Is there any truth in a statement I heard the other day, that the Tempest II’s design was partly influenced by British engineers having access to a captured Fw 190.
Or is this an urban legend?

Airframe generally no, engine installation yes some, and in particular the close cowling and exhaust system. The Tornado did all the early testing of the Centaurus, the biggest issue being as with all the big Radial 18’s vibration. Beyond this it was obvious that having a traditional front collector ring for the exhaust was not particularly aerodynamic, and many issues were experienced with it including overheating and gas ingestion.

The Tempest prototypes initially flew with the Sabre as we know, but the preferred production type was the Tempest I with a Sabre 4 and close cowled engine and wing radiators. The Sabre 4 was not ready so the Sabre II with the same arrangement as the Typhoon was used.

Now the Tempest II did not have a direct copy of the FW190 engine installation, far from it. Remember we had access to aircraft such as the Corsair that superficially at least was of a similar arrangement to the 190 with its exhausts exiting to the rear and no heavy collector ring. But the real lesson of the 190 was the closeness of the cowl, the innovative oil cooler and the way the exhausts were routed to the rear so that they maximised thrust and aided cooling by helping cooling air through the cowling. It also had a cooling fan that increased the air pressure to improve cooling.

It must be remembered the Centaurus introduced innovations on how the cooling fins where cut into the cylinder barrels that allowed for more efficient cooling, and together with the extremely close cowling allowed the Tempest to have an installation that rivalled that of the best of the in-line engines for drag.

So the 190 influenced the Tempest, but there was little other than a superficial resemblance at the end of the day. Makes for a good story though.