Summary of History

 
Date Note Code/Serial

1943

Built at Hawker Aircraft Ltd at Langley (Contract ACFT/1986/C.23(a)

LA607

18 September 1943

First flight.

LA607

1943-?

Used for Bristol Centaurus development.

LA607

1955-1963

RAF Cranfield, College Of Aeronautics.

LA607

1967-

Skyfame Museum, Staverton & Duxford.

DN-J/LA607

1980

Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambs

LA607

14 April 1983

Sold to Kermit A. Weeks.

LA607

1983-

Static display at Florida Air Museum at Sun 'n Fun, Lakeland.

HF-T/LA607

Summer 2014

In storage at Kermit Weeks' Fantasy of Flight HQ, Polk City.

HF-T/LA607

 

LA607 was the second Mk. II prototype and first flew on 18 September 1943. It was used for Bristol Centaurus development during its active career.

LA607 survived as an instructional airframe at RAF Cranfield, College Of Aeronautics, between 1955 - 1963. LA607 was aquired by Skyfame Museum, Staverton & Duxford, in 1967. When the collection was forced to relocate the Tempest was moved to Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambs, in 1980. But before the Tempest was transfered to IWM it was sold in April 1983 to Kermit Weeks, USA, and was displayed at Florida Air Museum at Sun 'n Fun, Lakeland.

In summer 2014 the Tempest was returned to Kermit Weeks and is at the moment in storage at Fantasy of Flight HQ, Polk City.

 

la607-1

 

la607 3

At Skyfame Museum, Staverton & Duxford, with "fake codes" DN-J.


LA607 at Florida Air Museum at Sun 'n Fun, Lakeland. 


Restoration progress reports 

 

Posted on Youtube in August 2015 by Kermit Weeks:

 

la607 4

In March 2016 Kermit Weeks writes on Facebook:

"We have pulled our Tempest II over to help in the restoration of our Tempest V (EJ693). At this point, it doesn't make sense not to do BOTH of them side by side as one will help the other with the Tempest II being basically complete!"

Posted on Youtube on 3 July 2019 by Kermit Weeks:

 

 

  

Sources:
The Hawker Typhoon & Tempest Story by Chris Thomas
Hawker Tempest (4+ Publication)
Peter Goodearl
FlyPast May 2002
FlyPast Aug 2014



Latest updates:

Tempest Mk.II MW758

28 Feb 2023
MW758 has moved to a new location, the South Wales Aviation Museum at St Athan.

Read more

Eagles of Destiny

13 Nov 2022
The Eagles of Destiny mini-series covers the early years of Royal Pakistan Air Force, initially while still being ...

Read more

Latest Releases

6 Nov 2022
Tempest II - An illustrated history of the Tempest Mk. II and FlyPast December 2022 added.

Read more

Tempest Mk.II MW376

31 Aug 2022
On 31 August was the roll-out of MW376 which is available for viewing at the KF Centre for Excellence.

Read more