Bristol Beaufighter
The Bristol Beaufighter was a British twin-engine heavy fighter of the Second World War, developed from the Beaufort torpedo bomber. Carrying early airborne interception radar, it became the RAF's principal night fighter during the Blitz, and later served widely as a maritime strike and torpedo aircraft in Europe, the Mediterranean and the Pacific.
Why It Mattered
The Beaufighter reached the RAF just as Britain needed a night fighter able to carry the first airborne interception radar sets. Bristol got it there quickly by developing the Beaufort torpedo bomber, already in production, into a heavy fighter. Through the winter of 1940–41, its radar-equipped crews gave the RAF an effective answer to the Luftwaffe's night raids, and the type is credited with a major part in ending the Blitz. The same airframe went on to a second career with Coastal Command as a strike fighter.
Design Notes
The Beaufighter was built around the Beaufort's wing, tail and undercarriage structure, with a crew of two in a fuselage adapted from the bomber's. Two Bristol Hercules radial engines replaced the Beaufort's weaker Taurus engines, giving the fighter the power it needed. The spacious fuselage could accommodate the bulky early radar sets that no contemporary single-engine fighter could carry. Armament was exceptionally heavy: four forward-firing 20 mm cannon in the lower fuselage and six .303-inch machine guns in the wings. A navigator behind the pilot operated the radar and, on early aircraft, changed the cannon ammunition drums by hand.
Operational History
The prototype flew on 17 July 1939, and the type was in RAF service the following year. Its first work was at night: through the winter of 1940–41, Beaufighter crews opposed the German night raids on Britain. Coastal Command then introduced the type as a strike fighter. From 1941 the type spread beyond home defence, serving in the Mediterranean and, from mid-1942, in the Pacific war. Australian squadrons made extensive use of it against Japanese shipping, notably at the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Australian factories built the type too, as the DAP Beaufighter. It was reported that Japanese soldiers called the Beaufighter 'Whispering Death' for its quiet engines, although the story is not supported by Japanese sources. Production ran until September 1945 and totalled 5,562 aircraft.
Afterlife
After the war, many RAF Beaufighters were converted to target tug duties. The type's last flight in RAF service, a target-towing flight from Seletar, came on 17 May 1960. Complete aircraft survive in museums: the RAF Museum displays a TF.X in London, and an Australian-built Mk 21 is held by the Moorabbin Air Museum near Melbourne. Moorabbin's aircraft was delivered to the RAAF on 9 September 1945, after the war in the Pacific had ended, and was later prepared as a target. At Duxford, a composite Beaufighter has been under a lengthy restoration aimed at returning it to flight.