The
British Bristol Beaufighter filled the need for an
effective night fighter in the U.S. Army Air Forces
until an American aircraft could be produced. The
Beaufighter had first entered operational service with
the Royal Air Force in July 1940 as a day fighter.
Equipped with a very early Mk IV airborne intercept
radar, the powerful and heavily armed night fighter
version entered service just as the
Luftwaffe
(German air force) began its "Blitz" night attacks
against London in September 1940. Beaufighter crews
accounted for over half of the
Luftwaffe
bombers shot down during the Blitz.
When the USAAF formed its
first radar-equipped night fighter squadron in January
1943, the only American night fighter available was the
makeshift Douglas P-70, a modified A-20 bomber using the
U.S. version of the Mk IV radar. After initial training
in the P-70, the first USAAF night fighter squadrons
went to war in the more capable British Beaufighter.
The 414th, 415th, 416th and
417th Night Fighter Squadrons received more than 100
"reverse Lend-Lease" Beaufighters. They arrived in the
Mediterranean during the summer of 1943, achieving the
first victory on July 24. Through the summer, they
conducted daytime convoy escort and strike missions, but
thereafter flew primarily at night. Although
purpose-built American
P-61 Black Widow
night fighters began to replace them in December 1944,
USAAF Beaufighters continued to fly night cover for
Allied forces in Italy and France until the closing days
of the war.
The
museum's aircraft was built under license by the Fairey
Aviation Co. in Stockport, England, and delivered to the
Royal Australian Air Force in 1942. It is marked as the
USAAF Beaufighter flown by Capt. Harold Augspurger,
commander of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, who shot
down an He 111 carrying German staff officers in
September 1944.
TECHNICAL NOTES (Data for Beaufighter Mk.VIf):
Crew: Two (pilot and radar operator)
Armament:
Four 20mm Hispano cannon in the fuselage and six
.303-cal Browning machine guns in the wings
Engines: Two 1,670-hp Bristol Hercules
Maximum speed:
337 mph
Ceiling:
26,500 ft.
Source:
Nationnal Museum of the United
States Air Force
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