Bristol Beaufighter

The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber. The Beaufighter proved to be an effective night fighter, which came into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Battle of Britain, its large size allowing it to carry heavy armament and early aircraft interception radar without major performance penalties.

The Beaufighter was used in many roles; receiving the nicknames Rockbeau for its use as a rocket-armed ground attack aircraft and Torbeau as a torpedo bomber against Axis shipping, in which it replaced the Beaufort. In later operations, it served mainly as a maritime strike/ground attack aircraft, RAF Coastal Command having operated the largest number of Beaufighters amongst all other commands at one point. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) also made extensive use of the type as an anti-shipping aircraft, such as during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea.

The Beaufighter saw extensive service during the war with the RAF (59 squadrons), Fleet Air Arm (15 squadrons), RAAF (seven squadrons), Royal Canadian Air Force (four squadrons), United States Army Air Forces (four squadrons), Royal New Zealand Air Force (two squadrons), South African Air Force (two squadrons) and Polskie Siły Powietrzne (Polish Air Force; one squadron). Variants of the Beaufighter were manufactured in Australia by the Department of Aircraft Production (DAP); such aircraft are sometimes referred to by the name DAP Beaufighter.

Development

Origins

thumb|upright=1.5|left|alt=Two Bristol Beauforts in flight|Bristol Beauforts in flight

The concept of the Beaufighter has its origins in 1938. During the Munich Crisis, the Bristol Aeroplane Company recognised that the Royal Air Force (RAF) had an urgent need for a long-range fighter aircraft capable of carrying heavy payloads for maximum destruction.

During early development, Bristol had formalised multiple configurations for the prospective aircraft, including variations such as a proposed Type 157 three-seat bomber outfitted with a dorsal gun turret with a pair of cannons, and what Bristol referred to as a "sports model", with a thinner fuselage, the Type 158. While there was some scepticism that the aircraft was too big for a fighter, the proposal was given a warm reception by the Air Staff. Perhaps in anticipation of this, the Air Ministry had requested that Bristol investigate the prospects of a "slim fuselage" configuration. Since the "Beaufort cannon fighter" was a conversion of an existing design, development and production was expected to proceed more quickly than with a new one. Within six months the first F.11/37 prototype, R2052, had been completed.

During the pre-delivery trials, the first prototype R2052, powered by a pair of two-speed supercharged Hercules I-IS engines, had achieved 335 mph (539 km/h) at 16,800 ft (5,120 m) in a clean configuration. The second prototype, R2053, which was furnished with Hercules I-M engines (similar to Hercules II) and was laden with operational equipment, had attained a lower speed of 309 mph at 15,000 ft. According to aviation author Philip Moyes, the performance of the second prototype was considered disappointing, particularly as the Hercules III engines of the initial production aircraft would likely provide little improvement, especially in light of additional operational equipment being installed; it was recognised that demand for the Hercules engine to power other aircraft such as the Short Stirling bomber posed a potential risk to the production rate of the Beaufighter. This sparked considerable interest in the adoption of alternative engines for the type. Flight tests found that the Merlins left the aircraft underpowered, with a pronounced tendency to swing to port, making take-offs and landings difficult and causing a high accident rate – out of 337 Merlin-powered aircraft, 102 were lost to accidents. In May 1941, the Beaufighter Mk.IIs R2274 and R2306 were modified to the Beaufighter Mk.III standard; removing the six wing guns and two inboard cannons to install a Boulton-Paul-built four-gun turret behind the pilot, to overcome the effect of recoil and nose-down tendency when firing the usual armament, was found to obstruct the emergency egress of the pilot.

Production of the earlier Beaufort in Australia and the great success of British-made Beaufighters used by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), contributed to the Australian government deciding in January 1943 to manufacture Beaufighters under the Department of Aircraft Production (DAP) organisation at Fishermans Bend, Melbourne, Victoria from 1944. The DAP Beaufighter was an attack and torpedo bomber known as the "Mk.21". Design changes included Hercules VII or XVIII engines and some minor changes in armament. By September 1945, when British production ended, 5,564 Beaufighters had been built by Bristol and the Fairey Aviation Company at Stockport and RAF Ringway (498); also by the Ministry of Aircraft Production (3336) and Rootes at Blythe Bridge (260). When Australian production ceased in 1946, 364 Mk.21s had been built.

Design

thumb|upright=1.3|A Bristol Beaufighter, with "arrowhead", [[dipole antenna#Folded dipole|folded twin-dipole antenna on the nose for its VHF-band AI radar.]]

The Bristol Beaufighter is a fighter derivative of the Beaufort torpedo-bomber. It is a twin-engine two-seat long-range day and night fighter. The aircraft employed an all-metal monocoque construction, comprising three sections with extensive use of 'Z-section' frames and 'L-section' longeron. The wing of the Beaufighter used a mid-wing cantilever all-metal monoplane arrangement, also constructed out of three sections.

The Beaufighter's armament was located in various positions on the lower fuselage and wings. The bomb bay of the Beaufort had been entirely omitted, but a small bomb load could be carried externally. A total of four forward-firing 20 mm Hispano Mk.I cannon were mounted in the lower fuselage area. These were fed from 60-round drums, requiring the radar operator to change the ammunition drums manually—an arduous and unpopular task, especially while chasing a bomber at night. They were soon replaced by Hispano Mk. II cannon featuring a belt-feed system. The cannons were supplemented by six .303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns in the wings (four starboard, two port, the asymmetry caused by the port mounting of the landing light). This was one of the heavier, if not the heaviest, fighter armament of its time. When Beaufighters were deployed as fighter-torpedo bombers, often with the machine guns removed, they used their firepower to suppress flak and hit enemy ships, especially escorts and small vessels. The recoil of the guns could reduce the speed of the aircraft by around 25 knots. The re-equipping and conversion training process took several months; on the night of 17/18 September 1940, Beaufighters of 29 Squadron conducted their first operational night patrol, conducting an uneventful sortie; the first operational daylight sortie was performed on the following day. On 25 October 1940, the first confirmed Beaufighter kill, a Dornier Do 17, was made.

Initial production deliveries of the Beaufighter lacked the radar for night-fighter operations; these were installed by No. 32 Maintenance Unit at RAF St Athan during late 1940. The Mk.II was also supplied to the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. A night-fighter Beaufighter Mk.VIF was supplied to squadrons in March 1942, equipped with AI Mark VIII radar. The Beaufighter showed its merits as a night fighter, and also performed in other capacities. Due to wartime shortages, some Beaufighters entered operational service without feathering equipment for their propellers. As some models of the twin-engined Beaufighter could not stay aloft on one engine unless the dead propeller was feathered, this deficiency contributed to several operational losses and the deaths of aircrew.

In the Mediterranean, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) 414th, 415th, 416th and 417th night fighter squadrons received a hundred Beaufighters in the summer of 1943, achieving their first victory in July 1943. Through the summer, the squadrons conducted daytime convoy escort and ground-attack operations but primarily flew as night fighters. Although the Northrop P-61 Black Widow fighter began to arrive in December 1944, USAAF Beaufighters continued to fly night operations in Italy and France until late in the war. By the autumn of 1943, the Mosquito was available in enough numbers to replace the Beaufighter as the primary RAF night fighter. By the end of the war some 70 pilots serving with RAF units had become aces while flying Beaufighters. At least one captured Beaufighter was operated by the Luftwaffe – there is a photograph of the aircraft in flight with German markings.

Coastal Command

[[File:Royal Air Force Coastal Command, 1939-1945. CH9765.jpg|thumb|A Mk.VIC loaded with an [[British 18 inch torpedo#18 inch Mark XII|

18-inch Mark XII torpedo]]]]

It was recognised that RAF Coastal Command required a long-range heavy fighter aircraft such as the Beaufighter, and in early 1941 Bristol proceeded with the development of the Beaufighter Mk.IC long-range fighter. Based on the standard Mk.I model, the initial batch of 97 Coastal Command Beaufighters were hastily manufactured, making it impossible to incorporate the intended additional wing fuel tanks on the production line; 50-gallon tanks from the Vickers Wellington were temporarily installed on the floor between the cannon bays. The Beaufighter was reputedly very effective in the Mediterranean against Axis shipping, aircraft and ground targets; Coastal Command was, at one point, the majority user of the Beaufighter, replacing its inventory of obsolete Beaufort and Blenheim aircraft. To meet demand, both the Fairey and Weston production lines were, at times, only producing Coastal Command Beaufighters. In December 1941, Beaufighters participated in Operation Archery, providing suppressing fire while British Commandos landed on the occupied Norwegian island of Vågsøy. In 1942, long range patrols of the Bay of Biscay were routinely conducted by Beaufighters, intercepting aircraft such as the Ju-88 and Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor operating against Allied anti-submarine patrols. The Beaufighter's Hercules engines used sleeve valves, which lacked the noisy valve gear common to poppet valve engines. This was most apparent in a reduced noise level at the front of the engine.

In the South-East Asian Theatre, the Beaufighter Mk.VIF operated from India as a night fighter and on operations against Japanese lines of communication in Burma and Thailand. Mk.X Beaufighters were also flown on long range daylight intruder missions over Burma. The high-speed, low-level attacks were very effective, despite often atrocious weather conditions and makeshift repair and maintenance facilities.

Southwest Pacific

thumb|Flight Lieutenant Ron "Torchy" Uren of [[No. 30 Squadron RAAF takes a drink from his water canteen while in the cockpit of his Beaufighter during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Still frame from The Bismarck Convoy Smashed (1943) by Damien Parer]]

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) was a keen operator of the Beaufighter during the Second World War. On 20 April 1942, the RAAF's first Beaufighter IC (an Australian designation given to various models of the aircraft, including Beaufighter VIC, Beaufighter X, and Beaufighter XIC), which had been imported from Britain, was delivered; the last aircraft was delivered on 20 August 1945. The Japanese ships were left exposed to mast-height bombing and skip bombing attacks by the US medium bombers. Eight transports and four destroyers were sunk for the loss of five aircraft, including one Beaufighter. On 2 November 1943, in another high-profile event Beaufighter A19-54 won the second of two unofficial races against an A-20 Boston bomber. which had been designed using components of the Beaufighter's failed stablemate, the Bristol Buckingham.

The Beaufighter was also used by the air forces of Portugal, Turkey and the Dominican Republic. It was used briefly by the Israeli Air Force after some ex-RAF examples were clandestinely purchased in 1948.

Many Mk.10 aircraft were converted to the target tug role postwar as the TT.10 and served with several RAF support units until 1960. The last flight of a Beaufighter in RAF service was by TT.10 RD761 from RAF Seletar on 12 May 1960.

Variants

;Beaufighter Mk.IF: Two-seat fighter variant. Hercules XI engines. Some (not all) machines used in night fighter role were equipped with AI Mark IV radar. For example, 252 Squadron used daylight Mk.IFs without any radars.

;Beaufighter Mk.IC: The "C" stood for Coastal Command variant; many were modified to carry bombs

;Beaufighter Mk.IIF: Due to allocation of the Hercules engine for the Short Stirling bomber programme, the Mk.IIF night fighter was produced with Rolls-Royce Merlin XX engines.

;Beaufighter Mk.III/IV:

:The Mk.III and Mk.IV (Bristol designation Type 158) were to be Hercules and Merlin powered Beaufighters respectively, with a new, slimmer fuselage that improved top speed by up to 10mph, and an armament of six 20mm cannons plus eight .303" Browning machine guns. Work was halted on these variants due to the Battle Of Britain and was never resumed.

;Beaufighter Mk.V: The Mk.V had a Boulton Paul turret with four 0.303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns mounted aft of the cockpit supplanting one pair of cannon and the wing-mounted machine guns. Only two (Merlin-engined) Mk.Vs were built. When tested by the A&AEE, R2274 was capable of at .

;Beaufighter Mk.VI: The Hercules-powered Mk.VI was the next major version appearing in 1942 and over 1,000 examples were built. Main change was the introduction of Hercules VI powerplant. Changes did not include a dihedral tailplane. This was already introduced on some Mk.Is (for example V8324 RO-B, R2057, etc) and MK.IIs such as R2270. On the contrary, many MkVIs had old-style tailplanes (X7881, X8023, etc)

;Beaufighter Mk.VIC: Coastal Command version, similar to the Mk.IC

;Beaufighter Mk.VIF: Night fighter equipped with AI Mark VIII radar

;Beaufighter Mk.VI (ITF): Interim torpedo fighter version

;Beaufighter Mk.VII: Proposed Australian-built variant with Hercules 26 engines, not built

;Beaufighter Mk.VIII: Proposed Australian-built variant with Hercules XVII engines, not built

;Beaufighter Mk.IX: proposed Australian-built variant with Hercules XVII engines, not built

thumb|right|Beaufighter Mk. X

;Beaufighter TF Mk.X: Two-seat torpedo fighter aircraft, dubbed the "Torbeau". Hercules XVII engines with cropped superchargers improved low-altitude performance. The last major version (2,231 built) was the Mk.X. The later production models featured a dorsal tailfin extension.

;Beaufighter Mk.XIC: Coastal Command version of the Mk.X, with no torpedo gear

;Beaufighter Mk.XII: Proposed long-range variant of the Mk.XI with drop tanks, not built

;Beaufighter Mk.21: The Australian-made DAP Beaufighter. Changes included Hercules XVII engines, four 20 mm cannon in the nose, four Browning .50 in (12.7 mm) in the wings and the capacity to carry eight 5 in (130 mm) High Velocity Aircraft Rockets, two 250 lb (110 kg) bombs, two 500 lb (230 kg) bombs and one Mark 13 torpedo.

thumb|Beaufighter TT.10 target tug of 34 Squadron in 1951

;Beaufighter TT Mk.10: After the war, many RAF Beaufighters were converted into target tug aircraft

;Australian experimental prototypes:

Twin Merlin engines;
40 mm Bofors gun fitted.

Operators

(captured aircraft)

Surviving aircraft

Museum display

thumb|A8-328 at the Australian National Aviation Museum, 2014

thumb|RD253, RAF Museum, 2017

thumb|Beaufighter Mk.Ic A19-43, National Museum of the United States Air Force, 2017

;Australia

Beaufighter Mk.XXI A8–186 – Built in Australia in 1945, A8–186 saw service with No. 22 Squadron RAAF at the very end of World War 2. After spending some years on a farm in New South Wales, it was bought in 1965 by the Camden Museum of Aviation, a private aviation museum at Camden Airport, Sydney Australia. It was restored using parts gathered from a wide variety of sources and wears "Beau-gunsville" nose art. (They also have a complete nose section that was found at a Sydney Railway workshops and acquired by the museum; see "Harry's Baby", below.
Beaufighter Mk.XXI A8–328 – This Australian–built aircraft is displayed at the Australian National Aviation Museum near Melbourne as A8-39/EH-K. Completed on the day the Pacific War ended, it saw post-war service as a target-tug.
Beaufighter Mk.XXI A8-386 – nose section only, displayed at the Camden Museum of Aviation with "Harry's Baby" nose art.

;United Kingdom

Beaufighter TF.X, RD253 – Displayed at the Royal Air Force Museum in London, this aircraft flew with the Portuguese Air Force as BF-13 in the late 1940s. It was used as an instructional airframe before its return to the UK in 1965. Restoration was completed in 1968, using components scavenged from a wide variety of sources, including some parts recovered from a crash site.
Beaufighter TF.X RD220 – This aircraft is currently displayed while under restoration at the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune Airfield, east of Edinburgh. Post-war, it served with the Portuguese naval air arm. After passing through the hands of the Portuguese Museu do Ar and the South African Air Force Museum, it was acquired by National Museums Scotland in 2000.
Beaufighter forward fuselage only, likely from a Merlin XX engined Mk.IIF, now displayed at Aerospace Bristol after many years at the RAFM Hendon (previously loaned to IWM Duxford, and Museum of Flight East Fortune).

;United States

Beaufighter Mk.Ic A19-43 – On public display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio, since October 2006. Although flown in combat in the south-west Pacific by 31 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force, A19-43 is painted as T5049, Night Mare, a USAAF Beaufighter flown by Capt. Harold Augspurger, commander of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, who shot down a Heinkel He 111 carrying German staff officers in September 1944. The Beaufighter was recovered from a dump at Nhill, Australia, in 1971, where it had been abandoned in 1947. It was acquired by the USAF Museum in 1988.

Under restoration or stored

thumb|A19-144, at the [[Imperial War Museum Duxford (2013)]]

Beaufighter Mk.Ic A19-144 – Owned by The Fighter Collection at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, this aircraft has been undergoing a lengthy restoration to flying status for many years. It is a composite aircraft built using parts from JM135/A19-144 and JL946/A19-148.
Beaufighter Mk.IF X7688 – Owned by the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) in Australia, this aircraft is being restored to fly. It will be a composite airframe based on X7688 (forward fuselage and center-section), with parts from other aircraft.
Beaufighter TF.X RD867 – In storage at the Canada Aviation Museum, RD867 awaits restoration. It is a semi-complete RAF restoration but lacks engines, cowlings or internal components. It was received from the RAF Museum in exchange for a Bristol Bolingbroke in 1969.

Known wrecks

A number of sunken aircraft are known; in 2005, the wreck of a Beaufighter (probably a Mk.IC flown by Sgt Donald Frazie and navigator Sgt Sandery of No. 272 Squadron RAF) was identified about off the north coast of Malta. The aircraft ditched in March 1943, after an engine failure occurred soon after take-off and lies inverted on the sea bed, in of water.

Another Mediterranean wreck lies in of water near the Greek island of Paros. This is possibly Beaufighter TF.X LX998 of 603 Squadron, which was shot down after destroying a German Arado Ar 196 during an anti-shipping mission in November 1943. The Australian crew survived and were rescued by a British submarine.

A Mk.VIC Beaufighter, serial A19-130, lies in of water, just off the coast of Fergusson Island in the western Pacific. It was lost in almost identical circumstances to the Malta aircraft – it ditched in August 1943 after an engine failure soon after takeoff. The aircraft sank within seconds, but both crew and their passenger escaped and swam to shore. The wreck was located in 2000.

A Beaufighter lies at a depth of around 30 metres in the Høydalsfjorden in Norway. This aircraft was shot-down on 7 February 1945, during a strike against German shipping that resulted in a dogfight with German aircraft with heavy losses, known as Black Friday. The wreck has become a dive site for recreational divers.

In May 2020, the wreck of a Beaufighter TF.X, believed to be JM333 of No. 254 Squadron, was uncovered by shifting sands on Cleethorpes beach near Grimsby. The aircraft was ditched on 21 April 1944 after suffering a double engine failure shortly after takeoff from North Coates. The crew survived uninjured.

Specifications (Beaufighter TF Mk.X)

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References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Austin & Longbridge Aircraft Production
A picture of a Merlin-engined Beaufighter II
Bristol Beaufighter further information and pictures
Beaufighter Squadrons
"Torpedo Beaufighter" a 1943 Flight article
"Whispering Death" a 1945 Flight article on Beaufighters in Burma