Boulton-Paul Defiant....... What were the designers thinking?
Oh, unkind! Considering the specification it had to fulfil I think they made the most of it. It was ordered as a bomber destroyer and there is little doubt it would have acquitted itself well if the Germans had sent bombers over from Germany. Events proved otherwise when the Germans over-ran France and were able to station their aircraft just the other side of the Channel, which meant their fighters were able to reach England. Against single seat fighters the Defiant had little chance as it was slower and less nimble. Can you blame the Air Staff of the 1930s for raising the specification? Who would have thought that the French could have been defeated in such a short time? Just shows that trying to read the future isn't easy.