Author Topic: Bristol Beaufighter  (Read 56254 times)

Offline raafif

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #50 on: December 04, 2015, 04:56:06 AM »
read yesterday that the Nord Noratlas also used the Bristol Hercules engines - 4 as-new being examples were supplied to a Halifax restoration.

Offline jcf

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #51 on: December 04, 2015, 05:04:21 AM »
read yesterday that the Nord Noratlas also used the Bristol Hercules engines - 4 as-new being examples were supplied to a Halifax restoration.

Yep, the Hercules 790, which was, along with the torquemeter equipped 791, the last of the civil versions, redesigned
rear case along with the rear-swept exhaust and free exit cowl. Lot's of changes required to backdate it to the type
used on the Halibag.
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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #52 on: December 04, 2015, 11:05:14 AM »
Random idea:  Firebomber variant of Beaufighter akin to the Tigercat shown below:




Re-engined with 6XX/7XX series Hercules (rear swept exhaust, free exit cowling etc.) as used on the various versions
of the Bristol 170 Freighter/Wayfarer. The 1,980 hp 732 were up to 3,000 hrs TBO by the late 1970s. Either
cropped four-blade or a five-blade props would be needed, or to really confuse the issue, fat VDM/Dora 9 type three-blade.
 ;D




Something like this?







Chris
« Last Edit: September 03, 2017, 07:36:13 AM by dogsbody »
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Offline Volkodav

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #53 on: December 04, 2015, 12:40:48 PM »
How early could a FAA carrier based version have been deployed assuming it was ordered off the drawing board  as the original heavy fighter version was?

Could such an aircraft have been in service late 1941 or early 42?

Assuming the decision to proceed with such an aircraft was made in 1939, would it have been possible to have a suitably modified carrier available for trails and more importantly to deploy it by early or mid 1941?

Hypothetical modified Ark Royal, two instead of three shafts, BD instead of UD 4.5" twins and of course larger lifts, stronger deck, arrested gear and more powerful catapults designed for much larger heavier aircraft, i.e. a navalised Beaufighter (Gawd how awful does Seabeaufighter sound :s).  This lighter cheaper but more versatile Ark along with its Beaus is ready for service in late 41, just in time to support US operations against Japan in 42.





:)

Offline jcf

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #54 on: December 04, 2015, 03:08:13 PM »
Random idea:  Firebomber variant of Beaufighter akin to the Tigercat shown below:




Re-engined with 6XX/7XX series Hercules (rear swept exhaust, free exit cowling etc.) as used on the various versions
of the Bristol 170 Freighter/Wayfarer. The 1,980 hp 732 were up to 3,000 hrs TBO by the late 1970s. Either
cropped four-blade or a five-blade props would be needed, or to really confuse the issue, fat VDM/Dora 9 type three-blade.
 ;D




Something like this?






Chris


Similar, but Jennings notion used Centaurus.
“Conspiracy theory’s got to be simple.
Sense doesn’t come into it. People are
more scared of how complicated shit
actually is than they ever are about
whatever’s supposed to be behind the
conspiracy.”
-The Peripheral, William Gibson 2014

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #55 on: December 29, 2015, 04:01:24 AM »
Fuel to inspire some:

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Offline Volkodav

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #56 on: December 29, 2015, 05:24:09 PM »
Fuel to inspire some:




I was just thinking of doing that, with all our discussions on Tsetse's, i.e. a Molins or a pair of RR "S".  Weird....

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #57 on: December 30, 2015, 02:26:22 AM »
I was just thinking of doing that, with all our discussions on Tsetse's, i.e. a Molins or a pair of RR "S".  Weird....


Well, you weren't wearing your protection were you...



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Offline kitnut617

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #58 on: December 30, 2015, 09:00:30 AM »
Fuel to inspire some:




I was just thinking of doing that, with all our discussions on Tsetse's, i.e. a Molins or a pair of RR "S".  Weird....


I'm sure I've read somewhere you can get a 1/72 conversion of this, just got to remember where I've seen it ----  ::)

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #59 on: December 31, 2015, 03:24:04 AM »
Not sure about a conversion kit but here is another image of the real thing:

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #60 on: December 31, 2015, 03:26:33 AM »
And whilst on the topic of Beaufighter oddballs:

Turret armed version:



Griffon Engined variant:

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Online The Big Gimper

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #61 on: December 31, 2015, 03:33:47 AM »
No external barrels?
« Last Edit: December 31, 2015, 03:39:06 AM by The Big Gimper »
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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #62 on: December 31, 2015, 03:55:57 AM »
No external barrels?


There appears to be a small stub barrel on the port cannon - see this slightly different version of the same photo:

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #63 on: December 31, 2015, 04:08:12 AM »
No external barrels?


There appears to be a small stub barrel on the port cannon - see this slightly different version of the same photo:




Thanks.  So the breech must be behind the wing?
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Offline kitnut617

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #64 on: December 31, 2015, 05:08:24 AM »
No external barrels?


There appears to be a small stub barrel on the port cannon - see this slightly different version of the same photo:




Thanks.  So the breech must be behind the wing?


If you place the 40mm cannon pods that are on the Hurricane Mk.IV, onto the Beaufighter fuselage, you'll find the breach is about mid-chord of the wing.  I'm fairly sure that is where these guns lie too.

The stub you see protruding is a blast tube, the guns were actually offset so that the ammo boxes could sit one in front of the other in the center between them
« Last Edit: December 31, 2015, 05:10:56 AM by kitnut617 »

Offline kitnut617

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #65 on: December 31, 2015, 05:12:05 AM »

Griffon Engined variant:




On the "to-do" list, was thinking of dropping this cowling below into rubber and make some castings
« Last Edit: December 31, 2015, 05:18:58 AM by kitnut617 »

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #66 on: December 31, 2015, 05:14:02 AM »
I'm thinking that the 40mm cannon would be placed in much the same area as the normal 20mm cannon were:

« Last Edit: December 31, 2015, 05:16:07 AM by GTX_Admin »
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Offline Volkodav

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #67 on: December 31, 2015, 06:12:14 PM »

Griffon Engined variant:




On the "to-do" list, was thinking of dropping this cowling below into rubber and make some castings


That Griffon bird would be a beast, maybe with a modified armament of two 20mm and a single 40mm S or 57mm Molins

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #68 on: December 31, 2015, 10:58:06 PM »

Griffon Engined variant:




On the "to-do" list, was thinking of dropping this cowling below into rubber and make some castings


That Griffon bird would be a beast, maybe with a modified armament of two 20mm and a single 40mm S or 57mm Molins


I see both props turn counter clockwise. That would be some nasty torque on takeoff. 
« Last Edit: December 31, 2015, 11:05:40 PM by The Big Gimper »
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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #69 on: January 01, 2016, 03:15:41 AM »
Some better views of the turreted version:




I have seen a model of this though I am not sure if it was scratch built or a conversion kit - I suspect the former.
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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #70 on: January 01, 2016, 03:28:30 AM »
Another shot of the Griffon powered variant:

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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #71 on: January 01, 2016, 03:30:48 AM »
And two of the Beaufighter based engine test rig:




Note the 4 bladed props in the second pic.
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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #72 on: January 02, 2016, 06:54:48 AM »
Just an interesting photo of a RAAF Beaufighter:



From here
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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #73 on: January 03, 2016, 03:02:40 AM »
A bit more on the photo shown above:

The photo of "Winston" was donated to AWM by Reg Bowden, who was the armourer for the aircraft. In 2010 I built a model of Winston for Reg, and I gathered information from Reg, and Peter Demaine who was the Navigator. Peter provided the squadron code after referring to his logbook.

A8-6 (EH-K) was an Australian Mk21 delivered to 31 Sqn in September 44 along with A8-13 and was authorised to be repainted in the earlier Coastal Command camouflage scheme (green, grey and sky) by CO 31 Sqn after the pilot Dave Doughton visited 30 Sqn to see how they were using the Mk21 aircraft. He was stunned that the Foliage green aircraft were flown in close formation over the jungle in poor visibility and believed that mid-air accidents were inevitable. The aircraft was repainted in October 1944 and the photo was taken in Moratai in January 1945. Neither Peter or Reg could remember where exactly the repainting was done, but that it was unlikely to have been done at Coomalie Creek.

Dave Doughton was an anglophile hence the name "Winston" and the Bulldog's head on the nose, while every other aircraft in 31 Sqn had the Richmond Tiger painted on the nose. This came from the CUB workers donating the production cost of a Beaufighter. The Sqn painted the Tiger on the nose. The workers were so happy that they donated part of their traditional brewery workers daily beer to 31 Sqn. So the Squadron painted a Tiger's head on every aircraft. Dave was also a very forthright individual, hence getting his way in repainting an aircraft that was only six weeks old. He took Reg along on a number of missions so that he could reload the 20mm cannons after the initial strike. Reg sat on top of the reload ammunition during the approach and first attack, then reloaded and got to enjoy a second time over the target. His pay went from 6 shillings to 10 shillings per day every time he flew one of these missions, so the pay section hated him. Reg said that both the Japanese and the Pay section wanted to see him dead, but with the Japanese it was professional not personal.
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Re: Bristol Beaufighter
« Reply #74 on: January 03, 2016, 04:42:19 AM »
Interesting video showing RAAF Beaufighters (and other aircraft) in operation over New Guinea during the war:

https://youtu.be/D9EevmmgJSM
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