S! all
Maverick you are correct in one sense: The typical laminar flow airfoil IS a little thicker when compared to a typical WWII airfoil. However, in the case of the Typhoon, the originally designed wing was very thick. (all the Hawker aircraft seemed to start with thick wings, the Hurricane had a thick airfoil too, which was one reason its acceleration and top speed were not good) The final Tempest wing was 5 inches thinner than the Typhoon at the wing root.
Jekyll is right about the roll rate. It was much improved over the Tempest. As he said, because the wing was thinner, the fuel tanks in the wings couldn't hold as much, so more had to be packed into the fuselage, which nessesitated lengthening it by 21 inchs forward of the center of gravity. This extra length ahead of the C.G. in turn required a larger fin and tailplane to compensate.
The Laminar flow wing (as well to a certain degree the slightly higher horsepower output of the Sabre IIB at 2420) was directly responsible for the increased top speed, improved climb and acceleration of the Tempest. It also gave it an increased range over the Typhoon, as the aircraft was able to cruise at higher speed at a lower throttle setting due to the cleaner airframe. The Tempest had a range of 820 miles in clean condition.
