoon's unexpected
fall-off of performance at high altitude by replacing
its wing with a thinner laminar flow design. Having
diverged considerably from the Typhoon, it was
decided to rename the aircraft Tempest. The Tempest
emerged as one of the most powerful fighters of the
World War II and was the fastest propeller-driven
aircraft of the war at low altitude.
Upon entering service in 1944, the Tempest was
used as a low-level interceptor, particularly against
the V-1 flying bomb threat, and as a ground attack
platform, in which it supported major events such
as Operation Market Garden. Later, it successfully
targeted the rail infrastructure in Germany and
Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground, as well as countering
such attacks by German fighters. The Tempest was
effective in the low-level interception role, including
against newly developed jet-propelled aircraft such as
the Messerschmitt Me 262.
The further developed Tempest Mk.II, which had
several improvements including being tropicalised, was
intended to see combat against Japan in South-East
Asia as part of the Commonwealth Tiger Force, did not
enter service until after the end of hostilities.*