AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 39 / 100

Plate 39 of 100 · Second World War · Night fighter and strike fighter

Bristol Beaufighter

TF.X, painted as RD253, a Bristol Beaufighter TF.X built at Old Mixon, Weston-super-Mare, in October 1944 with two Bristol Hercules XVII radials, delivered to the Portuguese Naval Air Arm as BF-13 in March 1945, used as an instructional airframe in Lisbon, presented to the RAF in 1965, restored at St Athan and displayed at RAF Museum London since 1971, painted as it is shown there: Extra Dark Sea Grey upper surfaces over Sky undersides and rear-fuselage sides, black and white invasion stripes round the rear fuselage and the outer wings, a yellow-ringed Type C1 roundel on the stripes, a fin flash, ‘RD253’ in black under the tailplane, the dihedral tailplane and dorsal fin fillet of the TF.X, the observer’s cupola, no torpedo, rockets or radar nose, and black three-blade propellers with yellow tips; no photograph shows roundels on the wings, so they have none.

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as RD253, a Bristol Beaufighter TF.X built at Old Mixon, Weston-super-Mare, in October 1944 with two Bristol Hercules XVII radials, delivered to the Portuguese Naval Air Arm as BF-13 in March 1945, used as an instructional airframe in Lisbon, presented to the RAF in 1965, restored at St Athan and displayed at RAF Museum London since 1971, painted as it is shown there: Extra Dark Sea Grey upper surfaces over Sky undersides and rear-fuselage sides, black and white invasion stripes round the rear fuselage and the outer wings, a yellow-ringed Type C1 roundel on the stripes, a fin flash, ‘RD253’ in black under the tailplane, the dihedral tailplane and dorsal fin fillet of the TF.X, the observer’s cupola, no torpedo, rockets or radar nose, and black three-blade propellers with yellow tips; no photograph shows roundels on the wings, so they have none. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1.0 MB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (IF/TF.X); engine, crew and dimensions are for the TF.X modelled here.

History

The Beaufighter

Bristol designed the Beaufighter as a private venture in 1938, when it was clear the RAF had no heavily armed long-range fighter. Leslie Frise’s team took the wings, tail and undercarriage of the Beaufort torpedo bomber, then in production, joined them to a new, slimmer fuselage and fitted two Bristol Hercules radials. Four 20 mm Hispano cannon sat in the belly under the cockpit, and production aircraft added six .303 machine guns in the wings. Because so much of it already existed, the prototype, R2052, flew from Filton on 17 July 1939, less than a year after the design began.

The Beaufighter arrived just as airborne radar became usable. It had room for the AI Mk IV set and its operator, and from September 1940 it equipped the night-fighter squadrons. On the night of 19–20 November 1940 John Cunningham of No. 604 Squadron shot down a Ju 88 using the radar, one of the first such victories, and by the spring of 1941 Beaufighters were making the Blitz steadily more costly for the Luftwaffe. It flew as a night fighter over Malta, North Africa and Italy until the Mosquito took over the role.

Coastal Command found its second career. Fitted with a torpedo, bombs or eight rockets, it formed the strike wings at North Coates, Banff and Dallachy that attacked German shipping off the Dutch and Norwegian coasts from 1943 to 1945. The TF.X, the main strike version, had Hercules XVII engines tuned for low level, the dihedral tailplane first fitted to the Mk VI to make it steadier, and a long dorsal fin fillet. In Burma it attacked Japanese road, river and rail traffic, and the Japanese were said to call it “Whispering Death” for its quiet approach. In all 5,928 were built, 364 of them in Australia, and the last RAF Beaufighters served as target tugs until 1960.

This airframe

Beaufighter TF.X RD253

RD253The airframe modelled

RD253 was built at Bristol’s shadow factory at Old Mixon, Weston-super-Mare, in October 1944. In March 1945, still new, it was one of sixteen Beaufighters ferried to Lisbon for the Portuguese Naval Air Arm, which flew them on maritime patrol as BF-1 to BF-16; it became BF-13. The Portuguese Beaufighters were withdrawn in 1949, and around 1950 BF-13 was parked outside the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon as an instructional airframe for engineering students. In 1965 the institute presented it to the RAF. It was rebuilt at St Athan in 1967 and 1968 as 7931M, with engines taken from RD867, a target-tug Beaufighter recovered from Malta, and in March 1971 it went on display at Hendon, where it has been ever since; it was given D-Day invasion stripes in 1994. The model shows it as displayed: Extra Dark Sea Grey upper surfaces over Sky undersides and rear-fuselage sides, black and white stripes round the rear fuselage and outer wings, a yellow-ringed roundel on the stripes, a fin flash, “RD253” in black under the tailplane, the observer’s cupola, and black propellers with yellow tips. It carries no torpedo, rockets or radar nose. No photograph shows roundels on the wings, so they have none.

See it at Royal Air Force Museum London

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the Beaufighter in 5 UK collections. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 100 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.