Defiant
- Thread starter Clave
- Start date
ccheese
Member In Perpetuity
Neat, Clave. This was not a well known bird, was it ?
Charles
Charles
Thorlifter
Captain
For some goofy reason, I always liked the Defiant. Maybe it's the turret with 4 .303's in it. Too bad it couldn't fire forward.
It was a death trap (once the Germans realised it wasn't a great idea to attack it from directly behind as they would Spitfire/Hurricane).
Still excellent again Clave (like we've come to expect).
Still excellent again Clave (like we've come to expect).
- Thread starter
- #6
Clave
Senior Master Sergeant
It was switched to night operations (pics not done yet) where it had some degree of success. Flying directly below or to the side, the turret could swivel through quite a wide arc, and of course the 4 machine guns were very close together, so the firepower was concentrated.
But, there were many things against it too - the turret was extremely heavy, and it had the same engine as the Hurricanes and Spitfires of the time, so the performance lagged behind any fighter.
It was withdrawn from combat in 1942, for a new role in Air Sea Rescue. It was a simple enough conversion with canisters under each wing containing a dingy to be dropped into the sea.
The last gasp of the Defiant was as a target tug - a pretty low-grade job for this ingenious design...
Matt308
Glock Perfection
Awesome as usual, Clave. [wait for it...] 
Okay, here I go. I always like your subjects, as it makes me thing about what I've seen. I am only superficially familiar with the Defiant. However the rear antenna certainly cannot be that long unless it retracts, right? The geometry would make the main landing gear 20ft tall. Am I missing something about this variant? I have attached a photo that looks like yours, but can't imagine how that would work without retraction. Help Micdrow!
Another couple of questions.
Wasn't there a seat brace visible behind the rearmost window?
And I also thought that the .303s were belt fed from the outtermost side (e.g., the L-.303s fed from the L-side, and R-.303s fed from the R-side).
Okay, here I go. I always like your subjects, as it makes me thing about what I've seen. I am only superficially familiar with the Defiant. However the rear antenna certainly cannot be that long unless it retracts, right? The geometry would make the main landing gear 20ft tall. Am I missing something about this variant? I have attached a photo that looks like yours, but can't imagine how that would work without retraction. Help Micdrow!
Another couple of questions.
Wasn't there a seat brace visible behind the rearmost window?
And I also thought that the .303s were belt fed from the outtermost side (e.g., the L-.303s fed from the L-side, and R-.303s fed from the R-side).
Attachments
Matt308
Glock Perfection
Hi Matt,
>However the rear antenna certainly cannot be that long unless it retracts, right?
Right! It did in fact retract - at least, if all went as planned.
From "Turret Fighters" by Alec Brew:
"Sqn Ldr. Hunter [of 264 Squadron] had arrived at the factory on 11 April [1940] hoping to test this aircraft [a Defiant with a constant speed propeller], but it was not yet ready. He did take the opportunity to complain about the retracting rear wireless mast, which was snapping off at the rate of one a day because it did not retract whe the wheels were lowered, and hit the ground on touchdown. When he left Wittering there were only three Defiants with an intact rear mast. An investigation was instituted by the company."
Quite a good book, by the way - my most recent read, and I'm delighted to see that Clave has turned his attention to the Defiant, producing one of his great profiles to go along with my reading
Regards,
Henning (HoHun)
>However the rear antenna certainly cannot be that long unless it retracts, right?
Right! It did in fact retract - at least, if all went as planned.
From "Turret Fighters" by Alec Brew:
"Sqn Ldr. Hunter [of 264 Squadron] had arrived at the factory on 11 April [1940] hoping to test this aircraft [a Defiant with a constant speed propeller], but it was not yet ready. He did take the opportunity to complain about the retracting rear wireless mast, which was snapping off at the rate of one a day because it did not retract whe the wheels were lowered, and hit the ground on touchdown. When he left Wittering there were only three Defiants with an intact rear mast. An investigation was instituted by the company."
Quite a good book, by the way - my most recent read, and I'm delighted to see that Clave has turned his attention to the Defiant, producing one of his great profiles to go along with my reading
Regards,
Henning (HoHun)
Matt308
Glock Perfection
Thanks HoHun!!!
Matt308
Glock Perfection
But the profile looks nice.Well done Clave.
And Wurger, you got that right. Claves work is always first rate.
Wildcat
Major
Excellent again Clave!
- Thread starter
- #14
Clave
Senior Master Sergeant
I spotted that about 10 minutes after I posted - I knew something was missing, but couldn't quite put my finger on it.
The aerial arrangement was strange, but makes sense in the light of having a turret swiveling around...
And thanks for the comments everyone!
I shall be off to make a few more versions now that the basics are right...
Attachments
Agreed, Top stuff as usual Clave!
- Thread starter
- #17
Clave
Senior Master Sergeant
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