Armorers loading ammunition into a Tempest of No. 501 Squadron RAF
The core of the Tempest’s firepower consisted of four 20 mm Hispano cannons.
• For the Tempest Mark V Series 1 aircraft, these were longer-barrelled Hispano Mark II cannons that protruded approximately eight inches beyond the wing’s leading edge.
• Later Mark V Series 2 and all Mark VI aircraft were equipped with the shorter-barrelled Hispano Mark V guns, which were fully contained within the wings.
• The standard ammunition load for the four 20 mm Hispano cannons was 200 rounds per gun.
Pilots regarded the Tempest as a “magnificent gun platform” due to its stability, which made its cannons highly accurate. For anti-V1 flying bomb operations, the cannons were harmonized to hit a specific point at a range of 300 yards.