HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British
interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are ...
that served with the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
(RAF) during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any fixed forward-firing guns, also found in the Blackburn Roc of the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
. In combat, the Defiant was found to be effective at destroying bombers, the role it was designed for, but was vulnerable to the ''
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...
''s more manoeuvrable, single-seat
Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...
fighters. The Defiant had been designed to destroy unescorted bombers by means of beam or ventral attacks and therefore lacked forward-firing armament, that proved to be a great weakness in daylight combat with fighters. It did, however, find success when it was converted to a
night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...
. It eventually equipped thirteen squadrons in this role,Cagill 2005, p. 44. compared to just two squadrons as a day-fighter, though this was mainly due to slow initial production. In mid-1942 it was replaced by better performing night-fighters, the
Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort ...
and
de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden ...
. The Defiant continued to find use in gunnery training, target towing,
electronic countermeasures An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...
and air-sea rescue.
Among RAF pilots it had the nickname "Daffy".


Development


Origins

During the 1930s, the increasing speed of military aircraft posed a particular challenge to anti-aircraft defences.Bowyer 1966, p. 3. Advances in aircraft design achieved during the 1920s and 1930s had resulted in a generation of multi-engined
monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
bombers that were substantially faster than their contemporary single-engined
biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...
fighters then in service. The RAF came to believe that its new generation of turret-armed bombers, such as the
Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its ...
, would be capable of readily penetrating enemy airspace and of defending themselves without any accompanying fighter escort, but also recognised that the bombers of other European air forces, such as the ''
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...
'', would similarly be able to penetrate British airspace with impunity. During 1935, the concept of a turret-armed defensive fighter to counter the bomber threat emerged during a time in which the RAF anticipated having to defend Great Britain against massed formations of unescorted enemy bombers.Buttler 2004, p. 51. The RAF did not expect bombers to be escorted by fighters because fighters would not have the range to reach the UK from Germany. In theory, turret-armed fighters would approach an enemy bomber from below or from the side and coordinate their fire. The separation of the tasks of flying the aircraft and firing the guns would allow the pilot to concentrate on putting the fighter into the best position for the gunner to engage the enemy. However, manually-traversed turrets were viewed as having becoming more problematic and increasingly inadequate to effectively respond to ever-faster hostile aircraft, thus there was considerable interest in using a power-augmented turret. The earlier Hawker Demon biplane had tested the concept with 59 of the fighters, which had been manufactured by Boulton Paul under a sub-contract, having been equipped with a
hydraulically Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counte ...
-powered rear turret, while a number of aircraft already built were also converted as such. Boulton Paul and its managing director John Dudley North had gained considerable experience with defensive turrets from producing several earlier aircraft, including the
Boulton Paul Overstrand The Boulton Paul P.75 Overstrand was a twin-engine biplane medium bomber designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Boulton Paul. It was the final example of a series of biplane medium bombers that had served in the Royal Air For ...
bomber, and had devised a four-gun power-operated turret, the concept and development work of which would later be a core part of the Defiant design. In April 1935, the
Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of Stat ...
released Specification F.9/35, which required a two-seater day and night "turret fighter" capable of at . The aircraft was to feature a clean design, concentrating its armament within a power-operated turret, and the accepted performance was to be only slightly beneath that of other emergent fighter designs of the period, along with a sufficient fuel capacity to allow it to perform standing patrols. In particular, the powered turret was to offer considerable flexibility, possessing both a 360-degree upper hemisphere field of fire and the ability to engage enemy bombers from a range of quarters, including below the aircraft itself. Specification F.9/35 had followed the earlier Specification F.5/33, which had sought a pusher design combined with a forward-set turret; F.5/33 had been unceremoniously abandoned as the proposals had offered little in terms of performance gains over existing fighters, and the corresponding Armstrong Whitworth AW.34 design which had been ordered was not completed.


P.82

Boulton Paul, having been focused on turret-equipped aircraft for some time, decided to make a submission for Specification F.9/35; their design was given the company name of ''P.82''. The proposed fighter was similar in size and appearance to the more conventional
Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...
, differing in weight primarily due to the use of turret-based armaments. The central feature of the P.82 was its four-gun turret, based on a design by French aviation company Societe d'Applications des Machines Motrices (SAMM), which had been licensed by Boulton Paul for use in the earlier Boulton Paul Sidestrand bomber, eventually installed in the "follow-up" design, the Boulton Paul Overstrand and in the Blackburn Roc naval fighter.Bowyer 1970, p. 270. The 'Type A' turret was an electro-hydraulically powered "drop-in" unit, with a crank-operated mechanical backup. Small bombs could be housed in recesses in the outer wing. Some of the development work from the company's earlier B.1/35 tender was carried over into the P.82. Of the seven designs tendered, the Air Ministry ranked the P.82 as being the second-best submission, after the Hawker Hotspur but ahead of others such as Armstrong Whitworth's twin-engined design. The Air Ministry wanted several designs investigated and the production of two prototypes of each but the associated costs involved in this preference were in excess of the funding thus special permission from
HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's Government ...
was sought. The Treasury agreed to finance the completion of seven prototypes (two Hawker, two Boulton Paul, two Fairey and one Armstrong Whitworth) but only prototypes of the two most promising designs, the P.82 and the Hotspur, were ordered in late 1935. In 1936, Boulton Paul commenced assembly on the first P.82 prototype, ''K8310'', at their new
Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...
facility; an order for a second prototype, ''K8620'', was received by the following year. In 1937, the first P.82 prototype, ''K8310'', was rolled out. Furnished with a 1,030 hp (768 kW)
Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650  cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was late ...
I and initially lacking its turret, the aircraft bore a great resemblance to the contemporary Hawker Hurricane, although it was at least heavier. On 11 August 1937, ''K8310'', which had recently received the name ''Defiant'', conducted its
maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alw ...
. This initial flight, piloted by Boulton Paul's chief test pilot Cecil Feather, occurred nearly a year ahead of the rival Hotspur but still without the turret. Official acceptance trials did not commence until nine months later. On 30 July 1939, the second prototype, ''K8620'', equipped with a Merlin II engine and a full turret, conducted its first flight. ''K8620'' had received various modifications over the first prototype, such as telescopic radio masts and revisions to the canopy and to the undercarriage fairing plates; implementing these improvements had incurred delays to the completion of the second prototype. Production orders had been prepared for the Hotspur, the initial front-running submission but Boulton Paul's turret design had gained the attention of the Air Ministry. Hawker's progress on the project had been delayed by their commitments on other aircraft programs including the more conventional Hurricane; thus the prototype Hotspur, ''K8309'', did not conduct its maiden flight until 14 June 1938.Bowyer 1966, pp. 3–4. On 28 April 1937, an initial production order for 87 aircraft was received by Boulton Paul for the P.82; as this was prior to the first flight of the prototype, the aircraft had effectively been ordered 'off the drawing board'.Bowyer 1966, p. 4. The order for the rival Hotspur was cancelled in 1938. Completing its acceptance tests with the turret installed, the Defiant attained a top speed of and subsequently was declared the victor of the turret fighter competition. Flight trials had revealed the aircraft to possess positive flight characteristics and considerable stability, which was of particular value when using the turret. According to aviation author Michael Bowyers, the usefulness of the Defiant had suffered due to the overly long development time for the type, observing that the Defiant's service entry was delayed to such an extent that only three production aircraft had reached the RAF, and these were only for trial purposes, by the outbreak of the Second World War. Due to delays with the type entering production, there were not enough available Defiants to begin standing patrols in 1940, by which point the introduction of not only more advanced fighters but bombers as well had allegedly undermined the usefulness of the type.


Production

On 30 July 1939, the first production Defiant, ''L6950'', conducted its maiden flight; it commenced official trials with the
Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) was a research facility for British military aviation from 1918 to 1992. Established at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, the unit moved in 1939 to Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, where its work ...
(A&AEE) in September that year. Apart from some detail changes, the production ''Defiant Mk I'' looked similar to the two Defiant prototypes. It was powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin III engine, which was capable of generating 1,030 hp/768 kW or 1,160 hp/865 kW. By January 1940, over half of the original production batch had been completed. Beyond the initial production order in April 1937, follow-on orders had been issued for the type; in February 1938, an additional 202 Defiant Mk I aircraft were ordered; three months later, another 161 aircraft were ordered. In December 1939, yet another 150 aircraft were ordered, raising the overall total to 513. In 1940, this rose to 563 Defiant Mk Is on order, while a further 280 were ordered under a rearranged manufacturing plan issued in mid-1940. However, the performance of the Defiant had been determined to be inadequate by this point, which led to manufacturing being sustained principally for economic reasons. A total of 713 Defiant Mk I aircraft were completed. In response to a service request which sought greater performance, the ''Defiant Mk II'', powered by the 1,260 hp Merlin XX engine, was promptly developed. On 20 July 1940, ''N1550'', the first production Defiant Mk II performed its initial flight. The Mk II featured a pressurised fuel system, additional fuel, an enlarged
rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...
, a deeper
radiator Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always ...
, a modified engine mounting and elongated
cowling A cowling is the removable covering of a vehicle's engine, most often found on automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, and on outboard boat motors. On airplanes, cowlings are used to reduce drag and to cool the engine. On boats, cowlings are a cove ...
. Once sufficient numbers of the Merlin XX engine were available, production of the improved variant commenced; in August 1941, the first production deliveries of the Defiant Mk II took place. The Defiant Mk II was soon paired with the newly developed airborne interception radar (AI) to become a
night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...
. While initial AI equipment was too heavy and bulky to be practical for equipping smaller aircraft, the improved AI Mk. IV radar was suitably sized for the Defiant; the first such equipped Defiants were introduced in late 1941.Bowyer 1966, pp. 4–5. Later versions of the AI radar were adopted over time, such as the AI Mk VI.Bowyer 1966, p. 5. The need for both the Defiant and the Hurricane in the night fighter role petered out by 1942 as the larger
Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort ...
became the RAF's primary night fighter type, freeing both aircraft for other duties. In the search for alternative uses for the Defiant, which included limited service with the RAF Search and Rescue Force and suitability trials for cooperative operations with the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...
, it was determined that Defiant production would continue in order to satisfy a pressing requirement for high speed gunnery targets. A dedicated version of the aircraft, the ''Defiant TT Mk I'', was developed for this purpose; modifications included the removal of the turret, the installation of target-towing equipment, including a target stowage box and a wind-driven winch, and the addition of a winch operator under an enclosed canopy. In January 1942, the prototype Defiant TT Mk I, ''DR863'', conducted its maiden flight; fighter production was phased out shortly thereafter.Bowyer 1966, p. 6. The last Defiant Mk IIs under construction were completed as TT Mk I aircraft. Dozens of existing Defiant Mk Is would be remanufactured to the similar ''Defiant TT Mk III'' standard; roughly 150 of such conversions took place during 1943–1944. So that the type could be used to meet the growing overseas demand for target-towing aircraft, the Defiant was tropicalized, a large portion of which was the installation of large
filters Filter, filtering or filters may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming * Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream * Filter (video), a software component that ...
underneath the aircraft's nose.


P.85

The P.85 was Boulton Paul's tender to Specification O.30/35 for the naval turret fighter. A version of the Defiant for
Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wi ...
(FAA), it had leading edge slats and a deeper fuselage, for the lower landing speeds required of carrier aircraft. The engine would be either a Bristol Hercules radial or the Merlin. Despite the P.85's higher estimated top speed, the Blackburn Roc was selected. With Blackburn already busy producing other projects, the detail design and production of the Roc was given to Boulton Paul. Ultimately, the only use of the Defiant within the FAA was its adoption of the target tug version.


P.94

The first Defiant prototype had not been fitted with a turret at first and had an impressive top speed. In 1940, Boulton Paul removed the turret from the prototype as a demonstrator for a fixed-gun fighter based on Defiant components. The armament offered was either 12 Browning machine guns (six per wing) or four Hispano cannon in place of eight of the Brownings. The guns could be depressed for ground attack. By that time, the RAF had sufficient quantities of Hawker Hurricanes and
Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Gri ...
s and did not require a new single-seat fighter. With a calculated top speed of about at the P.94 was almost as fast as a contemporary Spitfire although less manoeuvrable.


Design

The Defiant was a single-engine
interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are ...
. It used a monoplane structure which was coupled with main landing gear which retracted into a broad mainplane section. The pilot's
cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls that e ...
and rear turret were faired into a streamlined upper fuselage section. Tankage for up to of fuel was housed within the wing centre section along with a large ventral
radiator Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always ...
that completed the resemblance to the Hawker fighter. The center section employed a two- spar arrangement, and the wing itself had removable wingtips. The rear fuselage comprised two metal cones connected by a two-foot transitional section and a flat upper deck. The Defiant employed an all-metal stressed skin
monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...
structure, which was built in sections that were subsequently bolted together, a manufacturing method previously used on other Bolton Paul-designed aircraft. It was a relatively clean design and made use of a simple, weight-saving structure. The primary mission of the Defiant was the destruction of incoming enemy bombers. The principal armament of the aircraft is its powered dorsal turret, equipped with four 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns. The
fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
was fitted with aerodynamic fairings that helped mitigate the drag of the turret; they were pneumatically powered and could be lowered into the fuselage so that the turret could rotate freely. The Brownings were electrically fired and insulated cut-off points in the turret ring prevented the guns firing when they were pointing at the propeller disc or tailplane. The gunner could rotate the turret directly forward and transfer firing control of the guns to the pilot, with the guns firing along each side of the cockpit canopy; this was rarely done as the turret's minimum forward elevation was 19° and the pilot did not have a gunsight, possibly because the Defiant was outfitted to perform zero deflection shooting, as were several contemporaneous designs arising from Air Ministry specifications. The zero deflection gunnery technique was practised, among others, by British ace Albert Ball using Lewis guns on Forster mounts – which largely eliminated the need for either complex gun sights or aiming-off by eye. An elevation of +19° combined with ballistic properties of .303 (7.7mm) Brownings and the Defiant's operational speed made 'line of sight' aiming – as practised by Luftwaffe pilots – a practical proposition. This technique (described more fully in the article ''
Schräge Musik ''Schräge Musik'', which may also be spelled ''Schraege Musik'', was a common name for the fitting of an upward-firing autocannon or machine gun, to an interceptor aircraft, such as a night fighter. The term was introduced by the German '' ...
)'' seems to have been neither taught nor practised by the RAF. Despite being common knowledge among veteran
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
aircrew, featuring in Air Ministry requirements reflected in fighter designs such as the contemporaneous Gloster G9 twin-engine bomber-interceptor – armed with five 20mm cannon at +12° – virtually all losses of Bomber Command aircraft shot down by Luftwaffe night fighters using upward-firing were ascribed to flak until 1944. The gunner's hatch was in the rear of the turret, which had to be rotated to the side for entry and exit. There was not enough room in the turret for the gunner to wear a seat-type or back pack parachute so gunners were provided with a special all-in-one garment nicknamed the "rhino suit". Frederick "Gus" Platts, an air gunner who served in 230, 282 and 208 squadrons, stated: "The Rhino suit we had to wear on Defiants was a bear but I couldn't come up with an alternative, even though it killed dozens of us. I forget the details of it but we could not have sat on our chute or even keep it nearby as in other turrets, so you wore – all in one – an inner layer that fitted a little like a wetsuit of today. The chute fitted around this, and then the dinghy and the outer clothing. There was inner webbing and pockets that literally fell apart (I presume) when one bailed out".Nijboer 2001, p. 150.


Operational history


Air combat

In October 1939, No. 264 (Madras Presidency) Squadron was reformed at RAF Sutton Bridge to operate the Defiant. Initial training, formal squadron acceptance, and development of tactics began with other aircraft as it received its first Defiants only in early December at Martlesham Heath.Brew 1996, p. 19. In February 1940, the Defiant commenced night fighter training operations; the squadron tested its tactics against British medium bombers – Hampdens and Blenheims – and 264's CO flew against Robert Stanford Tuck in a Spitfire, showing that the Defiant could defend itself by circling and keeping its speed up. It became clear during these trials that the Defiant was suited only to performing its designed for bomber-destroyer duties and was vulnerable to fighters. By March 1940, 264 Squadron had two flights operational with Defiants and No. 141 Squadron received its first Defiant. When the Defiant was first introduced to the public, the RAF put out a disinformation campaign, stating that the Defiant had 21 guns: four in the turret, 14 in the wings and three cannon in the nose. On 12 May 1940, the first operational sortie occurred as a flight of six Defiants flew with six Spitfires of 66 Squadron over the
English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...
to the coastline in the vicinity of
The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
,
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
; during this flight, a single Ju 88, which had been in the process of attacking a
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...
, was shot down.Bowyer 1966, pp. 6–7. The following day, in a patrol that was a repetition of the first, Defiants claimed four
Junkers Ju 87 The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from ''Sturzkampfflugzeug'', "dive bomber") was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's ...
''Stuka'' dive bombers, but were subsequently attacked by a flight of Bf 109Es. The escorting Spitfires were unable to prevent five of the six Defiants from being shot down by a frontal attack.Bowyer 1966, p. 7. During the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from
Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.
, the squadron was based at RAF Manston, as one of the 16 squadrons that No. 11 Group had for the evacuation. On 27 May 264 Squadron claimed three He 111 and two damaged. On 28 May, shortly after take-off, 10 Defiants were attacked by about 30 Bf 109s – forming a circle, they claimed six German fighters for the loss of three Defiants. The Defiant was initially successful against enemy aircraft and its best day was 29 May, when No. 264 Squadron claimed 37 kills in two sorties: 19 Ju 87 ''Stuka''s, mostly picked off as they came out of their dives, nine Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engined heavy fighters, eight Bf 109s, and a Ju 88. One Defiant gunner was lost after he bailed out but the pilot managed to fly the aircraft back to its base and it was subsequently repaired. On 31 May, seven Defiants were lost in one day as Hurricanes and Spitfires failed to come to their aid in a battle with Bf 109s. It was concluded that underslung radio aerials on the Defiants had affected radio communication between the fighter squadrons ''Luftwaffe'' fighters suffered losses when "bouncing" flights of Defiants from the rear, apparently mistaking them for Hurricanes. The German pilots were unaware of the Defiant's rear-firing armament and encountered concentrated defensive fire. The ''Luftwaffe'' changed tactics, to outmanoeuvre the Defiant and attack from below or dead ahead, where the turret guns offered no defence. Defiant losses quickly mounted, particularly among the gunners, who were often unable to leave stricken aircraft. The additional weight of the turret and the second crewman plus the aerodynamic drag gave the Defiant a lower performance than conventional single-seat fighter aircraft. 264 Squadron developed a counter against single-seat aircraft such as the Bf 109. By flying in an ever-descending
Lufbery circle The Lufbery circle or Lufbery wheel, also spelled Lufberry or Luffberry, is a defensive air combat tactic first used during World War I. While its name derives from the name of Raoul Lufbery, the leading fighter ace of the Lafayette Escadrille, h ...
, Defiant crews sacrificed the advantage of height but eliminated the possibility of attack from underneath, while giving 360° of defensive fire. This tactic was used by 264 Squadron, but when the Defiants of 141 Sqn were committed to combat a few months later during the
Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
, it chose to ignore their advice. On 19 July, seven out of nine 141 Squadron Defiants sent to cover a convoy off Folkestone were shot down by Bf 109s of JG 51, and the remaining two survived, one badly damaged, thanks only to the intervention of Hurricanes of 111 Sqn. The Hurricane pilots reported that the Defiants had shot down four Bf 109s.Bowyer 1966, p. 8. Although 264 Squadron claimed 48 kills in eight days over Dunkirk, the cost was high with 14 Defiants lost. Actual German losses were no more than 12–15 enemy aircraft; the turret's wide angle of fire meant that several Defiants could engage the same target at one time, leading to multiple claims. On 22 August, in response to an urgent demand for aircraft to defend Britain's airspace, 264 Squadron relocated to RAF Hornchurch,
Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
, while also using RAF Manston as a forward base. On 24 August, nine Defiants of 264 scrambled from Manston to engage an incoming German force; in the ensuing engagement, three Ju 88s and a single Bf 109E were shot down for the loss of two Defiants. Later that same day, another cluster of bombers appeared and were engaged by seven Defiants that had been in the process of refuelling; three Ju 88s and two Bf 109Es were downed while one Defiant was in turn downed along with another damaged. On 26 August 264 Squadron engaged a formation of 12 Dornier Do 17 bombers over north-eastern
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
but was attacked by a large formation of Bf 109s."Combat Report, 264 Squadron, 1200–1305 hours, 26 August 1940."
''Royal Air Force Museum''. Retrieved: 8 June 2013.
Three aircraft were lost (two to ace Hpt. Gunther Lutzow of JG 3) but six Do 17s and a Bf 109 were shot down. Three of those victories were awarded to one Defiant, crewed by Flight Sergeants E. R. Thorn (pilot) and F. J. Barker (air gunner). They shot down two Do 17s but were then engaged by a Bf 109, which set their Defiant on fire; they managed to shoot down the German fighter before making a forced landing. For this, they were awarded a bar to the
Distinguished Flying Medal The Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Royal Air Force and other British Armed Forces, and formerly to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for "exceptional va ...
. The squadron lost a further five aircraft (to
JG 26 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 26 (JG 26) ''Schlageter'' was a German fighter-wing of World War II. It was named after Albert Leo Schlageter, a World War I veteran, Freikorps member, and posthumous Nazi martyr, arrested and executed by the French for ...
) on 28 August, with nine crew killed, and effectively ended operations, withdrawing to
RAF Duxford Duxford Aerodrome is located south of Cambridge, within the civil parish of Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England and nearly west of the village. The airfield is owned by the Imperial War Museum (IWM) and is the site of the Imperial War Mus ...
the following day. With these losses, the Defiant—which had been intended from the start as a day and night fighter—was transferred to night operations instead. The type had proven unsuited to the demands of the day fighter when set against the likes of the Bf 109E, and was less capable than other RAF aircraft such as the Hurricane and the Spitfire. By 31 August, over half the delivered Defiants had been shot down by ''Luftwaffe'' aircraft, a rate that was deemed to be unacceptable. The Defiant's kill ratio was better than is commonly thought. In 20 days of frontline service in the Battle of Britain in July and August, 141 and 264 Squadron shot down 25 German aircraft for the loss of 17 Defiants. It was concluded that when operating against escorted bombers the Defiant should always be sent into battle with a top cover of Hurricanes or Spitfires so it could concentrate on its designed for role of shooting down the bombers, but this proved impractical particularly as the Defiant's radio reception (due to its underslung antenna) was relatively poor. On 1 July, 141 Squadron despatched ''L6997'' on the first Defiant night patrol. In August, the squadron was operating both by day and night; on 15 August, the first possible nighttime success by a Defiant was recorded, and from September onwards, the squadron principally operated at night. In September, as a response to the commencement of heavy attacks upon London by the ''Luftwaffe'', known as ''
the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...
'', B Flight of No. 141 moved to
RAF Biggin Hill London Biggin Hill Airport is an operational general aviation airport at Biggin Hill in the London Borough of Bromley, located south-southeast of Central London. The airport was formerly a Royal Air Force station RAF Biggin Hill, and a small ...
,
Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...
, while A Flight relocated to
Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after ...
,
West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...
in October prior to moving to
RAF Gravesend Gravesend Airport, located south-east of Gravesend town centre, Kent and west of Rochester. It was operated from 1932 until 1956. It was initially a civil airfield, and became a Royal Air Force station known as RAF Gravesend during the Second W ...
, Kent.Bowyer 1966, pp. 8–9. Successful claimed interceptions took place, such as two He 111s being claimed on 15/16 September; the first confirmed kill by Defiant of the squadron was made on 22 December, of a single He 111.Bowyer 1966, p. 9. The Defiant night fighters had initially lacked airborne interception radar, thus enemy aircraft were spotted and attacked via the eyes of the crew alone, aided by ground-based searchlights intended to illuminate attacking bombers. In the opening months of 1941, as the German night bombing campaign reached its peak, increasing numbers of Defiant night fighter-equipped squadrons became operational and commenced night patrols although, according to Bowyers, there were relatively few claims across many Defiant sorties. As a counterpoint, aviation author John Taylor noted that during the ''Blitz'' on London of 1940–41, the four Defiant-equipped squadrons were responsible for shooting down more enemy aircraft than any other type in the theatre.Taylor 1969, p. 326. The improved Defiant Mk II model was fitted with the AI Mk. IV radar and a Merlin XX engine, increasing the aircraft's performance, particularly at night time. In September 1941, 264 Squadron became the first to receive the Defiant Mk II, bringing them into operational use by mid-September. The principal users of the Mk II night fighter were 96, 151, and 262 Squadrons. As the radar-equipped Defiants began filtering through to operational squadrons, the ''Luftwaffes bombing campaign petered out as German forces had become heavily engaged on the Eastern Front as they embarked upon the
Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...
the invasion of the Soviet Union. Defiant night fighters typically attacked enemy bombers from below, in a similar manoeuvre to the later German ''
Schräge Musik ''Schräge Musik'', which may also be spelled ''Schraege Musik'', was a common name for the fitting of an upward-firing autocannon or machine gun, to an interceptor aircraft, such as a night fighter. The term was introduced by the German '' ...
'' method. Defiants attacked more often from slightly ahead or to one side, rather than from directly under the tail. The turret-fighter concept was not immediately discarded and the fitting of Defiant-type turrets to
Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort ...
and
Mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
night fighters was tried to enable these aircraft to duplicate these methods but the deleterious effect on performance proved drastic and the idea was abandoned.


Other roles

After trials in 1940 with the School of Army Co-operation to assess its capabilities in that role, the Defiant was tested as a high-speed gunnery trainer with the Air Ministry agreeing to continue production. The Defiant was removed from combat duties in 1942 and used for training, target towing,
electronic countermeasures An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...
and air-sea rescue.Bowyer 1966, pp. 5–6. Two types of electronic countermeasures equipment were carried by the Defiant, both countering the German ''
Freya In Norse paganism, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chario ...
'' early warning radar. The first system to be deployed was "
Moonshine Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dist ...
", which re-transmitted the radar's signals to simulate large formations of aircraft. As each "Moonshine" transmitter only covered part of the Freya's frequency, a formation of eight Defiants was needed, giving the appearance of over 100 aircraft. As the system required formation flying, it could only be used in daylight, where it could draw German fighters onto British fighters leaving another area relatively free for a British bombing raid.Brew 2002, p. 121.Price 1979, pp. 99–100. A "Special Duties Flight" was set up in May 1942 to use the new countermeasures equipment, with "Moonshine" being used for its first live test on 6 August 1942. Subsequently, it was used operationally as part of "Circuses" against coastal targets and on 19 August in support of the Dieppe Raid.Brew 2002, pp. 122–123. The Flight became
No. 515 Squadron RAF No. 515 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force formed during the Second World War. It ushered in Electronic countermeasures (ECM) warfare, jamming enemy radar installations from October 1942 as the only such squadron in the RAF initi ...
on 1 October 1942, operations with "Moonshine" continuing until November 1942.Brew 2002, p. 123. 515 Squadron continued operations with the second countermeasures system, "Mandrel", a noise jammer which overwhelmed the signals from ''Freya''. Individual Defiants were sent to orbit positions 50 miles (80 km) off the enemy coast. By using nine aircraft a 200-mile (320-km) gap could be made in the Germans' radar coverage.Price 1979, pp. 124–125. 515 Squadron flew its first mission using Mandrel on the night of 5/6 December 1942, continuing to use its Defiants for jamming operations until early 1943, when it began to receive twin-engined
Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort ...
s which had longer range and could carry more electronic equipment. The Defiant flew its last jamming mission on 17 July 1943, with one aircraft being lost out of four sent out that night.Brew 2002, pp. 123–124. In the air-sea rescue role, the Defiant was the intended replacement for the
Westland Lysander The Westland Lysander is a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War. After becoming obsolete in the army co-operation role, the aircraft' ...
in shallow air-sea rescue units. In order for this task to be performed, Defiants in this capacity were equipped with a pair of underwing pods that each contained two ''M''-type dinghies. In March 1942, No. 281 Squadron formed at
RAF Ouston Royal Air Force Ouston, or more simply RAF Ouston, is a former Royal Air Force station that was located near the village of Stamfordham and the village of Heddon-on-the-Wall on Hadrian's Wall near Newcastle upon Tyne. It was built as a Second ...
,
Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...
, partially operating Defiant Mk Is; four more squadrons received the type within the next two months.Bowyer 1966, pp. 5, 9. However, six months following their introduction to the role, the Defiant had proved to be a poor choice for the role, in part due to the aircraft already been worn out by their previous service, which limited the sortie rate; other issues included its high stalling speed and wide turning radius. By the end of 1942, the Defiant had been phased out of the air-sea role. A high-speed
target tug A target tug is an aircraft which tows an unmanned drone, a fabric drogue or other kind of target, for the purposes of gun or missile target practice. Target tugs are often conversions of transport and utility aircraft, as well as obsolescent com ...
variant, the Defiant Mk III, was developed in response to a growing demand for such a type; this model featured considerable modifications for the role, such as lacking the dorsal turret. Many of the surviving Mk I and Mk II Defiants also had their turrets removed when they were converted for the same role. In this final target towing variant, the Defiant ended up with a number of overseas assignments with both the RAF and Fleet Air Arm in the Middle East, Africa and India.Bowyer 1970, p. 270.Bowyer 1966, pp. 6, 10. Further deployments occurred to Canada, where the Defiant was used as a target tug and trainer with the
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), or Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New ...
. Defiants were also used for "special" work including tactical evaluations with the RAF Gunnery Research Unit and the
Air Fighting Development Unit The Air Fighting Development Unit (AFDU) was an air technical intelligence part of the Royal Air Force which developed tactics and tested captured enemy aircraft. It was based at Royal Air Force Stations Northolt, Duxford and Wittering. The AF ...
(AFDU) at
Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...
. Two Defiants were issued for
ejection seat In aircraft, an ejection seat or ejector seat is a system designed to rescue the pilot or other crew of an aircraft (usually military) in an emergency. In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the aircraft by an explosive charge or rock ...
development work: one to R Malcolm Ltd (later ML Aviation) and the other to
Martin-Baker Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Limited is a British manufacturer of ejection seats and safety-related equipment for aviation. The company's origins were originally as an aircraft manufacturer before becoming a pioneer in the field of ejection s ...
. On 11 December 1944, Defiant ''DR944'' was delivered to Martin-Baker's facility at Denham; sometime thereafter, a primitive ejector seat was fitted into the observers position for trial purposes. On 11 May 1945, Martin-Baker used ''DR944'' to test their first ejection seat with dummy launches.Bowyer 1970, p. 270. Various trials using ''DR944'' took place until May 1948. The other Defiant, ''AA292'', was delivered to R Malcolm Ltd at
White Waltham Airfield White Waltham Airfield is an operational general aviation aerodrome located at White Waltham, southwest of Maidenhead, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. This large grass airfield is best known for its assoc ...
on 15 April 1945 and the first airborne trial with dummies was held in the following October.Carter 2006 p. 25. The last operational use of Defiants was in India, where they were used as target tugs."Aircraft of the Indian Air Force: Boulton-Paul Defiant TT I & TT III."
''bharat-rakshak.com''. Retrieved: 5 November 2015.


Variants

;Defiant Mk I :Two-seat turret fighter for the RAF, powered by a 1,030 hp (768 kW) Rolls-Royce Merlin III piston engine; 723 built. ;Defiant NF Mk I :Defiant Mk I converted into night fighters ;Defiant NF Mk IA :NF Mk I with Airborne Interception radar. ;Defiant ASR Mk I :Mk I carrying air-dropped dinghies for air-sea rescue. ;Defiant TT Mk I :Defiant Mk IIs converted to target tugs; 150 conversions. ;Defiant Mk II :Two-seat night fighter for the RAF, powered by a 1,280 hp (954 kW) Rolls-Royce Merlin XX piston engine, and fitted with the AI Mk IV airborne interception radar; 210 built. ;Defiant TT Mk III :Dedicated turret-less target tug; 140 built from new.


Operators

* *
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
* * * *


Surviving aircraft

The surviving complete example of the type is a Defiant I, ''N1671'', on display as a
night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...
at the
Royal Air Force Museum The Royal Air Force Museum is a museum dedicated to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. The museum is a non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Defence and is a registered charity. The museum is split into two separate sites: * ...
in
Cosford, Shropshire Cosford is a village in Shropshire, England. It is located on the A41 road, which is itself just south of junction 3 on the M54 motorway. The village is very small and is mostly made up of dwellings that house Royal Air Force personnel who work ...
.Bowyer 1970, p. 270. It was one of four Defiants delivered to
No. 307 Polish Night Fighter Squadron No. 307 (Polish) Squadron, also known as No. 307 (City of Lwów) Squadron ( pl, 307 Dywizjon Myśliwski Nocny "Lwowskich Puchaczy" ) was one of several Polish squadrons in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. It was formed as p ...
at
RAF Kirton in Lindsey Royal Air Force Kirton in Lindsey or more simply RAF Kirton in Lindsey is a former Royal Air Force station located north of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. It's an RAF habit (inherited from the RFC) to name its bases after the nearest railw ...
,
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...
on 17 September 1940 and was passed to No. 153 Squadron at the end of October 1941 and 285 Sqn in 1942. In 1954, it was identified for storage as a historical aircraft and passed to the RAF Museum in 1971. The aircraft was moved on 20 May 2009 to Rochester Airport, where it was restored by the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society (MAPS)."Rare WWII fighter plane to land for restoration."
''Kent News'', 18 April 2009. Retrieved: 22 May 2009.
It was returned to Hendon on 6 December 2012,''Aviation News'' March 2013, p. 19. and was then moved from Hendon to
Royal Air Force Museum Cosford The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, located in Cosford in Shropshire, is a free (currently, 2022) museum dedicated to the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force in particular. The museum is part of the Royal Air Force Museum, a non-departme ...
in November 2016 for display in War in the Air hangar. Major parts of at least two other Defiants survive; ''N1766'' and ''N3378'', both Mk Is.Simpson, Andrew
"Boulton Paul Defiant I N1671/837OM: museum accession no. 74/A/16."
''
Royal Air Force Museum The Royal Air Force Museum is a museum dedicated to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. The museum is a non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Defence and is a registered charity. The museum is split into two separate sites: * ...
''. Retrieved: 13 August 2019.
A full-scale replica Defiant was created on site at Boulton Paul in Wolverhampton by ex Boulton Paul engineer Jack Holmes and team at the Boulton Paul Heritage Society. A total of 50000+ man hours went into its production and it was unveiled in 2003 marking 60 years since the last Defiant flew out of Penderford he World War II training airfield next to the Boulton Paul Factory in Wolverhampton Due to change of ownership at the Boulton Paul site, the Defiant faced losing its home in Wolverhampton, and in 2015 was relocated to its now permanent home on display at the Kent Battle of Britain Museum.'Defiant' Jack Holmes: The man who built the Boulton Paul Defiant
/ref> A second example built by the Boulton Paul Association, in the colours of 264 Squadron (L7005), now resides at the Kent Battle of Britain Museum in
Hawkinge Hawkinge ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Folkestone and Hythe district of Kent, England. The original village of Hawkinge is actually just less than a mile (c. 1.3 km) due east of the present village centre; the village of Hawkinge ...
. It was acquired by the Museum in 2015 after the association went into administration.


Specifications (Mk I)


See also


References


Notes


Citations


Bibliography

* Ansell, Mark. ''Boulton Paul Defiant''. Redbourn, Herts, UK: Mushroom Model Publications, 2005. . * Bowyer, Michael J.F. "The Boulton Paul Defiant." ''Aircraft in Profile, Vol. 5''. London: Profile Publications Ltd., 1966. * Brew, Alex. ''The Turret Fighters – Defiant and Roc''. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, UK: Crowood Press, 2002. . * Brew, Alex. ''The Defiant File''. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1996. . * Buttler, Tony. ''British Secret Projects: Fighters & Bombers 1935–1950''. Hinckley, UK: Midland Publishing, 2004. . * Carter, Graham. ''ML Aviation Ltd: A Secret World''. Chippenham: Keyham Books, 2006. * Caygill, Peter. ''Flying to the Limit: Testing WW II Single-engined Fighters''. Casemate Publishers, 2005. * Green, William. ''War Planes of the Second World War: Fighters, Vol. 2''. London: Macdonald & Co., 1961. No ISBN. * Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. ''WW2 Aircraft Fact Files: RAF Fighters, Part 1''. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishing Ltd., 1978. . * Hall, Alan W. and Andrew Thomas. ''Boulton Paul Defiant'' (Warpaint Series No. 42). Luton, Bedfordshire, UK: Warpaint Books, 2003. * Mondey, David. ''The Hamlyn Concise Guide to British Aircraft of World War II''. London: Chancellor Press, 2002. . * Nijboer, Donald. ''Gunner: An Illustrated History of World War II Aircraft Turrets and Gun Ppositions''. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing Company Limited and reprinted by Boston Mills Press (Canada), 2001. . * Price, Alfred. ''Instruments of Darkness: The History of Electronic Warfare''. St. Albans, UK: Granada, 1979. . * Taylor, John W.R. "Boulton Paul Defiant." ''Combat Aircraft of the World from 1909 to the present''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. . * Thomas, Andrew. ''Defiant, Blenheim and Havoc Aces''. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2012. . * Whitehouse, Les. "The Disappointing Defiant." ''AirEnthusiast Five'', November 1977 – February 1978. Bromley, Kent, UK: Pilot Press Ltd., 1977. * Wheeler, Barry C. ''The Hamlyn Guide to Military Aircraft Markings.'' London: Chancellor Press, 1992. . * Winchester, Jim. "Boulton Paul Defiant." ''The World's Worst Aircraft: From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters''. London: Amber Books Ltd., 2005. .


External links


Death of the Defiant: A closer look at the Defiant, its faults and its achievements





The Boulton Paul Association


* ttp://www.fliegerweb.com/geschichte/flugzeuge/lexikon.php?show=lexikon-430 in German featuring Boulton Paul P.94 {{Authority control Aircraft first flown in 1937 Defiant 1930s British fighter aircraft Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Turret fighters World War II British night fighter aircraft