3D model
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A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as ‘DD931’, the RAF Museum’s Bristol Beaufort, a composite Mk VIII (9131M) assembled from Australian-built parts of RAAF Beauforts A9-557 and A9-559 of No. 100 Squadron RAAF, recovered from the wartime airstrip at Tadji, Papua New Guinea, in 1974, restored by R J Aviation in Texas in 1990–91 in exchange for Spitfire RW382 and displayed at Hendon since December 1991, finished to represent Mk IIA DD931 ‘L’ of No. 42 Squadron, Coastal Command, in 1942: the only Beaufort preserved in Europe, a four-seat torpedo bomber of 57 ft 10 in span with two Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp radials, a glazed nose for the navigator and bomb-aimer, a raised cabin roof ending in a dome gun turret and a tall fin with a horn-balanced rudder, shown standing tail-down on its wheels as it is displayed there: Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey upper surfaces over light blue undersides, nose and lower nacelles, a type C1 fuselage roundel with a pale grey ‘L’ behind it, ‘DD931’ in black on the rear fuselage, a type C fin flash, type B roundels above the wings and black three-blade propellers with yellow tips. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1.2 MB)
Data plate
Specification
- First flight15 October 1938
- Built1,180
- Top speed272 mph
- Engine2 × Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp two-row radials, 1,200 hp each
- Crew4
- Wingspan17.63 m
- Length13.46 m
- Height4.34 m
- In service1939–1946
- RoleTorpedo bomber
- MakerBristol Aeroplane Company (Department of Aircraft Production, Australia), Britain
- UK collections2
First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (); engine, crew and dimensions are for the Beaufort Mk VIII (as Mk IIA) modelled here.
History
The Beaufort
In 1935 the Air Ministry issued two specifications, M.15/35 for a twin-engined torpedo bomber and G.24/35 for a general reconnaissance bomber, and Bristol answered both with one design, the Type 152. It was developed from the Blenheim but was larger and heavier, with a deeper fuselage to carry a torpedo half inside it, a crew of four instead of three, and a raised cabin roof that ended in a dorsal gun turret. It was meant to have Bristol’s own Taurus sleeve-valve radials, and the prototype, L4441, first flew at Filton on 15 October 1938. The Taurus gave constant trouble with overheating and failures, which delayed production and cost the type a poor reputation with its early crews.
No. 22 Squadron of Coastal Command received the first Beauforts and flew the first operation, laying mines in the Schillig Roads off Wilhelmshaven, on the night of 15/16 April 1940. Beauforts attacked German warships in their own harbours and off Norway. On 6 April 1941 Flying Officer Kenneth Campbell of No. 22 Squadron torpedoed the battlecruiser Gneisenau in Brest harbour, through some of the heaviest flak in Europe; he and his crew were killed, and he was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. On the night of 12/13 June 1941 Flight Sergeant Ray Loveitt of No. 42 Squadron torpedoed the pocket battleship Lützow off Norway and put her out of action for months. During the Channel Dash of 12 February 1942 the Beauforts of Nos. 42, 86 and 217 Squadrons attacked Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen, without a hit.
From Egypt and Malta in 1942, Nos. 39, 86 and 217 Squadrons attacked the Axis convoys carrying fuel and supplies to Rommel, at heavy cost. The Mk II, with American Twin Wasp engines in place of the Taurus, went into production at Filton in 1941, and 1,180 Beauforts were built in Britain before the Beaufighter, a fighter developed from the Beaufort, replaced them. In Australia, the Department of Aircraft Production built another 700 between 1941 and 1944, all with Twin Wasps, 520 of them the Mk VIII. RAAF Beauforts were the country’s main bomber in the Pacific war, attacking Japanese shipping, airfields and bases from New Guinea to the Solomons until the war’s end.
This airframe
Beaufort Mk VIII “DD931”
The RAF Museum’s Beaufort is a composite Mk VIII built from the remains of Australian-built Beauforts that served with No. 100 Squadron RAAF in New Guinea. Its cockpit came from A9-557, coded QH-L, which flew 103 operational missions before it crashed on landing at Tadji on 20 January 1945, and its rear fuselage from A9-559, coded QH-F, which was badly damaged that April and broken up for parts. Their wrecks lay at the old Tadji airstrip until 1974, when they were recovered and shipped to Chino in California. In 1988 the museum exchanged a Spitfire, RW382, for a Beaufort restored to display standard, and R J Aviation in Texas rebuilt it in 1990–91 with Twin Wasp engines and a rudder and undercarriage doors changed to make it look like a British-built Mk IIA. It was painted at Cardington and has been displayed at Hendon since December 1991, the only Beaufort preserved in Europe. It carries the markings of DD931, coded L, of No. 42 Squadron in 1942. The model shows it as it is displayed: Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey above, light blue beneath and round the nose and lower nacelles, a yellow-ringed fuselage roundel with a pale grey “L” behind it, “DD931” in black on the rear fuselage, a red, white and blue fin flash, blue and red roundels above the wings and none beneath, and black propellers with yellow tips. No photograph shows the whole of the upper wings, so the camouflage pattern on top of them follows the standard scheme, and the torpedo and trolleys displayed beside it are left out.
Where to see one
In the gazetteer
The gazetteer records the Beaufort in 2 UK collections. The airframe modelled here is marked.