Hawker Tempest Mk.II Bristol Centaurus VI Engine Run

Fighter Aviation Engineering's newly restored Hawker Tempest Mk.2, MW763, being given an engine check run and taxi test by pilot, Pete Kynsey, at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford Airfield, on 9 November 2023. The aircraft is believed to have flown twice since the completion of its restoration, for flight testing and a delivery flight from Sywell to Duxford.

Although the original identity of the aircraft is MW763, it's marked and painted as PR533, a Tempest II coded 5R-V, flown by 33 Squadron, RAF in Malaya during the 1950s. Production Tempest Mk.2's were powered by the Bristol Centaurus Mk.V engine, although many later received the Centaurus Mk.VI. This one has a Centaurus Mk.VI.

Hawker Tempest F Mk.2 MW763 was part of the first production batch of 100 Aircraft built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd at Langley, Buckinghamshire. The majority of these were completed as interceptor fighters and many were subsequently modified to incorporate wiring for underwing bomb racks.
After completion and acceptance by the Royal Air Force during the summer of 1945, MW763 was allocated to No.183 (Gold Coast) Squadron at RAF Chilbolton during August 1945. On 15 November 1945, 183 Squadron was disbanded and re-numbered 54 Squadron, remaining at RAF Chilbolton with its Tempest Mk.2's, where it was to spend two years training pilot's, destined for overseas service, in flying the Tempest Mk.2.
54 Squadron converted to flying De Havilland Vampire jets during mid October 1946 at RAF Acklington and their Tempest Mk.2's, including MW763, were flown to No.20 Maintenance Unit (MU) at RAF Aston Down (formerly RAF Minchinhampton) where they were put into storage.

On 28 May 1948 it and a number of other Tempest Mk.2's were bought back from the RAF by Hawker Aircraft Ltd, for refurbishment and sale to India. MW763 became one of 98 Tempest II's supplied to the Royal Indian Air Force (later Indian Air Force) by Hawkers' during 1949, refurbished as RIAF aircraft serials HA547-645, from ex-RAF aircraft stored at 20 Maintenance Unit (MU), Aston Down. It was taken on charge by the RIAF on 1 June 1948 and allocated RIAF serial HA586. It was test flown at Hawker's Langley by Eric Stanley Morrell on 21 June 1949 and exported from the UK to India later during 1949, when it was recorded at Blackbushe Airport, UK for the purpose of customs export clearance, together with other Tempests destined for India.
It served with the IAF until April 1954, when it became a decoy at Poona (Pune) Air Base.

Doug Arnold of Warbirds of Great Britain Ltd acquired MW763 and five other Tempest 2's from the Indian Government in 1979 and shipped them to Blackbushe, UK.
As a restoration project MW763 changed hands several times in the years that followed. It started with Nick Grace & Chris Horsley at Tangmere and then went to Autokraft Ltd at Brooklands, where the first attempts were made to restore the machine to airworthy condition. It was registered as G-TEMT on 9 October 1989.
On 2nd January 1997 ownership passed to Tempest Two Ltd at Wickenby, where it was worked on over the next seven years. During this time it was displayed at the 2009 Wickenby Wings and Wheels show, fairly complete, in a standard RAF European theatre camouflage scheme, marked with the 54 Squadron identity code 'HF'.
During spring/summer 2014 the project passed to Canfield Hunter Ltd and was moved to Weald Aviation at North Weald Airfield, Essex, who were to continue the rebuild and also to use their expertise in restoring a pair of original Centaurus engines, including one from a Tempest 2, from a stock of three Centaurus engines, using one for spares.
During April 2016 ownership went to Anglia Aircraft Restorations Ltd and the aircraft moved to Air Leasing Ltd at Sywell, who finally completed the restoration over the next seven and a half years. Since 2022 the aircraft has been registered to Fighter Aviation Engineering Ltd, which is closely associated with the previous two owner companies.

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