Bristol Beaufighter TF Mk X (RD253)  [@ RAF Hendon]

In October 1938, the Bristol Aeroplane Company submitted a proposal for a twin engined night fighter, heavily armed and equipped with AI radar, to the RAF Air Staff.  Specification F.17/39 was written around the proposal and an order placed for 300 Beaufighters, as the aircraft would be named.  The first of four Beaufighter prototypes (R2052) flew for the first time on 17^th July 1939, powered by two Bristol Hercules I-SM engines (forerunners of the Hercules III).  By mid-1940 Bristol had received a second contract, for 918 Beaufighters.  Two variants were now to be produced, the Mk IF (910 built) with Hercules III engines and the Mk IIF (450) powered by Rolls Royce XX Merlins, the Hercules being in short supply due to the Short Stirling bomber programme.  The first Mk 1F, a two-seat night fighter variant, was delivered to RAF Tangmere for trials with the Fighter Interception Unit on the 12^th August 1940 and 29 Squadron and 604 Squadron started receiving the first Mk 1Fs during the following autumn.  Both squadrons were reequipping from the Bristol Blenheim to the night fighter role.  The Mk 1Fs started to arrive to 604 Squadron from the 2^nd September 1940 and from November with 29 Squadron.  The first Merlin powered Mk IIF flew in June 1940.  However, it was found the Merlins left the Beaufighter underpowered and gave it a pronounced tendency to swing to port, making take-offs and landings difficult which resulted in a high accident rate.  Once a Beaufighter had detected a German night bomber, a single short burst from its four 20-mm. cannons was often sufficient to shoot down the enemy.  The Beaufighter Mk IC (300 built) was a long-range strike fighter variant for RAF Coastal Command and was also used equally as effectively as a ground attack aircraft in the Western Desert.  This variant eventually replaced the obsolete Bristol Beaufort and Blenheim and first entered Coastal Command service with 252 Squadron from December 1940.

RD253 was built in 1944 at the Old Mixon Shadow Factory, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset with Bristol Hercules XVII engines.  After fitting out by 19 MU at St. Athan, Glamorgan, RD253 was ferried to Esquadrilha B of the Fôrças Aéreas du Armada (Portuguese Navy Air Force) by 1 Ferry Unit on 18^th March 1945 as one of 16 Beaufighters. These Beaufighters replaced worn-out Blenheim IVFs. Later some of the Beaufighters later being operated from a second naval air base at Averio, the Centro de Aviaco Naval de San Jacinto.  The aircraft left for Portugal in three batches, two formations of six and one of four. Two RAF Beaufighter crews stayed in Portugal for three weeks to train Portuguese crews on the Beaufighter. The aircraft carried Coastal Command colours (dark green/ocean grey upper surfaces and medium sea grey under surfaces) and Portuguese markings.  The Portuguese used the Beaufighters for maritime patrol duties.  Allocated serial BF-13, RD253 served with Escuadrilha B at Portela de Sacavem until its disbandment 1949.  On withdrawal from service both RD253 and RD220 became instructional airframes at the Lisbon Technical Institute until 1965.  RD253 was then presented to the RAF for restoration during 1965 with the restoration starting in 1967.  Finally restored to a static display condition during 1968 RD253 finally went on display at the RAF Museum in 1972.  In the photograph RD253 is displayed in D-Day invasion stripes which were added in 1994.

The Beaufighter came off the production line at almost exactly the same time as the first British Airborne Interception (AI) night fighter radar sets.  Armed with four 20mm cannon in the lower fuselage, radar antennas in the nose, the spaciousness of the fuselage to house the AI equipment and being fast enough to catch German bombers the Beaufighter was an effective counter to Luftwaffe night raids.  Unfortunately delays in the production of AI Mk IV radar equipment prevented the full complement of five Beaufighter squadrons from becoming operational until the spring of 1941, but despite early teething troubles those that were operational enjoyed some success.  The first AI-assisted Beaufighter kill was claimed on the night of 19/20^th November 1940, when Flt Lt John Cunningham [“Cats Eyes” Cunningham] and Sgt Phillipson of 604 Squadron based at RAF Middle Wallop, Hampshire, were credited with the destruction of a Junkers 88.  Thirteen more Beaufighter squadrons were assigned to the night defence of Great Britain in 1941/42 and many of the RAF's night fighter aces scored their early kills while flying the fast, heavy and a powerful twin engine fighter.  Reportedly dubbed the “Whispering Death” by Japanese ground forces due to its quiet engines (courtesy of engine sleeve valves), the Beaufighter was flown by Allied pilots to strike Axis shipping and ground targets in the European, North African, Mediterranean and South West Pacific theatres of WW2.

Bristol Beaufighter Mk 1C (A19-43)  [@ National Museum of the USAF, Ohio]

In the Mediterranean, the USAAF's 414^th, 415^th, 416^th and 417^th Night Fighter Squadrons (NFS) received 100 radar-equipped Beaufighter Mk VIFs in the summer of 1943 under a "reverse" Lend-Lease arrangement and achieved their first victory in July 1943 when both the 414^th and 415^th NFS shot down a Heinkel He 115 floatplane in daylight.  The first night kill for the American Beaufighters against a Dornier Do 217 on 23^rd January 1944.  Although the Northrop P-61 Black Widow fighter started to replace the Beaufighters of 414 NFS from December 1944 the USAAF continued to fly the Beaufighters until late in the war.  417 NFS became the last USAAF squadron to operate the Beaufighter when it reequipped with the P-61 in Belgium during March 1945.  Interestingly 416 NFS reequipped in Italy with the de Havilland NF.30 Mosquito and operated them from 1944 into 1945.

Built under license by the Fairey Aviation in England at Stockport as a Mk 1C and delivered (shipped from the UK on  21^st March 1942) to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during July 1942 as A19-43.  Assigned on 2^nd November 2 1942 to 5 Operational Training Unit (OTU) based at RAAF Base Forest Hill (later RAAF Base Wagga) near Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.  5 OTU had been formed at the base in October 1942 to train pilots and navigators and was initially equipped with Bristol Beauforts and Beaufighters but later received Bostons and Mosquitos.  On the 20^th June 1943 A19-43 was transferred to 31 Squadron RAAF which was based at Coomalie Creek Airfield, Northern Territory, and completed combat 38 missions with the Squadron.  31 Squadron had been formed at RAAF Base Wagga on 14^th August 1942 and were equipped with Beaufighters, the first of which was received on 23^rd August 1942.  By the 17^th November the Squadron had become fully operational and attacked targets in Timor.  The Squadron operated the Beaufighter until it was disbanded in July 1946 in the long-range fighter and ground attack roles.  On the 17^th September 1943 A19-43 fighter ran out of fuel and belly-landed at Skirmish Point near Millingimbi, Northern Territory, when returning from a raid on Taberfane Island, Indonesia.  On 18^th September, having been refuelled by an Hudson aircraft, A19-43 was flown out and returned to 31 Squadron via 4 Repair and Salvage Unit (RSU) based at Pell Airfield, Northern Territory.  After repairs at 2 CRD (Central Recovery Depot), following a second accident on 31^st August 1944 when A19-43 ran off the airstrip following a brake failure, A19-43 was allocated on 20^th October 1944 to 3 Air Armament Gunnery School based at RAAF Station Nhill, Victoria State, as an instructional airframe.  During October 1947 A19-43 was sold to a local farmer who broke it up for useful parts.  During 1971 A19-43 was recovered by the Australian Aircraft Restoration Group for the then Moorabbin Air Museum, now the Australian National Aviation Museum, which is located at the Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne, Victoria.  Acquired by the USAF Museum during 1988 and placed into storage, A19-43 underwent, starting in 2000, six years of restoration before officially going on display on 18^th October 2006.  In the photographs A19-43 is in the livery of the USAAF Beaufighter Mk VIF variant KV912 of the 415^th Night Fighter Squadron (NFS), 12^th Air Force, which served in the Mediterranean Theatre.  The T5049 marking  indicates it was flown by Captain Harold Augspurger, the C.O. of the 415^th NFS, who during September 1944 shot down, in Italy, a Heinkel He 111 which was carrying German staff officers.   [The photographs of A19-43 are by the kind permission of Don Koshute]

Marks III, IV and V were “experimental aircraft”.  The Mk III and Mk IV were to be respectively Merlin and Griffon powered Beaufighters with a new slimmer fuselage and an armament of six cannon and six machine guns, while the Merlin XX powered Mk V (2 Mk II conversions built, R2274 and R2306) had a Boulton Paul turret with four 0.303in machine guns mounted aft of the cockpit replacing one pair of cannon and the wing-mounted machine guns.  The Mk VI was the next major variant; Mk VIs for Coastal Command was designated Mk VIC (693 built) and those for Fighter Command Mk VIF (879 built).  The Mk VIC, similar to the Mk IC, started to enter Coastal Command service from mid-1942 while the night-fighter Mk VIF was supplied to squadrons from March 1942 and was equipped with AI Mark VIII radar.  From mid to late1942 the faster de Havilland Mosquito started to enter RAF service in the night fighter role but it was not until the autumn of 1943 that sufficient Mosquitoes were available to replace the Beaufighter as the primary night fighter.  Sixty Mk VICs were completed as Interim Torpedo Fighters from late 1942.  This variant carried either British 18in or US 22.5in torpedoes externally.  254 Squadron made the first successful Beaufighter torpedo attack during April 1943 when two merchant ships were sunk off the Norwegian coast.

In the late 1930's Sir Roy Fedden designed the Bristol Hercules twin row 14 cylinder air cooled supercharged radial engine.  It was very reliable design with the Hercules I (1,290 hp) engine first becoming available in 1939 and was soon followed by the Hercules II (1,375 hp).  In turn these were followed by the foremost variants, the Hercules VI (1,650 hp) and the late-war Hercules XVII (1,735 hp).  These variants powered certain marks of Stirling, Handley Page Halifax, Avro Lancaster and Vickers Wellington.  Power output was steadily increased in the post war era culminating in the 700 series of engines which developed over 2000 hp and powered aircraft like the Handley Page Hastings C1 and C3 and Bristol Freighter.  The design was also licensed for production in France by SNECMA.   A total of over 57,400 Hercules engines were built.  The photograph on the left shows a Bristol Hercules XVIII engine and the photograph on the right shows a fully supercharged 763 engine.

Bristol Beaufighter XIC  (JM135 / A19-144)  [@ RAF Duxford]

Bristol Beaufighter TF Mk X (RD220)  [@ RAF East Fortune]

Beaufighters started to arrive to squadrons in Asia and the Pacific from mid-1942.  The Mk VIF operated from India as a night fighter and on operations against Japanese lines of communication in Burma and Thailand while the Mk X were flown on long-range daylight intruder missions over Burma.  To the Japanese, the Beaufighter became known as "The Whispering Death" because of the speed at which one could suddenly strike and turn for home.  From late 1944 RAF Beaufighter units were engaged in the Greek Civil War and were finally withdrawn in 1946.  Many Mk 10s were converted to target tug standard as the TT.10 and served with several RAF support units until 1960.

RD220 was constructed at the Shadow Aircraft Factory at Old Mixon, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.  After fitting out by 19 MU at St.  Athan, Glamorgan, RD220 (see RD253) was one of the 16 Beaufighters delivered to the Fôrças Aéreas du Armada during 1945.  Based at Portela de Sacavem RD220 served with the Escuadrilha B until its disbandment.  Transferred to the Lisbon Technical Institute to become an instructional airframe, RD220 was later transferred to the Museo do Ar at Alverca Air Base in 1966.  Stored outside RD220 was purchased in 1983 by the South African Air Force Museum with the intention to restoring RD220 to a flying condition.  Unfortunately RD220 was put up for sale in 2000 to fund the rebuild of the Museum's Spitfire Mk.IX that had crashed in April 2000.  Bought by the National Museums Scotland that year after raising £190,000 in just two days, RD220 is now undergoing a comprehensive restoration to a static display condition.

SR919 was the last Beaufighter to be built and left the Bristol Aeroplane Company's Weston-super-Mare factory on the 21^st September 1945.  When the British production lines shut down 5,564 Beaufighters had been built by Bristol, 498 by Fairey Aviation Company at Stockport, 3336 by the Ministry of Aircraft Production and 260 by Rootes at Speke.  The last flight of a Beaufighter in RAF service was by a TT.10, RD761, from RAF Seletar on the 12^th May 1960.  The Beaufighter was also used by the air forces of Portugal, Turkey, and the Dominican Republic and briefly by the Israeli Air Force when some ex RAF aircraft were clandestinely purchased in 1948.