Tempest max speed

[*Buzzsaw*]

Originally Posted by JG52Uther

Yet Clostermann in his book hints that the Tempest was pretty close to a deathtrap and scared the crap out of most pilots.

Never heard that one. Maybe you could provide a quote? All the Tempest pilots I have read or talked to said it was a superb plane. If Clostermann thought the Tempest was a deathtrap, he must have had a deathwish, because he sure spent a lot of time in one shooting down Germans.

"Reaching Newchurch airfield at 480 mph I held "RB" down to 20 ft from the runway and then pulled her up to a 60 ° climb holding it as the speed dropped slowly off and the altimeter needle spun round the dial as if it were mad. At 7000 ft the speed was dropping below 180 mph and I rolled the Tempest lazily inverted, then allowed the nose to drop until the horizon, at first above my head, disappeared below (or rather above) the now inverted nose, the fields and woods steadied into the centre of the windscreen and then whirled around as I put the stick hard over and rolled around the vertical dive. Steadying again I pulled out over the tree tops at 500 mph, throttled back and pulled hard over towards the airfield in an over-the-vertical climbing turn, lowering the wheels and flaps in a roll as the speed dropped. What a magnificent aeroplane! They could have all their Spitfires and Mustangs!"

quote from Roland Beaumont, the RAF Squadron Leader who had the most experience with the Tempest of any pilot.

RAF Tempest Squadrons from January 1945 of the war were given carte blanche to go anywhere, engage anyone, at whatever odds, because they were confident of the aircraft's ability to deal with any situation. Other RAF pilots were envious of the complete freehand the Tempest pilot's got.

The combat record of the Tempest was exceptional, it had a very large positive in the kill/death ratio, even when claims are compared to German records. That includes encounters with Doras.