Indian Hawker Tempests.. Interesting 'as found' pics.

Yep, an infamous, infuriating move by the enigmatic Mr Arnold…which arguably backfired completely…probably reducing the number of extant Tempests below what could have sparked a cottage-industry support system for the type in restoration. For comparison, look to the Tallichet/Jurist Fury recovery from Iraq a couple years later, and all the activity the return of that larger number of a similar type sparked off…

I now think the thing to do is apply the new Sanders R2800 conversion to one of the Tempest IIs that do survive. Sure, the prop would turn backward, as with an R3350 installation, but wouldn’t it be nice to see a Tempest aviating again?

S.

Just to clarify, the enigmatic Mr Douglas Arnold is not related to one Peter Arnold referred in the ‘Indian Warbirds’ report, although to confuse the issue he did have a son Peter.

Mark

Yep, an infamous, infuriating move by the enigmatic Mr Arnold…which arguably backfired completely…probably reducing the number of extant Tempests below what could have sparked a cottage-industry support system for the type in restoration. For comparison, look to the Tallichet/Jurist Fury recovery from Iraq a couple years later, and all the activity the return of that larger number of a similar type sparked off…

I now think the thing to do is apply the new Sanders R2800 conversion to one of the Tempest IIs that do survive. Sure, the prop would turn backward, as with an R3350 installation, but wouldn’t it be nice to see a Tempest aviating again?

S.

Hi David,you seem pretty definite that they were cut up,do you know the reason? Corroded,stripped,just wondering!Thanks,Pete

The reason is that it was the wish of the person who acquired them that they be destroyed.

Hi David,you seem pretty definite that they were cut up,do you know the reason? Corroded,stripped,just wondering!Thanks,Pete

There’s a slim possibility that MW741 could survive. This is reported in open storage at Poona although the last information seems to be decades ago.

Nope -scrapped in India.

Amazing pics guys,is there any reason to suspect those which did not make it to the U.K. still exist in India

The Indian Warbirds website does not mention any (I think – its a big website!). I wonder if some of the missing ones did make it to the UK and are hiding in containers somewhere?

There appear to have been 11 up for grabs in 1976: http://www.warbirds.in/features/250-the-great-warbird-auction-1976.html

Either buried or cut up on site.

Amazing pics guys,is there any reason to suspect those which did not make it to the U.K. still exist in India,Mark in your travels there since have you heard of any besides the Museum aircraft. And as an aside to the Tempest story,what became of the 55 FB 60 Furies & 5 FB 61 2 seaters sold to Pakistan?Cheers,Pete

Here’s the other page of the article with more details….

Poona’s Tempests…taken in Feb 1969. 5 “intact” Tempest FB IIs of 9 airframes present.
Identities…RAF PR555,659,756,779,834,867,901, and IAF serials HA622 and 580.

From AM, Jan 1975 Vol 3 No1 p26.

these serials quoted are different from the ones that have made it into preservation, are we sure that these more or less intact aircraft were the ones supposedly scrapped by Doug Arnold? It seems strange he would scrap the best examples.

D1566,

Ah! Sincere apologies.

1975, two years before I started to take AM permanently and one year before the Tempests and the first Spitfires were put up for tender at Halwara.

Such was the interest then, we didn’t even bother to go and inspect them on the first pass.

Mark

Slicer – many thanks, glad that my memory was working reasonably well 🙂

K5054NZ – it seems like some of the Tempests were scrapped on site to restrict the numbers coming into preservation.

Poona’s Tempests…taken in Feb 1969. 5 “intact” Tempest FB IIs of 9 airframes present.
Identities…RAF PR555,659,756,779,834,867,901, and IAF serials HA622 and 580.

From AM, Jan 1975 Vol 3 No1 p26.

Just ordered a copy off ebay … 🙂

Sounds right – thanks!

I think it was Volume 3, Issue 01, 1975….Stuck in my memory from reading the extensive article about the de Havilland Hornet that I think started opposite the colour plates of the tempests

http://www.theaviationindex.com/publication/aeroplane-aeroplane-monthly/volume-3-issue-01-1975

The Kaliakunda Spitfires.

Mark

Am 99% certain these were Tempests – I was a fan of the things having read ‘The Big Show’ at the time! 🙂

I am sure that I remember seeing photos in Aeroplane Monthly at the time, showing Tempests with wings, even on undercarriages, fairly complete, though derelict, captioned as being ‘decoys’ …

The Kaliakunda Spitfires.

Mark