Bristol Beaufighter, part ten. Bristol Beaufighter in German, Italian and Portuguese service.

 

The Bristol Beaufighter was also employed, albeit in small numbers by the following countries:

• Germany: There is one photograph suggesting that at least one Bristol Beaufighter Mk. IC was captured by the Germans and put to flight in Luftwaffe markings. However, as the picture we had access does not enjoy the highest quality available, the drawing we made below should be taken with a grain of salt.
  
  
• Italy: On 7th January 1942 a Beaufighter Mk. IC registered as T4887 was on an Overseas Air Despatch Unit flight from Gibraltar to Malta when landed by mistake at Magnisi airfield, close to Augusta and was captured intact by the Italian personnel. This happened because the Italians were jamming the Malta radio-beacon with a jammer truck placed for that purpose at Porto Palo. Both the pilot, Flt. Sgt. Jones and the navigator, Flt. Sgt. Bold were taken prisoners.
  The aircraft was quickly taken to Guidonia, the testing centre of the Regia Aeronautica (the Royal Italian Air Force) and was repainted with Italian markings and colours and even received an Italian registration: MM4887. 
  At Guidonia the Beaufighter spent almost one year, where it was flew tested by many pilots, who praised the excellent avionics and the power of the Bristol Hercules engines. 
  Oddly enough, the Italian engineers did not consider necessary to reverse engineer the British throttle lever action, which was totally abnormal for Italian pilots. 
  After testing was completed, the Beaufighter was assigned to 235ª Squadriglia of Comando Intercettori Leone (235th Flight of Leone Interceptor Command) in mid-December 1942 but it did not last long as it was lost to a take-off accident at Venegono airfield, close to Milan, on 29th January 1943. The most probable cause for the accident was an erroneous throttle control input by the pilot, Tte. Ercole Norace Zedda, who died in the accident, while Flight engineer Sgt. Mg. Motorista Sacchi was severely injured.
  
  
• Portugal: A total of sixteen Beaufighters TF. Mk. Xs were bought by the Forças Aéreas da Armada (literally 'Navy's Air Forces') and were shipped between March and April 1945. 
  All those aircraft were based at Portela de Sacavem airfield, close to Lisbon by Esquadrao 'B' ('B' Squadron) of the Forças Aéreas da Armada. Those Beaus received Portuguese serials ranging from BF.1 to BF.16 and the squadron also operated from Averio airfield under command of Centro de Aviaçao Naval de S. Jacinto (S. Jacinto Naval Aviation Centre).
  On 22nd October 1945 one Beau, BF.4 crashed at Ovar beach, close to S. Jacinto, killing the pilot, 1st Lt. Felix F. Lobo and Sgt. Antunes Nogueira and the wireless operator, Luis Pacheco, dying from the burns he got while trying to rescue his partners from the burning plane. The crash was caused by a broken drive shaft on one of the engine oil pumps, so Bristol sent mechanics to Portugal to repair and modify the remaining airframes to prevent this from happening. 
  A replacement Beaufighter TF. Mk. X (ex RD862) was supplied by Bristol and received the Portuguese registration of BF.17. 
  The Beau was kept in service with Forças Aéreas da Armada until 1950 when Esquadrao 'B' was disbanded and two of the remaining Beaus were assigned to the Instituto Superior Técnico (Technical High School) at Lisbon to serve as instructional airframes, while another airframe was passed to the South African Air Force in exchange for a Spitfire Mk. IX registered as ML255. 
  Those two airframes remained at the Instituto Superior Técnico until 1965 when one of them, BF.10 was sent to Oficinas Gerais de Material Aeronáutico (General Aeronautical Material Workshops) at Alverca, Lisbon, where the national aeronautical museum was founded on 1st July 1969 and BF.10 was restored for display. 
  The other airframe, BF.13 (ex-RD253) was shipped back to the United Kingdom as gift from the Portuguese government to the Royal Air Force (RAF) and was later restored at RAF St. Athan (Glamorgan, Wales) before being placed on display at the RAF Museum in Hendon on 15th March 1971 where it can be seen nowadays.

Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Beaufighter
2nd Bancarella Aeronautica - Ali Straniere In Italia 6 - Prede di Guerra
3rd Scale Aircraft Modellers Datafile 6 - Bristol Beaufighter

Bristol Beaufighter, part nine. The Beaufighter serving with Nos. 488 & 489 Squadrons.

 

The Bristol Beaufighter also served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during World War 2, albeit the two squadrons that operated the type, Nos. 488 and 489, made it under Royal Air Force (RAF) command. 

• No. 488 Squadron was reformed at Church Fenton, Yorkshire, after having served through the south-east Asian campaign, when Japan invaded. On 25th June 1942 they were reformed as a night fighter 'intruder' squadron and for this purpose, they were re-equipped with the Bristol Beaufighter. In August 1942, they became fully operational and were rebased to Ayr, Scotland. In February 1943 they commenced to perform intruder missions over France. As they operated from Scotland, they had to refuel at Coltishall and then proceed with the raid. They operated the Beaufighter Mk. II and Mk. VI until August 1943 when their role was switched to the night defensive fighter one and subsequently, the Beaufighters were replaced by the De Havilland Mosquito.

• No. 489 Squadron: Unlike No. 488, this unit was formed at Leuchars, England and operated in Europe for the whole duration of the war. 
  Committed to the torpedo-bomber role, this unit began to transition to the Beaufighter TF. Mk.X from the ageing Handley Page Hampden in September 1943, completing the transition in November that same year. This transition meant that, as the Beaufighter had a crew of just two, pilot and navigator, the gunners and the wireless operators required by the Hampden became surplus personnel, so they had to be relocated to other units while the pilots were trained to operate the Beaufighter.
  The unit resumed the anti-shipping patrols in January 1944, targeting German shipping lanes off the Norwegian coast, that were often protected by flak ships. During the squadron's first sortie with the Beaufighter, they managed to sink a merchant ship before they were spotted by a group of German Messerschmitt Bf. 109 fighters. During the return trip they strafed another German merchant ship damaging it. 
  In April 1944 the unit was rebased to south east Anglia, to be part of the Anzac Strike Wing, together with No. 455 Squadron (an Australian unit) and they operated in support for the upcoming Operation Overlord (Normandy landings) by attacking merchant ships  and looking for movements in the shipping lanes off northern France Belgium and the Netherlands.
  For those operations, many of the Beaufighters were equipped with cannons instead of torpedoes, as they were more effective to destroy the anti-air defences of the ships that were being attacked. They also targeted German E and R-boats. 
  On D-Day they were tasked with isolating an area of the English Channel to prevent E and R-boats from attacking the Allied barges from disembarking. This task of patrolling the Channel was extended through the summer of 1944 and was performed with high success rates. It wasn't until October 1944 that the unit returned to their previous anti-shipping assignment, operating from Dallachy, Scotland. 
  From this period until the end of the war in Europe, they patrolled mainly the Norwegian shoreline and fjords. On 9th February 1945 they, together with other Beaufighters of the Anzac Strike Wing (this time reinforced with a British squadron), managed to damaged the German destroyer Z33. That same month, the squadron sunk another German freighter, carrying thousand of tons of mines and during March, another ship was sunk.
  Their last operational sortie in Europe took place after the war, on 21st May 1945. It was a simple patrol by a pair of Beaufighters. 
  In June, with the war in Europe now over, they were moved to Banff, Scotland, to transition to the De Havilland Mosquito, in order to serve in the Pacific Theatre, however, before the transition was completed, Japan collapsed, putting an end to the war and the squadron was disbanded on 1st August 1945.

Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._488_Squadron_RNZAF
2nd https://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/RNZAF/No_488_sqn_RNZAF.html
3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._489_Squadron_RNZAF
4th https://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/RNZAF/No_489_sqn_RNZAF.html

Bristol Beaufighter, part eight. The Beaufighter in Australian hands. Part two.

 

During the late 1930s, it was obvious that the Allied forces the Far East were vastly inferior to the attacking Japanese, so this fact forced the Allies to set up a supply of British-built aircraft to Australia to assist in the development of the aircraft industry there. 
Starting from July 1939 orders for the licensed production of the Bristol Beaufort were placed at the Department of Aircraft Production (DAP) at Mascot, New South Wales and Fishermen's Bend, Victoria. When Japan waged war on the west, those factories were fully committed to the manufacture process of the Beaufort, so various Beaufighters Mk. I and Mk. VI were taken from production lines in Great Britain and were shipped to Australia. 
At first, fifty-four Fairey-built Beaufighters Mk. ICs (registered from A19-1 to A19-54) were supplied to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), the first two of them being A19-7 and A19-8, which were taken on charge on 26th March 1942. Those were followed by additional eighteen machines (A19-55 to A19-72) in October 1942 and sixty-three Mk. VIC more (A19-73 to A19-137). Although this final order was for sixty-four airframes, one machine (A19-105) crashed before delivery. 
Every British-built Beaufighter in RAAF service had the A19 prefix, while the Australian-built machine had the A8 one.

The initial manufacture process in Australia was intended to begin with the Mk. VII, to be powered by the Bristol Hercules 26 radial engine, equipped with a Bendix carburettor. However this had to be discarded as the standardisation on the Hercules Mk. XVII and Mk. XVIII series engines was required. The next two versions of the Beaufighter intended for mass production were the Mk. VIII and the Mk. IX, both intended to be powered by the American Wright Double-Cyclone GR A5B. In fact, one airframe registered as A19-2 was experimentally fitted with those engines, as well as the extended engine nacelles that required from the enlarged diameter cowling needed for the Wright engine. However that variant were not proceeded as it was taken as a safeguard measure against a possible short-supply of the Hercules engine, which never took place as Britain managed to supply them in enough numbers, making an 'Australian-built Mk. VI' a much simpler alternative.
That was the inception of the Mk. 21.
It should also be considered that from 20th April 1942 to 20th August 1945 a total of 218 Beaufighters of various marks were shipped straight to Australia to be employed by the RAAF, however we wrote about those in our previous post.

The DAP Mk. 21 flew for the first time on 21st May 1944, two years later than its intended initial start. It was registered as A8-1. This delay was caused because a total of 55.000 microfilm drawings had to the be sent from the United Kingdom, without which production couldn't start.
The Mk. 21 was powered by the Hercules Mk. XVIII engines that were shipped from Great Britain, but the remaining parts were entirely built in Australia. Manufacture was undertaken by sub-contractors throughout Australia with final assembly being made at DAP's factories at Mascot and Fishermen's Bend. 
The Mk. 21 was armed with four 0.5 in (12,5 mm) Browning machine guns in the wings, instead of the six 0.303 in (7,7 mm) versions of the British-built machines. 
The type could also carry a 250 lb (113 kg) bomb under each outer wing or eight 3 in (75 mm) rockets. The most noticeable difference was the addition of a Sperry autopilot housed in a bulge on top of  the nose, just forward of the cockpit. However, the Sperry was rarely fitted inside the bulge. 
The Mk. 21 was basically an Australian-built Mk. X powered by the Hercules Mk. XVII and the later ones with the Mk. XVIIIs. The later series had supercharged speeds operational, unlike their British counterparts, which were fixed in the M-gear, making their performance marginally better. 
As we have already written, the prototype, A8-1 flew for the first on 21st May 1944 and was delivered to the RAAF on 26th May.

No. 30 Squadron RAAF was the first unit to operate the Mk. 21. It was commanded by Wg. Cdr. Brian Walker. However, as this unit flew mostly British-built Beaufighter, was covered in our previous post. 
No. 31 Squadron also operated the Mk. 21 together with other Beaufighters. It was formed at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales on 14th August 1942 and became fully operational at Coomalie Creek, south of Darwin, performing their first operational sortie against shipping targets in the Timor Sea on 17th November 1942. 
While those two squadrons were operating, further sixty-two Mk. VICs, sixty-two TF. Mk. Xs and twenty Mk. XICs were shipped directly from the United Kingdom. The first squadron to receive the Australian-built Mk. 21 was No. 31 in September 1944 with No. 30 following soon, operating the type until the end of hostilities. 
A third squadron, No. 22 transitioned to the type, replacing their Douglas Bostons at the end of 1944. Two additional RAAF squadrons operated the Beaufighter during World War 2, for two weeks only, Nos. 92 and 93 squadrons, with No. 93 achieving just two operational sorties from Labuan, North Borneo, while assigned to the No.86 (Attack) Wing in the last two weeks of the war.
During the post-war the RAAF modified a number of Beaufighters to target-tug duties. The prototype, A8-265 was followed by additional fifteen similarly converted machines. Those tugs were operated by the Target Towing and Special Duties Flight based at Richmond, New South Wales. This unit was disbanded and their tasks were undertaken by the No. 30 squadron, becoming thus, No. 30 (TT) Squadron. The last operational usage of the Beaufighter in Australia was performed by the Air Trials Flight at the Woomera missile test range, which employed the type until at least 1956.

Initial production estimations expected a total of at least 500 Mk. 21 to be built but, as the war ended, so did manufacture process in September 1945 with 364 airframes completed.

Sources:
1st Scale Aircraft Modellers Datafile 6 - Bristol Beaufighter
2nd Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 153 - Bristol 'Beaufighter' in Action

Bristol Beaufighter, part seven. The Beaufighter in Australian hands. Part one.

 

The Bristol Beaufighter was also employed by many Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) squadrons all around the globe.

The first of such was No. 456 Squadron which was formed under Royal Air Force's (RAF) command at RAF Valley, (Wales) in June 1941 as a night-fighter unit. 
Although initially equipped with the Boulton-Paul Defiant Mk. I, they transitioned to the Bristol Beaufighter Mk. IF, completing the transition in September 1941 and becoming fully operational in November. They were at first tasked with flying defensive patrols over the Irish Sea and scoring their first kill in January 1942. This squadron kept their Beaufighters Mk. I and Mk. II, flying as a defensive unit, until December 1942 when they began to transition to the De Havilland Mosquito fighter.
However, for a brief period, ranging from July 1942 to January 1943 (or March, according to some other sources), they operated the Beaufighter TF. Mk. X too as part of their new anti-shipping strike role, operating mainly over the Bay of Biscay. 

On Australian soil, the first RAAF's squadron to operate the Beaufighter was No. 30 (City of Sale) Squadron, which was formed at RAAF Richmond (New South Wales, but close to Sydney) and was initially equipped with some of the fifty-four of the Fairey-built Beaufighter Mk. IC that the Australian Government bought in 1941 and 1942. 
As said, this unit was formed on 9th March 1942 as a long-range fighter unit and, after some training period, they were rebased to RAAF Townsville (Queensland) with a detachment to RAAF Milne Bay (Papua) from where they attacked Japanese shipping, becoming the first unit of the RAAF with Beaufighters to see action.  Shortly later, they were deployed to Port Moresby to operate as a low-level ground support unit, where they Beaufighter proved to be highly successful.
Operating from Port Moresby and surrounding areas, their main task to strike Japanese shipping and naval bases, with occasional ground attack missions supporting the Kokoda trail campaign and various Japanese airfields and bases.
In early 1943 they took part in the Battle of Bismarck Sea, conducting various low-level attacks on Japanese ships, where they proved to be highly effective. 
In July they were moved to RAAF Goodenough Island to keep their anti-shipping role while also striking on Japanese airfields. 
By 1944 they were flying a mixture of Beaufighter Mk. I to Mk. VI and also the Mk. X sent straight from the United Kingdom. By September 1944 they were also flying the Mk. 21 (the Australian-built variant of the Beaufighter)
They accompanied Australian forces all along their campaigns through Borneo, Celebes and Tarakan and they were disbanded in December 1945.

The first Australian unit to receive the Australian-built Mk. 21 (of which we will write another post) was No. 31 Squadron RAAF (which had an operational history identical to that of No. 30 Squadron) , with another unit, No. 22 Squadron converting to the type, replacing their Douglas Bostons in late 1944. 
Two additional units operated the Beaufighter Mk. 21, although for a brief period of time, Nos. 92 and 93 Squadrons, although only No. 93 flew it in fruitless patrols during the last two weeks of the war operating from Labuan. 

Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._456_Squadron_RAAF
2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._30_Squadron_RAAF
3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._31_Squadron_RAAF
4th https://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/RAAF/456_wwII.html
5th Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action  153 - Bristol 'Beaufighter' in Action
6th SAM Publications - Modellers Datafile 6 - Bristol Beaufighter

Bristol Beaufighter, part six. Turkish Beaufighters.

 

Note: The Turkish Air Force employed army terms such as regiment or company for their aerial units.
Turkey and its air force (Hava Müstesarligi first and Türk Hava Kuvvetleri -THK for short- later) were the largest export customer for the Bristol Beaufighter and, apparently, during the war, at least one Beaufighter Mk. I was sold by the Royal Air Force (RAF), together with other types. As the information about the Turkish Beaufighters is confusing, some documents don't acknowledge the existence of this aircraft.
However, it seems that in 1944, when the THK was founded, at least nine ex-RAF Mk. X were supplied to Turkish control, followed in 1946 ordered additional twenty-four machines from Bristol. However, in the official lists, there are only twenty-three Beaufighters listed, so there is some confusion about the number that was actually sold.

Anyway, between April and August 1947 the Beaufighters TF. X were delivered to replace the almost derelict Bristol Beauforts that were sold back during the war. Just like the Beauforts, the Beaufighters were assigned to the 105th Torpedo-Bomber Group based at Köseköy (this unit was created  to maintain an effective anti-shipping force in the Black Sea), with nine aircraft assigned to each company and six being kept in reserve. 
As the airfield in Köseköy was not big enough, many accidents took place. 
On 23rd August 1947 the 105th Torpedo-Bomber Group was merged into the 10th Reconnaissance Regiment (15th according to some sources), formed at Afyon, with the Beaufighters forming the 1st and 2nd companies. 
However, the airfield at Afyon was at an altitude of 2.000 feet (610 m) above the sea level, the take-off performance was not enough for the time and it was decided to put the Beaufighters into storage, so they Eskisehir. Later, in 1948 they were replaced by the American Martin B-26 bombers and, when the 10th Recon Regiment was disbanded in early 1951, the Beaufighters were sold for scrap.

Sources:
1st Turkish Air Force - Türk Hava Kuvvetleri
2nd Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action -153 - Bristol Beaufighter in Action
3rd Scale Aircraft Modellers Datafile 6 - Bristol Beaufighter
4th https://web.archive.org/web/20211028194120/http://www.tayyareci.com/digerucaklar/turkiye/1923ve50/beaufighter.asp

Bristol Beaufighter, part five. The Beaufighter in Israel.

 

During the late 1940s the Chel Ha'Avir (Israeli Air Force - IAF) was under build-up, so four Beaufighter TF.Xs were acquired as part of a batch of six that were overhauled by Fairey Aviation at Ringway (Cheshire) and purchased by R. Dickson and partners for a war movie that never came out. Those initial Beaufighters had civilian registrations from G-AJMB to G-AJMG).
One Beaufighter crashed in the United Kingdom during the ferry flight to Israel and one other Beaufighter was, apparently, left behind back in the UK. The other four remaining machines were flown and arrived in Israel in July 1948. They were assigned to 103 Tajeset (103 Squadron) and, supposedly, they saw some action against Egyptian and Syrian forces during the first Arab-Israeli War (AKA Israel's War of Independence). 

In October 1948 a Beaufighter was damaged when strafing Egyptian aircraft parked on the ground at an airfield in El Arish (northern Sinai) and 103 Tajeset lost another Beaufighter to Egyptian anti-air fire over Iraq-Suweidan (Gaza). Although effective, the Beaufighter proved to be very difficult to maintain in flyable conditions under the climatological middle-east weather and, in spite of the efforts of the IAF's mechanics, the type was written off from IAF's inventory in November 1948, shortly after the 31st October truce.

However by January 1950 one machine was still listed as flying with 22 Wing, based at  Tel-Nof air base. 

Sources

1st Scale Aircraft Magazine  - Modellers Datafile 6 - The Bristol Beaufighter - A comprehensive guide for the modeller

2nd Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 153 - Bristol Beaufighter in Action

Bristol Beaufighter, part four. The Beaufighter in South African Air Force's service.

 

The Bristol Beaufighter operated with the South African Air Force (SAAF) during the mid-to-late stages of World War 2. 
It was operated by two squadrons, Nos. 16 and 19:

• No. 16 Squadron SAAF: No. 16 Squadron operated under Royal Air Force's (RAF) Command as part of the Desert Air Force. In April 1943 this unit was rebased to Egypt where they replaced their Bristol Blenheim Mk. V with Beaufighters in November and were assigned to anti-submarine duties in the Mediterranean, however, with the need of an air wing that could assist Yugoslav partisans in the Balkans, Albania and Greece, the Balkan Air Force was formed and from December 1943 this squadron operated within it, performing aerial strikes on the Balkans and some occasional anti-shipping raids on the Aegean Sea from February until August 1944.
  One of their most successful raids was the bombing of the bridges on the village of Zenica (Bosnia).
  They remained in that role, equipped with the Beaufighter until they were disbanded on 15th June 1945.
• No. 19 Squadron SAAF: This unit was reformed, taking personnel from No. 227 Squadron RAF and was officially numbered as No. 19 Squadron SAAF on 15 August 1944 at Biferno, Italy. They were equipped with Beaufighters Mk. VI and TF. Mk. X from the beginning and were assigned to the Balkan Air Force. Just like No. 16 squadron, they performed many raids on Yugoslavia and Greece, as well as some raids against coastal shipping in the Adriatic Sea. 
  The squadron was disbanded on 10th July 1945 and its personnel was sent back home.
  
  

Sources:

1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Squadron_SAAF

2ns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19_Squadron_SAAF

3rd https://www.saairforce.co.za/the-airforce/squadrons/99/16-squadron

4th https://www.saairforce.co.za/the-airforce/squadrons/100/19-squadron

5th https://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/SAAF/16_wwII.html

6th https://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/SAAF/19_wwII.html

7th Scale Aircraft Magazine  - Modellers Datafile 6 - The Bristol Beaufighter - A comprehensive guide for the modeller