The History
The Boulton Paul Defiant was the first RAF fighter in service with a four-gun turret. The prototype, K8310, made its initial flight on 11 August, 1937 and the two-seat all-metal monoplane, with forward-facing pilot and rear-facing gunner in a hydraulically operated turret, was soon snapped up by the Air Ministry. With a fully retractable undercarriage and powered by the Rolls Royce 'Merlin' engine, it was fairly speedy at 313mph and had a reasonable performance when compared with other British single-seat fighters like the Hurricane and Spitfire.
The Defiant Mark I was designed as an attempt to overcome the need to not only point the nose of a fighter at its target in order to bring the guns to bear, but also to relieve the pilot of trying to simultaneously fly the aircraft and concentrate on his target. Instead, the rear-facing gunner would do the attacking, relying on the pilot to put him in a position that could do the most damage to an enemy aircraft. In theory, the Defiant would intercept enemy bombers from below, the gunner firing from all four .303 Browning machine guns into the belly of the target. However, communication between the pilot and gunner was somewhat limited. Despite this, the Defiant went into active service soon after the
'Phoney War' went 'real' and the British Expeditionary Forces were sent to France to combat the advancing German occupation.
Of the 1.064 Defiants built there is only a single surviving complete example N1671, on display as a night fighter at the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, London. Major parts of at least two other Defiants survive and they are both Mk 1
The Kit
The Parts
Paint Possibilities
Here are some options for different paint schemes. I've already decided this will be an all black night fighter.
141Squadron1940
2Squadron1940
264Squadron1940
307PolishSquadron1940
277Squadron1942
125Squadron1941
151Squadron1941
255Squadron1941
410CanadianSquadron
410CanadianSquadron194
96Squadron1941
Now before I break spree I have some questions. I'm looking for some interior photos of the defiant. There's not much to work with but I would like to try and jazz it up somewhat. I also need to know the colors used in RAF planes such as the interior, wheel wells etc.
If anyone has any insite, photos or anything else to add please feel free to do so.