A refined development of the Typhoon with a thin, elliptical wing, the Tempest was one of the fastest piston fighters of the war at low altitude and became the RAF's principal weapon against the V-1 flying bomb, credited with destroying over 600. Late in the war Tempest pilots also claimed several of the jet-powered Me 262.
A Royal Air Force Hawker Tempest V Series II (s/n NV696) on a test flight from the Hawker factory Langley, near Slough, on 25 November, 1944. This aircraft went into service with No. 222 Squadron RAF a month later. The aRAF · Public domain · sourceImage from the Charles Daniels Photo Collection album "British Aircraft." SOURCE INSTITUTION: San Diego Air and Space Museum ArchiveSan Diego Air & Space Museum Archives · Public domain · sourceImage from the Charles Daniels Photo Collection album "British Aircraft." SOURCE INSTITUTION: San Diego Air and Space Museum ArchiveSan Diego Air & Space Museum Archives · Public domain · source