Bristol Beaufighter
- Thread starter Snautzer01
- Start date
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johnbr
2nd Lieutenant
Specifications :
Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter MkIIF
Coastal Fighter / Night Fighter
Crew : 2
Wingspan 57' 10" (17.6 m)
Length 42' 9" (13 m)
Height 15' 10" (4.8 m)
Weight Empty 13800 lbs (6259 kg)
Maximum 21000 lbs (9525 kg)
Engine: Two Rolls Royce Merlin XX twelve cylinder liquid cooled engines
Horsepower: 1,250 (some sources say 1,280 hp)
Max Speed: 301 mph at 20,200ft, 283 mph at 15,000 ft (another source says 323mph)
Range: 1,040 miles at 10,000ft at 177 mph (another source says 1,500 miles)
Service Ceiling 26500' (8077 m)
Armament: Four 20mm cannon under fuselage (with 60 round ammo drums - I believe 6 drums carried , but had to be reloaded in flight by the observer - begging the question as to whether this reload period (should alsio be for the MkI variants) could be modelled , six .303in machine guns in wings, all forward firing.
Coastal Fighter / Night Fighter
Crew : 2
Wingspan 57' 10" (17.6 m)
Length 42' 9" (13 m)
Height 15' 10" (4.8 m)
Weight Empty 13800 lbs (6259 kg)
Maximum 21000 lbs (9525 kg)
Engine: Two Rolls Royce Merlin XX twelve cylinder liquid cooled engines
Horsepower: 1,250 (some sources say 1,280 hp)
Max Speed: 301 mph at 20,200ft, 283 mph at 15,000 ft (another source says 323mph)
Range: 1,040 miles at 10,000ft at 177 mph (another source says 1,500 miles)
Service Ceiling 26500' (8077 m)
Armament: Four 20mm cannon under fuselage (with 60 round ammo drums - I believe 6 drums carried , but had to be reloaded in flight by the observer - begging the question as to whether this reload period (should alsio be for the MkI variants) could be modelled , six .303in machine guns in wings, all forward firing.
johnbr
2nd Lieutenant
johnbr
2nd Lieutenant
johnbr
2nd Lieutenant
British Beaufighters cripple an enemy convoy off the south coast of Norway. Flying through cloud down to sea level, the Beaufighters from Coastal Command completely surprised the German convoy. In this photo, three armed trawlers and a motor vessel are on fire after a cannon attack by the Beaufighters, which attacked from mast height.
johnbr
2nd Lieutenant
Good stuff!
fubar57
General
A quick glance in "Warpaint" show 450 Mk.IIs made
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
Oh, no, the Merlin engined Beaus were used operationally.
A book I read earlier this year described an incident where some Merlin Beaus arrived at Malta. One of them flew over an airfield and the pilot stuffed its nose down . I guess the pilot was an old Malta hand who was used to the Herc Beaus. It was normal for new aircraft to be assigned to the experienced pilots rather than the people who flew them in. In any case, the pilot apparently did not know about the Merlin's tendency to cut out under negative G's. Both engines quit and the airplane fell into a Spitfire maintenance area, killing the author's ground crew.
450 Merlin engined Beaufighter II's were built, half as many as the Herc engined Beaufighter I's. The lower drag of the Merlins made it faster but it also was less stable, and the dihedral on the tail was increased as a result.
The Beaufort was a completely different airplane, with little real commonality with the Beaufighter.
A book I read earlier this year described an incident where some Merlin Beaus arrived at Malta. One of them flew over an airfield and the pilot stuffed its nose down . I guess the pilot was an old Malta hand who was used to the Herc Beaus. It was normal for new aircraft to be assigned to the experienced pilots rather than the people who flew them in. In any case, the pilot apparently did not know about the Merlin's tendency to cut out under negative G's. Both engines quit and the airplane fell into a Spitfire maintenance area, killing the author's ground crew.
450 Merlin engined Beaufighter II's were built, half as many as the Herc engined Beaufighter I's. The lower drag of the Merlins made it faster but it also was less stable, and the dihedral on the tail was increased as a result.
The Beaufort was a completely different airplane, with little real commonality with the Beaufighter.
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fubar57
General
The RAAF must have used a Wayback machine. I have the RAAF receiving their first Beaufighters in Apri '42
buffnut453
Captain
'Fraid that's not correct. The Beaufort was an entirely different design with an internal bomb bay. The Beaufort was the link in the chain between the Blenheim and the Beaufighter.
Here's a Beaufort:
(Source: Etiennedup's Flickr Page)
And just for comparison, here's a Beaufighter from a similar-ish perspective:
(Source: BAE Systems Bristol 156 Beaufighter | BAE Systems | International)
