Бристоль Бофайтер: Британский тяжелый истребитель Второй мировой войны.

British heavy fighter aircraft of the WWII era
the aircraft

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 airborne 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 (Free 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.

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 three seat bomber outfitted with a dorsal gun turret with a pair of cannons, the Type 157 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. These factors had thus 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 resulting in 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 but 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.

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. III cannons were mounted in the lower fuselage area. These were initially fed from 60 round drums, requiring the radar operator to change the ammunition drums manually—an arduous and unpopular task, especially at night and while chasing a bomber. They were soon replaced by 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 developed as fighter torpedo bombers, they used their firepower (often the machine guns were removed) to suppress flak fire and hit enemy ships, especially escorts and small vessels. The recoil of the cannons and machine guns could reduce the speed of the aircraft by around 25 knots. The re equipping and conversion training process took several months to complete; 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, occurred. 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 but went on to perform 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 night fighter of the RAF. 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 – a photograph exists of the aircraft in flight, with German markings.

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 and so 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.

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, another high profile event involving the type occurred when a Beaufighter, A19 54, won the second of two unofficial races against an A 20 Boston bomber.

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 some 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. 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 0.5 mile (1 km) 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 204 feet (62 m) 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. 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.