A flight of Boulton Paul Defiants, the British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II, was designed as a "turret fighter", without any forward-firing guns. In combat, the Defiant was found to be effective at destroying bombers but vulnerable to the Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. The lack of forward-firing armament being a great weakness in daylight combat, until its potential was realised when it was converted to night fighting, later it was supplanted by the Bristol Beaufighter and de Havilland Mosquito.
A flight of Boulton Paul Defiants, the British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II, was designed as a "turret fighter", without any forward-firing guns. In combat, the Defiant was found to be reasonably effective at destroying bombers but was vulnerable to the Luftwaffe's more manoeuvrable, single-seat Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. The lack of forward-firing armament proved to be a great weakness in daylight combat and its potential was realised only when it was converted to night fighting. It was supplanted as a night fighter by the Bristol Beaufighter and de Havilland Mosquito to be used in gunnery training, target towing, electronic countermeasures and air-sea rescue.
Size: 4664px × 2320px
Location: United Kingdom
Photo credit: © De Luan / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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