Bristol Beaufighter - Ten Gun Terror

Video Title :	Bristol Beaufighter - Ten Gun Terror
Description :	The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter, often referred to as simply the Beau, was a British long-range heavy fighter modification of the Bristol Aeroplane Company's earlier Beaufort torpedo bomber design. The name Beaufighter is a portmanteau of "Beaufort" and "fighter". Unlike the Beaufort, the Beaufighter had a long career and served in almost all theatres of war in the Second World War, first as a night fighter, then as a fighter-bomber and eventually replacing the Beaufort as a torpedo bomber. Design and development The idea of a fighter development of the Beaufort was suggested to the Air Ministry by Bristol. The suggestion coincided with the delays in the development and production of the Westland Whirlwind cannon-armed twin-engined fighter. By converting an existing design the "Beaufort Cannon Fighter" could be expected to be developed and produced far quicker than starting a completely fresh design from scratch. Accordingly the Air Ministry produced specification F.11/37 written around Bristols suggestion for an "interim" aircraft pending proper introduction of the Whirlwind. Bristol started building a prototype by taking a part-built Beaufort out of the production line. This prototype first flew on 17 July 1939, a little more than eight months after the design had started and possible due to the use of as many of the Beaufort's design and parts. A production contract for 300 machines had already been placed two weeks before the prototype flew, as F.17/39. In general, the differences between the Beaufort and Beaufighter were minor. The wings, control surfaces, retractable landing gear and aft section of the fuselage, were identical to those of the Beaufort, while the wing center section was similar apart from certain fittings. The bomb-bay was dispensed with, and a forward-firing armament of four Hispano 20 mm cannons was mounted in the lower fuselage area. (These initially were drum-fed cannon, necessitating the radar operator having to manually change the ammunition drums—an arduous and unpopular task, especially at night and in the midst of a chase with a bomber target.) The areas for the rear gunner and bomb-aimer were removed, leaving only the pilot in a smoother, fighter-type cockpit. The navigator/radar operator sat far to the rear in a small bubble where the Beaufort's dorsal turret had been located. The Bristol Taurus engines of the Beaufort would not be sufficient for a fighter and were replaced by the more powerful Bristol Hercules. This extra power presented problems with vibration. In the end they were mounted on longer, more flexible struts, which stuck out from the front of the wings. This had the side effect of moving the centre of gravity (CoG) forward, generally a bad thing for an aircraft design. It was then moved back into place by cutting back the nose area, which was no longer needed for the bomb-aimer in the fighter role. This put most of the fuselage behind the wing and moved the CoG back to where it should be, leading to the Beaufighter's famous stubby appearance. Production of the Beaufort in Australia, and the highly successful use of British-made Beaufighters by the Royal Australian Air Force, led to Beaufighters being built by the Australian Department of Aircraft Production (DAP), from 1944 onwards. Australian-built examples are generally known as the DAP Beaufighter. The DAP's variant was an attack/torpedo bomber, known as the Beaufighter Mark 21: design changes included Hercules CVII engines, a dihedral tailplane and enhanced armament. By the time British production lines shut down in September 1945, 5,564 Beaufighters had been built in England, by a number of manufacturers as well as Bristol: Fairey Aviation, (498) MAP (3336) and Rootes Securities Ltd (260).
Views :	31757
Rating :	4.66
Keywords, Tags :	Bristol Beaufighter aircraft airplane fighter aviation history ww2
Video Length :	5 : 6

Comments :

When I started work in 1980 most of the fitters that built these (Blenheims and Beaufighters) were still there. There was only one woman wartime fitter left from this period though. Nearly all the sheet metal parts were worked by hand as they still are today.

I worked at the factory in the first part of the clip and knew one of the guys who used to gas weld the turret mountings. In my view he was one of the last skilled men.

Maybe. Mosquitos were meant to be bombers though and were designed to go in fast and get out fast, hopefully fast enough to avoid the anti-aircraft gunners. They were expected to be able to outrun anything else in the sky and the early ones did not even have guns

Easy meat for a ME 109 I bet

what you 'bet' is compleatly wrong, instead of waffling rubbish you made up yourself why dont you read about it and learn? americans used the beaufighter untill 1946.

You're right of course. A beaufight was no match for a 109. Not fast enough or able to turn as quickly. If it was, well, we wouldn't have needed spitfires now would we. You have to be sensible about these things. A good twin engined machine in WW II was unlikely to be as effective in air combat as a good single engined machine.

Well said paperwater, at least you know what you are talking about!

Different machines meant to do different jobs. Beaufighter was meant for attacking surface targets instead of protecting or attacking bombers or other planes.

nope

What a beauty.. Herc engines and a superb gun platform. That plane had the lot.