Hawker Tempest II MW763 / G-TEMT has been officially unveiled by Air Leasing / Ultimate Warbird Flights and my goodness does she look good! Owned by Anglia Aircraft Restorations, the restoration has been undertaken by Air Leasing with just final completion of her Bristol Centaurus Mk.V engine remaining. Once she takes to air she will not only be the sole airworthy Tempest in the world, but the first to have ever been returned to flight as a warbird - I do not believe a Tempest II has flown since the final examples were retired by the Indian Air Force in the late 50s?
MW763 was built in 1945 and was held in storage before eventually being sold on to the Indian Air Force in 1948 where she became HA580. The Indian Tempests were retired by 1956 and several ended up as decoy aircraft at Poona Air Base where they remained for several years. In 1979 Doug Arnold successfully acquired six of these airframes and shipped them back to the UK. Over the next 30 years she would spend periods in storage and receiving restoration work as she passed between Nick Grace and Chris Horsley, Autokraft Ltd and Tempest Two Ltd.
Sold on to Anglia Aircraft Restoration’s in 2014 she was initially transported to Weald Aviation Services ltd before the project moved into the care of Air Leasing by 2017, although Weald Aviation undertook the rebuild of her Centaurus engine. The restoration included the wings having significant sections replaced by Airframe Assemblies Ltd before they were reunited to the fuselage at Air Leasing.
She is painted in the post war colours of PR533 from 33 Sqn as based in Malaya and represents the very pinnacle of RAF piston fighters before the jet age. When she flies she will make a fine addition to the airshow circuit and will no doubt be a very popular aircraft! Having passed through the ownership on Nick Grace it is fitting that his son, Richard, and the Grace family business, Air Leasing, have been key in her long journey to flying again.
