One of the first names that comes to mind in association with the Hawker Tempest is that of French ace Pierre Clostermann, and particularly his Tempest JF-E named “Le Grand Charles”. Over the years, I’ve represented this aircraft several times. The first updates were simply due to the fact that my early Tempest profiles were not nearly as good as my later work. After improving the initial profile, I decided to recreate a Tempest template from scratch to create a much better profile, and thus recreated the profile.

I’ve updated the profile again, this time for another reason. Having come across an article by renowned author Chris Thomas, I realized that the serial I had used for “Le Grand Charles” was incorrect. This latest iteration shows Le Grand Charles with the serial NV994. I also seized the opportunity to represent Clostermann’s Tempest NV724 – which replaced NV994 after it was damaged on 01 July 1945. This Tempest is the one that carries the Lorraine Cross, a symbol adopted by the Free French. Many profiles and representations of Le Grand Charles include that cross but close examination of the available photos shows that these were distinct aircraft. It is most likely that “Le Grand Charles” never sported the Croix de Lorraine, although the absence of proof is not the proof of absence.

If you’re interested in the topic, I strongly advise you to read Chris Thomas’ article on the topic. You can find it on page 26 of the February 2019 edition of Info Eduard : https://www.eduard.com/info-eduard-archive/

“Bee” Beamont’s first assigned Tempest was JN751, a Tempest Mk V Series I, with features typical of early-production Tempest Mk Vs : long-barreled Hispano Mk II cannons, external reinforcement “fishplates” on the rear fuselage and a blister on the upper wing root.

JN751 was coded R-B, a privilege reserved to Wing Commanders, and a yellow propeller spinner. It initially carried alternating 12-inch black and 24-inch white stripes on the lower surfaces of the wings, a quick recognition feature used previously on the Hawker Typhoon to minimize friendly fire from AAA units unfamiliar with the new fighter type. Aside from these features, the aircraft was in standard Day Fighter Scheme of Ocean Grey and Dark Green with Medium Sea Grey undersides. On the right side of the fuselage, a Wing Commander pennant was painted, but this was oriented in the wrong direction.

On June 5, all Allied aircraft involved in the Normandy invasion received the famous “invasion stripes”, which replaced the earlier stripes on JN751. Beamont was a successful Wing leader, developing tactics to fully exploit and capitalize on the Tempest’s capabilities. At the controls of JN751, Beamont shot down a Bf 109G West of Rouen on 8 June 1944. This was the first aerial victory scored by a Hawker Tempest, and a taste of things to come.

No 150 Wing was not active over Normandy for a long time : as Germany began launching V-1s against Great-Britain on 13 June 1944, the Tempest’s high speed made it a prime candidate for “anti-diver operations”. Beamont was instrumental in devising tactics against the V-1, which proved difficult and dangerous to intercept. When the V-1 threat ended in September/October 1944, No 150 Wing had claimed 638 V-1s destroyed, including 32 by Beamont himself, mostly in JN751.

Beamont made his last flight in JN751 on 5 September 1944 and was assigned a new Tempest Mk V Series II. JN751 was refurbished by Hawker at Langley and returned to service with No 287 Squadron in December 1944. On 18 May 1945, : it crashed on the Isle of Sheppey while trying to avoid a fog bank, killing Flight Sergeant P.C.A. Redstone.

Hawker Tempest Mk V EJ580 was flown by F/L Ron Bennett of the Royal Air Force’s No 501 Squadron in October 1944.

MW820 was a Tempest Mk II operated by No 54 Squadron in Chibolton in March 1946.

Squadron Leader Jimmy Sheddan was the commanding officer of No 486 Squadron in May 1945 and flew this Tempest Mk V. Sheddan scored one aerial victory and two shared victories with SN129. Warren Schrader and Jack Stafford also scored victories with this aircraft.

NB: This profile is incorrect and has been updated. Please read this post for extra information.

Last week I posted a profile of Clostermann’s SN222, explaining that the aircraft later received additional markings and a brighter shade of red for the roundel and fin flash. This is how “Le Grand Charles” appeared after the night of 8/9 May 1945, exactly 72 years ago.

The most notable difference is of course the addition of No 3 Squadron’s badge on the fin of the aircraft. Although distinctive unit markings were common before and after the war, very few RAF units carried them during the conflict.

For comparison, here is how SN222 looked on the previous day:

NB: This profile is incorrect and has been updated. Please read this post for extra information.

Clostermann is arguably the most famous Tempest ace. SN222 is one of the Tempest Mk V Series 2 he flew and is represented as it looked in early May 1945.

During the night of 8/9 May, the aircraft received the No 3 Squadron logo on its tail, and the Dull Red of the roundel and fin flash was replaced by a brighter shade of red. SN222 has mostly been represented with these additional markings, but is here presented in its actual late wartime markings.

These four views were used for the creation of a maxFlite prop glider, which can be purchased directly from the maxFlite website.

It is with great pride and honour that I would like to introduce my partnership with maxFlite. The concept behind maxFlite’s product is quite simple: we all have fond childhood memories of playing with small foam gliders with propellers. In most cases, these gliders were as much fun as they were flimsy and unrealistic. MaxFlite offers the same type of fun glider – only much more durable and better-looking.

We have worked together to create 14 different glider types, all finely detailed. Fellow illustrator Chris Sandham-Bailey also contributed with an A6M Zero. The types range from major World War II fighters to modern turboprop trainers:

• Col. John Lander’s P-51 Mustang “Big Beautiful Doll”, one of the most colourful Mustangs in the ETO.
• British ace-of-aces Johnnie Johnson’s Spitfire Mk XIV
• Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Hurricane Mk II, carrying the colours of Squadron Leader Arthur ‘Darkie’ Clowes’ machine during the Battle of Britain.
• Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 “Christl” as flown by Major Gerhard Barkhorn, who, with 301 aerial victories, was the second most successful fighter ace of all time.
• Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-8 “Red 19” as flown by Unteroffizier Ernst Schröder, which has the motto of the famous Cologne carnival, “Kölle Alaaf”, painted on the left side, and “Edelgard” on the other—the name of the pilot’s first love.
• Republic P-47 Thunderbolt “No Guts No Glory” as flown  by Captain Benjamin Mayo in 1944.
• Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 Zero, JJ170 of the Konoike Kokutai (fighter wing), stationed in the Ibaraki Prefecture in 1944.
• The Curtiss P-40M Warhawk “Jacky C II” warbird. You can admire the original in the American Airpower Museum in New York.
• The Yakovlev Yak-3 of Wing Commander Louis Delfino of the French Fighter Group Normandie-Niémen, which served on the Eastern Front.
• Italian fighter ace Luigi Gorrini’s Macchi MC.205 Veltro.
• An Embraer 312 Tucano the Brazilian Air Force’s air demonstration squadron, popularly known as the ‘Smoke Squadron’ (Portuguese: Esquadrilha da Fumaça).
• Pilatus PC-21 No. 101, HB-HZC, the prototype of the PC-21.
• A Pilatus PC-7 bearing the former orange & black markings of the PC-7 Team.
• French ace of aces Pierre Clostermann’s Hawker Tempest Mk V “Le Grand Charles”.
• Dewoitine D.520 No. 266, flown by Sous-Lieutenant René Pomier-Layrargues, Groupe de Chasse (Fighter Wing) II/7, 5 June 1940, Beauvais. Pilot René Pomier-Layrargues scored two aerial victories over Me 109s on 5 June 1940, one of which was flown by fighter ace Werner Mölders.

If you’re looking for a great Christmas present for kids (or adults ! ) at an affordable price, you’ll find that maxFlite’s gliders are a great combination of fun, art and historical accuracy and detail. The aircraft are roughly 40 cm in length and wingspan. Some people have already adapted the gliders with electric motors and control surfaces to use them as RC models. I’ll be posting more on this later, but I must say that it’s great fun to imagine my illustrations buzzing around the skies !

You can purchase the models directly from the secure maxFlite online shop.

And here is the high-resolution watermarked version of the Mk II for the rivet counters.

I improved all of my Tempest drawings in October 2009, the two versions being presented here for comparison.

1. Tempest Mk V serial NV994 flown by F/L Pierre Clostermann, No 3 Squadron, April 1945. With 33 victories, Clostermann was the French ace of aces.

2. Tempest Mk V from No 501 Squadron (County of Gloucester), Royal Auxiliary Air Force, 1944.

3. Another Tempest V flown by F/L Pierre Clostermann with 3 Squadron, in July 1945. This is his most famous aircraft, called “Le Grand Charles”. (Author’s note: this profile is incorrect as recent research has shown that the only Tempest called “Le Grand Charles” was SN222, and did not have the Lorraine cross painted on the radiator cowling)

4. Tempest Mk VI of No 6 Squadron, 1949.

5. Tempest V of No 486 Squadron in April 1945. This aircraft was flown by Jim Sheddan and other pilots of 486 Sqdn, and shot down several German aircraft.