Hawker Tempest anyone

The Sea Fury Centaurus is different. Most Tempest restorers want to go the original route engine wise. However something like a R2600 might be an option for the future.

I know the overhaul of one of these units is complex, expensive and spares limited but would an Ex-Seafury engine leftover from a P&W or Wright conversion fit a Tempest. Or for that matter one from a Beverley.

Richard

Tempest 11

Considering how many of and long these machines were lying around in India this has to be the clue.
The racers had the Furies/Sea Furies by then,and they simply did not fit in with anyones requirements.
As a film prop one could slot in a PT6 and dub in the sound, but nowadays the CGI boys have seen that off.
There was one lying on the hangar floor when i went to Dunsfold some years back,and i was surprised how small it looked without the Napier engine.
With mega-bucks required for any sort of restoration nowadays the ultimate value will decide its fate.
They also had a bit of a reputation for ‘swopping ends’ on landing, and this was confirmed to me by someone who flew the MKV. At the end of the war they had their machines ‘upgraded’ to the MK11 and the ferry pilots took their old machines back. Keen to try out the new mounts several pilots jumped in for a quick blast around the area,but the CO had to stop this after a series of incidents with aircraft leaving the runway during t/off or landing.
When you look at the difference in length of the engine installations the weight on the aircrafts tail must have increased considerably !!.
In fact the Sea Fury had a tail wheel lock, and it is the failure to engage this that promped the loss of several of these.

I should clarify that – on reflection it was at least 15-16 years ago!

Tempest – 65K stg or so as it sits.

Its not that long ago that I was involved in buying 2 or 3 Spitfire projects at less than £100K each – and they were complete!

Bruce

I did get a price a while ago on this one….it was the same price as the swift that is currently for sale 🙁 the other MKII tempest that was for sale not so long ago was half the price…

I guess things are worth what people are prepared to pay for them….and this has been for sale for a long time 🙂

Sea Fury has much better wing for speed…

The sticking point is that there is no known market value for the machine in airworthy condition. Therefore why would someone buy one when a Sea Fury can be bought in project form for similar or less money and is pretty much a known comodity in terms of spares. The engine situation for a Sea Fury is far better than a Tempest II – Tempest II engine parts are scarse and that makes the project a lot harder.

I contributed parts to the project and would like to see it fly but realistically cannot see it happening in the next ten years.

Surprised that it hasn’t been picked up for a corncob conversion for Reno racing…… or again, is the Fury airframe a better proposition for this than a Tempest one…..???

The sticking point is that there is no known market value for the machine in airworthy condition. Therefore why would someone buy one when a Sea Fury can be bought in project form for similar or less money and is pretty much a known comodity in terms of spares. The engine situation for a Sea Fury is far better than a Tempest II – Tempest II engine parts are scarse and that makes the project a lot harder.

I contributed parts to the project and would like to see it fly but realistically cannot see it happening in the next ten years.

Costing more to rebuild than its worth is not a unique problem to this A/C. Thats the norm in vintage A/C circles. I asume it has had little or no work since its days with David Martin and it has been stored for many years, it probably needs starting again This is not the first time it has been offered for sale and I suspect as others do that the asking price is to high. A rare A/C that unfortunately dose not have the appeal of a MK V or a Typhoon or fit in the larger market of Spitfires, Hurricanes or Mustangs.
I saw it many times when with David Martin and would love to see it flying, if only cost effective A/C were rebuilt if would be a dull Vintage Aircraft world.
If the lottery numbers come up tonight, I would probably buy the Demon, but hopefully someone somewhere will buy it and get it flying.

I agree Pete but she is still an intresting aircraft desighn from the Hawker stable!

Tempest 11

I think the problem with the Tempest 11 is it does not fit in with those wanting a WW2 machine with operational history (Typhoon/Tempest v) and also misses out on the Korean theatre unlike the Sea Fury.
With a lack of Sabres to retrofit, (plus the cost) it therefore sits in warbird limbo as the cost of the completed project may well exceed its market value.
I remember talking to Nick Grace when he was involved with this machine and him being surprised when i related to him that they were not operational until after VE Day.

I think its in the region of £300,000

I bet it’s the price tag, wouldn’t b surprised if it wasn’t the same as an already airworthy spitfire :rolleyes:

This air-frame keeps cropping up with little noticeable progress.
So what’s the sticking point with the aircraft?
Seems like no one wants to restore it.
Is it lack of parts. Seems strange no one wants to get the sole potentially airworthy example in the air.
I bet if it was a Typhoon someone would snap it up.

I emailed friends of the Fighter collection about it so fingers crossed TFC might buy it and restore it to it’s former glory!

Lottery tickets bought, fingers crossed 😎

No price in that response tho

Wow – what a find. Hope somebody gets it flying.

She hasn’t changed in twenty years – David Martin had lots of plans that would have been very exciting for the warbird world -sadly for him it came to a sad end.