UK Tempest restorations

[TyphoonDave]

Andy,

It is because of the experience with Hurricanes that I believe all problems have been solved with Typhoon/Tempest Airframes. Their construction is very similar. There are also many parts/pattern aircraft to work from. I believe that we will see more of the Typhoon and Tempest (both MKV and II) in the next few years.

[Alan Brooks]

Hey guys, I'll try to answer part of this question..... Nelson Ezell and family do indeed own a Tempest... no secrets, just not well known.... they are not a group to "blow ones own horn", but you will not ever meet a nicer group of people in warbirds... Ashley Ezell tried to explain the issue with the sleeve valves..... You can take CNC machinery and mill new sleeves, and they work.....but not for long.... The original sleeve valves were spun. Ok guys be gentle with this next part as this may be completely wrong and I would love to be corrected, but here's a try. Say take a length of 4" diameter conduit and you wish to enlarge it to say a 6" diameter. You have this metal mounted to a spinning lathe head. Apply lots of pressure, heat. Then start forcing this spinning, open diameter end over a 6" stationery plug. You literally force the 4" opening to become a 6" opening. Ashley said simply, the technology will have to be re-invented to correctly manufacture new sleeves..... I know in conversations with Ellsworth Getchell, he always said the sleeves were the engines Achilles heel. The Ezell's Tempest has not been worked on in a while, they are always working on someones else's airplanes...... but yes, it is planned that the airplane will fly with a Wright 3350....... Alan

[dhfan]

Not spun, centrifugally cast. The basic principle as I understand it is that the mould is spun as the molten iron or steel is added to it. This creates a very stable, even casting.
This was the trade secret that Bristol wouldn't part with until being ordered to hand it over. They were reputedly all made at a factory just down the road from where I live.

[Melvyn Hiscock]

I don't think there are any major problems in an airframe rebuild on a Typhoon or a Tempest that can't be overcome using the considerable experience built up in Hurricane and Hind/Nimrod/Fury/Hart etc rebuilds. The problem is two fold. One is engines. Yes you probably could hang a P&W onto a Tempest but there is a world of difference in hanging an engine on an existing airframe (Fury) and making a new airframe. Acquistion costs of a Fury are way below manufacture/rebuild costs on a Tempest. As for Napier Sabres . . . they are hardly dime a dozen and the value of a completed Typhoon would not be reflected in what it cost to rebuild. It is a very expensive way of getting an aeroplane that is not as valuable as many that are cheaper to build (Spitfire P51 etc).

I'd love to see an airworthy Typhoon but it is not likely to happen unless someone really wants to put serious (with a capital "ouch") money into a project that would not produce any return.

[Jeffrey]

Not spun, centrifugally cast. The basic principle as I understand it is that the mould is spun as the molten iron or steel is added to it. This creates a very stable, even casting.
This was the trade secret that Bristol wouldn't part with until being ordered to hand it over. They were reputedly all made at a factory just down the road from where I live.

very accurate almost. this is in use for a number of things these days. we have a firm here where I live that use a modified potter's wheel to make pewter jewelery and nic naks via centrifugal casting.

you arrange a series of the moulds in a circle radially like the engines. you start it spinning and then pour the molten metal into it. the centrifugal action spins the molten metal into the castings. as the stream would not be continuous to each and every casting somehow I can't see it as being as stable as a vacuum formed casting but it should be even. the forces making it flow into the moulds though would very likely be greater than vacuum forming