Another Arrival!

Another arrival in February was an extremely rare Hawker Tempest II. An improved derivative of the Hawker Typhoon, the Tempest emerged as one of the most powerful fighters of World War II and at low altitude was the fastest single-engine propeller-driven aircraft of the war. Our example, MW758, came off the production line in 1945 and was placed into storage, along with many hundreds of other new aircraft rendered surplus by the end of the war. In 1948 it was sold to the Indian Air Force, as serial number HA580, and may well have seen operational service in the wars with Pakistan. Withdrawn in 1955 it became an airfield decoy at Poona Air Base before being auctioned in 1977. Purchased by a British dealer, along with six others, it arrived in the UK in 1979 but remained stored, unrestored, for the next 40 years. Purchased by the current owner in 2021 they have very kindly placed the aircraft on display here prior to its restoration to airworthy condition. Of the 1,702 Tempests built only 12 complete aircraft survive, with just 4 on public display.”