The Hawker Tempest was Britain's most successful fighter next to the Supermarine Spitfire during WWII. The Tempest scored 20 kills against the Me 262 jet fighter and the V-1 flying bombs. Many German pilots feared the Tempest more than the Spitfire. There were also two different versions of the Tempest. The first version (Tempest V) was powered by a Napier Sabre 24-cylinder flat-H engine; while the second version (Tempest II) was powered by a Bristol Centaurus V radial. This pic is obviously of a Mk ll which didnt see much combat during ww2. This Tempest belonging to 16 Sqn. saw service at Fassberg, Germany as part of the occupation forces after the end of hostilities. Our own Tempest II is ... post war the Mk ll would go on to morph into the Hawker Sea Fury. Which during the Korean war had the distinction of being one of only two piston/prop driven aircraft to shoot down a enemy Mig jet. Does anyone know (without googling it) which other aircraft managed that same feat?
HMS ROYAL EAGLE. 1940, THE FORMER THAMES PADDLE STEAMER WHICH RAN DAILY TRIPS IN THE SUMMER FROM TOWER BRIDGE DOWN TO SOUTHEND, RAMSGATE AND MARGATE. ONE OF THREE STEAMERS; THE ROYAL, THE CRESTED, AND THE GOLDEN EAGLE, WHICH WENT INTO WARTIME SERVICE. THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL EAGLE, A LIEUTENANT COMMANDER WAS FORMERLY A MARINE SUPERINTENDENT AND MOST OF HER OFFICERS WERE YACHTSMEN. THE CREW IS MADE UP OF FARMERS, MINERS, MECHANICS AND CLERKS.
HMS Atherstone was a Racecourse-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy. Built by Ailsa Shipbuilding at Troon in Scotland, she was launched on 14 April 1916. For the rest of the war she served with the Auxiliary Patrol. Post war she was transferred to the Mine Clearance Service. She was sold to The New Medway Steam Packet Company on 12 August 1927 and converted for excursion work on the Medway and Thames. She was renamed Queen of Kent. For the next twelve years she could be found working from Sheerness and Southend. Regular excursions took her to Gravesend, Margate, Clacton and Dover.
In September 1939 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty for minesweeping duties once more and commissioned as HMS Queen of Kent, pennant number J74. For Operation Overlord in June 1944 she was stationed at Peel Bank off the Isle of Wight as the Mulberry Accommodation & Dispatch Control Ship. Subsequently she was stationed at Dungeness