WW2 Profile : Bristol Beaufighter



The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter, often referred to as simply the Beau,
was a British long-range heavy fighter derivative 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.
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-engine fighter. Bristol made proposals of a fixed four cannon version
and a turret fighter with twin cannons; the former was preferred by the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff.
As a torpedo bomber and "general reconnaissance" aircraft the Beaufort had moderate performance
but for fighter-like performance Bristol suggested their new Hercules engines
in place of the Beaufort's Taurus (another Bristol engine).

The first prototype achieved 335 mph (539 km/h) at 16,800 ft (5,120 m), the second prototype
when laden with operational equipment was slower at 309 mph at 15,000 ft. Large orders
were placed with the start of the Second World War but this meant an expected shortage of Hercules engines.
In February 1940, conversion of three aircraft to Merlins was ordered; success with the design
was expected to lead to production aircraft in 1941. The engine installations were the same
as the Avro Lancaster outboard being matched to the Beaufighter wing through an extra section.
The first Merlin powered aircraft flew in June 1940.



The various early models of the Beaufighter soon commenced service overseas,
where its ruggedness and reliability soon made the aircraft popular with crews.
By the time British production lines shut down in September 1945,
5,564 Beaufighters had been built in Britain.


Bristol Beaufighter Profiles:






































Cheers mates
David

Back at you!

Col.

Ditto...

Great! The same with RAF roundels for DAW, please!

So let it be written,
So let it be done...

The Beau is in the cue.

This is still a work in progress. The codes should be light grey, the serial hasn't been painted and the odd weathering here and there. This machine looks a bit worn in the illustrations.








I've made a few minor changes to the model, removing the humpback and remapping a few elements on the nose and wings.

How's it look?

Good-looking baby
Some intakes here, some corrections there - fine!
Thx for your efforts

Getting closer, fixed the wing mgs, 4 on the right, 2 on the left. Repainted the air intakes and, weathered her up a bit. She is BT-B, Ser No. T4828, No. 252 Squadron, Idku, Egypt, December, 1941. Her tail was replaced and not painted to match the "desert sky", instead a Med. blue was used. I still have to paint the spinner black and she'll be finished.







Fran, better?

Looks nice.

Definitely better
DAW (old) offers two Beaufighter versions (Mk I and Mk V?)
Up to now they share the same skin.
Do you intend to differentiate between the two versions?

Fran, those Beau models in the old DAW scenario weren't too accurate.

The one that Mike is working on for the new DAW is based on my hi-res version which is also the Beau that is included with SPAW.

BTW, Peter Booth was instrumental in helping me get the new model as accurate as possible.

Roger that, Ray, but I´d like to know whether we´ll be able to fly two different versions with two different camos(or skins).
of course with your excellent new 3DZs, my friends

Fran,

I only made two versions of the Beau. A Mk1 with 4 30 cals in one wing and 2 in the other and a version with 2 50 cals in both wings.


I never did add the later Mk's with the dihedral on the elevators or the one with the extended vertical tail stabilizer.

Now that I know there's some interest in those versions I'll conjure up a set of appropriate 3dz files.

There are 2 skins to choose from, and I've fixed it so whe can have a full squadron. I'll need to get some research into No.252 Squadron and go from there.







I'll send them to Talley-Ho by the weekend.

Need I say more?

Hi Guys,

Been following this thread and the development of the new Beaufighter.
With Mike's screen shots, I noticed that the background terrain is not that developed for Emil's DAW Terrain.

I know that a new PlaneSet is being developed for DAW.
Is the intent to also use a new DAW Terrain/Map or have the new PlaneSet simply replace
the PlaneSet used for Emil's original DAW Campaign?



Cheers mates
David

Sky,

First we'll have a new plane set with a bunch of new models that can be flow in the old scenario. I'm handling the plane models, Iron Mike is taking care of skins where needed and Ralf is handing the flight data and loadouts.

Next I'll finish working on a new TMOD list with about 250 models, most of which will be new.

Once that's done I can edit the target set to include the new models and then issue an update for that part of the scenario.

Then I'll take a look at things like railways and frontlines. Hopefully I can update them without too much trouble. That can also be issued as a separate update.

As for terrain, well it's a desert. Not a lot of detail, know what I mean?

Just kidding.

I'm not too familiar with terrain making so unless someone drops in that wants to take on the project we'll be using the original DAW set and maps.

In the end it will be similar to SPAW. As you know, we upgraded everything in that campaign EXCEPT the terrain and it turned out pretty good.



Mike, nice job on the Beaus. Not sure if you need it but I have a model with 2x 50 cal MG.s in each wing.

Hi Ray,

You wrote:


I'd say, IMHO, what the Mod Squad accomplished with SPAW was "pretty damn good".


Thanks for the update on DAW2


Cheers mate
David

You are correct about the terrain, it is a desert add on, not the DAW set.

And yes Ray, I've got a copy of your Marks.

Hi Guys.

I'd take a look at the terrain I made for Moggy.

DAW, is set in the same sort of terrain as I made for Iraq 41, with coastal towns, a bit of farm land and a whole lot of nothing. Now with the extended tile set, I could give you some more new tiles to add to the mix.

Just a thought.

Mike,

Let me know what dates you are interested in and I will search Kew for 252 - though doubt we will get codes to match serials.

Pete

Pete, 1941-42.

Now, for the bad news...The 8-bit, Glide version has severe problems...
















If this can't be worked out then only the 24-bit d3d will be available...

So, I'll need to use a different model if we want new 8-bit skins.

Don't you just love Glide, Mike?

Hi Guys,

I have been doing a bit of research and so far it looks as if the Beau did not reach the area of DAW until May 41 in Malta, and a little later in the main theatre. If anybody knows of a squadron that was there earlier please let me know. 252 were flying Mk IC in Coastal Command until May 41 but were in the desert with 272 by October or a little earlier. They may have flow Mk IF also - I am looking into that, but neither seem to have had the dihedral tail which came in at the end of Mk IIF production and was on all Beaus from then on - ie Mk VI onwards so unless it was retrofitted which seems unlikely, the profile for BT*T is wrong.

Pete

This is what I found Peter:

Mediterranean

No. 39:
Mk X: June 1943 to February 1945: Anti-shipping duties, later combined with intruder duties, from North Africa, Sardinia then Italy.

No. 46:
Mk I: May 1942-July 1942; Mk VI: May 1942- December 1944; Mk X: April 1944-July 1944
Night fighter duties from May 1942 to December 1944; Intruder duties from August 1943, return to UK and converted to Stirlings, December 1944.

No. 47:
Mk X: June 1943-October 1944: Anti shipping strikes as both torpedo bombers and fighters

No. 69:
Mk I: January 1941-February 1942: Only in small numbers, performing reconnaissance

No. 89
Mk I: November 1941-October 1943: Night fighter duties from various bases

No. 108
Mk VI: March 1943-February 1945: Night fighter duties combined with intruder duties
No. 144

Mk VI: January 1943-May 1943; Mk X: May 1943 – May 1945
June-August 1943: Anti-shipping from North Africa

No. 153
Mk I: January 1942 – January 1943; Mk VI: August 1942 – September 1944
May 1942-September 1944: Night fighter and intruder duties

No. 219
Mk VI: May 1943 – January 1944: Night fighter duties

No. 227
Mk I and VI: August 1942 – August 1944; Mk X and XI: September 1943 – August 1944
Anti-shipping duties from Malta and later Egypt

No. 252
Coastal Command’s first Beaufighter squadron
Mk I: December 1940-December 1942; Mk VI: November 1942-April 1944; Mk X: January 1944-December 1946; Mk XI: June 1943-January 1944 May 1941-: Anti shipping duties from Malta, then Egypt, then Libya

No. 255
Mk VI: March 1942-February 1945
November 1942-November 1943: Night fighter duties from Algeria and Sicily
November 1943-January 1945: Intruder duties over Balkans

No. 272
Mk I: April 1941-June 1943; Mk VI: November 1942-February 1944; Mk XI: September 1943-August 1944; Mk X: February 1944-April 1945
May 1941-November 1942: Long range fighter missions over Crete, convoy escort, ground attack from Egypt
November 1942-September 1943: Ground attack against Sicily and Tunisia, from Malta
September 1943-April 1945: Ground attack from Sicily, Sardinia and finally Italy

No. 600
Mk VI: February 1942-February 1945
November 1942-June 1943: Night fighter duties from North Africa
June-September 1943: Night fighter and intruder duties from Malta
September 1943 to end of war: As above but from Italy

No. 603
Mk I and VI: February 1943- October 1943; Mk X and XI: August 1943-December 1944
February 1943-December 1944: Anti-shipping strikes along African and Greek coasts

No. 16 SAAF
Mk X: December 1943-June 1945
Anti-shipping strikes with rockets over Aegean, then over Adriatic

No. 19 SAAF
Mk X and XI: August 1944-July 1945
Ground attack missions to support partisans over the Balkans

Thanks John,

That fits with my research so no Beaus really in DAW before Mid 1941. I have now found a pic of a Mk I with a dihedral tail so clearly some of the latere production had that feature, which is going to complicate things for multi-skins for the early period.

As to Skylark's Profile, I have seen it in 2 books - one serial T4757 BT*T with a dihedral tail and one serial T4767 with a flat tail. Also the photo in the first book seems to have a flat tail as well. As either serial it is a Mk IC built at Filton.

Pete