Boulton Paul Defiant

Purpose: Two seat fighter Origin & Development: Prototype appeared in 1939. It was considered as the replacement for the Hawker "Demon".

Power Plant: One Rolls Royce Merlin II. Maximum power, 1030 H.P. at 3000 rpm at 16,250 ft. Cruising Power, 990 H.P. at 2600 rpm at 12,000 ft.

Construction: Wings - all metal, with flush riveted stressed skin covering. Split trailing edge flaps. Fuselage - All metal monocoque with flush riveted stressed skin covering. Tail Unit - Framework all metal with stressed skin covering. Undercarriage - inward retracting oleo-pneumatic sprung type.

Dimensions: Span 39 ft. 6 in. Length 35 ft. Height 12 ft. Wing area 250 sq. ft.

Armament: Four .303 Browning machine guns concentrated in Boulton Paul power driven turret located amidships. No forward firing guns.

Remarks: Fairing aft of the gun turret and the upper portion of the rear cockpit retracts to allow a wide field of fire from the turret guns. Although it was possible to position the guns pointing forward, alongside the cockpit, when in this position they were disabled to prevent firing through the propeller arc. Also the radio masts are mounted below the fuselage to allow a clear field of fire. The rear mast retracts when the undercarriage is lowered.

History: Many of the British aircraft designs of the late 1930s presented an innovative approach to aerial warfare. This is especially true for the turreted fighter concept, which materialised in two operational types, Boulton Paul Defiant and Blackburn Roc.

The idea was first conceived in 1935 and called for the application of a power-operated multi-gun turret in a single-engine day fighter, it's purpose was to break up un escorted bomber formations. It appeared then to have a number of advantages. First, with a crew of two, the pilot would be relieved of the dual task of flying the aircraft and firing at the target. Secondly, the guns could be used defensively as well as offensively.

When the Air Ministry issued such specification (F.9/35), Boulton Paul had already a competitive edge, possessing an effective gun turret of their own design. An elegant low-wing monoplane was designed around it, looking not unlike the Hurricane, and also powered by the superb Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. The production started in mid-1939, and No. 264 Squadron was the first to convert to the type, taking delivery on the 9th December.

The squadron first went into combat on the 12th May 1940, during the intervening period they had undertaken trails against a variety of bombers and a mock engagement with a Spitfire flown by Flight Officer Bob Stanford Tuck of 65 Squadron. On May the 27th, 264 Squadron intercepted twelve He111s over Dunkirk They successfully broke up the formation and downed three aircraft, with two probables, for no loss. This demonstrated the ability of the aircraft in the role for which it was designed.

The following day it proved itself to be a worthy opponent against fighter aircraft when ten Defiants were attacked by thirty Bf109s. By flying in a line astern spiral the gunners could provide cover for one another and though they lost three aircraft they managed to down six of the attackers. Perhaps their greatest day came on May 29th when they downed thirty seven enemy aircraft for no loss - an RAF record. It has been said that the Germans mistook the Defiants as Hurricanes and attacking from the rear were shot from the skies. This ignores the fact that most of the aircraft shot down that day were bombers - it was the Defiants doing the attacking. During the critical Dunkirk days in May 1940, this squadron achieved (as projected by the original concept) an outstanding success, claiming no less than 65 kills over Luftwaffe aircraft with the loss of only fourteen of their own aircraft.

The end of the Defiant as a Day fighter came at 12:45 on the 19th July 1940. 141 Squadron, newly formed, was jumped by a force of about thirty Bf109s from JG 51 whilst providing cover for a convoy in the English Channel. However they did not adopt the tactics employed by 264 Squadron and continued to fly straight and level in Vics of three. This allowed the Luftwaffe pilots to adopt an attacking position from below and behind. Two Defiants were lost in the first pass, but the others continued to fly straight and level. Four more Defiants were downed and a seventh eventually crash landed. Hurricanes of 111 Squadron tried to come to the aid of the Defiants but failed although they reported that the Defiant gunners had accounted for four of their attackers.

The Defiants were then moved to night fighter operations, and many of them carried the then-new AI airborne interception radar. In this role the Defiant proved to be quite efficient, achieving more "kills" per interception that any other of the improvised night fighter aircraft of the period.

The day fighter skin depicts L7006 which entered service on 25th of April 1940 with No. 264 Sqd. Flown by Sgt Thorn with the Defiants top gunner Sgt Fred Barker they accounted for eleven kills. L7006 was finally retired on the 30th November 1944.

Due to requests I've made a tentative start on reworking the Defiant. This will probably have around 30% new parts and many modified bits, this includes the cockpit canopy and the undercarridge which has always annoyed me, and finally I'll sort out the missing textures on the leading edge of the wing. It's being done for FS9 but a CFS2 version will be available.

Aircraft of the Fighting Powers: Vol. 1, H.J. Cooper & O.G. Thetford, Edited by D.A. Russel, The Harborough Publishing Company. 1941
Aircraft of the Fighting Powers: Vol. 4, H.J. Cooper & O.G. Thetford, Edited by D.A. Russel, The Harborough Publishing Company. 1944
Boulton Paul Aircraft: Alec Brew, Tempus Publishing, ISBN 0 7524 2116 6
The Defiant File: Alec Brew, Air Britain Publications, ISBN 0 85130 226 2
The Boutlon Paul Association for keeping the spirt alive.
The Forums of www.CFS2.dogfighter.com (now www.netwings.org).
The 1% organisation at www.Avhistory.org for Jerry Beckwiths airfile & DP spreadsheets, and help in general.
RAF Hendon's Dept. of Research & Information Services for copies of the Defiant Manual detailing the cockpit and turret layout.
David Eckert for producing a freeware pilot for FSDS.
Loose Kannon for the low poly count pilot, now converted to a rear gunner.
I think I've got everyone if I've missed you off, please let me know.

Version (V1.3a )
is now ready for download. This contains both day and night fighter skins. The day fighter skin depicts L7006 which entered service on 25th of April 1940 with No. 264 Sqd. Flown by Sgt Thorn with the Defiants top gunner Sgt Fred Barker they accounted for eleven kills. L7006 was finally retired on the 30th November 1944. The Night Fighter skin depicts the Defiant N1801 which entered service on the 24th of October 1940 with No.264 Squadron (PS-Y). This was presentation aircraft named Coimbatore II. It was flown by PO Desmond Hughes (later to become Air Vice Marshall) and Sgt Fred Nash was the gunner.

The file now contains Lobo's brilliant a 2D panel. The panel makes use of the stock CFS1 Hurricane and Spitfire guages which are not included.

V1.0 beta version released 5th May 2002
V1.1 beta version with corrected DP released 6th May 2002
V1.2 beta version with modified airfile to provide the correct nuetral trim to flaps and gear. Eyepoint corrected in aircraft.cfg to give the correct high seating position for better forward and downward view released 7th May 2002
V1.3 Final version for now. Some minor alterations to previous version.
Alternate DPs released 22nd May 2002
Lobo da Silvas panel added 22 Jan 2003

As this is a Beta model I would like to hear any comments you may have so any problems can be ironed out for the final version.

Be critical, if you find or suspect any problems please Email me at JMarsh1766@aol.com.