Remember that the Typhoon and its Sabre engine were rushed into service without the prewar years of development invested in other machinery. Once sorted, both gave great service and for the ultimate Tempest-Sabre story, read
The Big Show by Pierre Clostermann. For me the Sabre is the pinnacle of piston engine design. At war's end Flight magazine carried an ad from Napier announcing that the Sabre had been certified for civil operation at 4000bhp takeoff rating, compared with its Service rating of 2200bhp only three years previously. But by then it was clear that turbines were the way to go.
There is a British project to rebuild a Hawker Typhoon to flying condition, based on a WW2 airframe (RB396) and a Sabre engine that may be unused and as it came from the factory. More news at
Hawker Typhoon RB396 » Restoration In Florida, Kermit Weeks has two Tempests at his flight museum in Florida, one Centaurus, one Sabre which he hopes to fly one day. Info at the excellent
The Hawker Tempest Page which contains a fascinating chapter on the Sabre engine.
Now to
Howard Hendrick, the ex-Lancaster 460 Sqn pilot still flying solo at the age of 92. The very helpful Chris Read from the South Australian State Library tells me:
The oral history from Howard and Winifred Hendrick is quite extensive, over 5 hours, and there is a typed Transcript of 126 pages with Library customers can access in our Reading Room along with the interview. We're working our way through all the oral histories and your transcript will eventually be available online.
The far side of the world is a bit far to travel even for this thread, but in the meantime Kookabat tells me that he has Mr Hendrick's postal address and will contact him with a view to telling us his story.