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.