Bristol Beaufort. Part Six. British Users, part three.

 

In late 1941 the Royal Air Force (RAF) ordered 180 Australian-built Beauforts, which were manufactured by the Australian Department of Aircraft Production (DAP),  to serve with the RAF Far East Command to act in the South-East Asia Theatre of Operation. The Australian-built Beauforts were to replace the extremely outdated Vickers Vildebeests, which were active since the year 1928, operated by the No. 100 Squadron which was based at Singapore with a detachment, Q flight, in Australia for operational conversion purposes. 

When Japan invaded Malaya on 8th December 1941, approximately 20 DAP Beauforts were completed and were delivered to the Q flight. Of those twenty, only six managed to reach Singapore, just after combats began. No. 100 Squadron kept on operating the Vildebeest over Singapore, sustaining heavy losses. One Beaufort of Air Headquarters was performing reconnaissance duties when it was attacked by Japanese fighters, which heavily damaged it and the Beaufort was, therefore, written off. The RAF decided that the Beaufort lacked defensive armament against the more modern fighters and that No. 100 Squadron lacked training and familiarization on the type. 

As the Japanese conquered Malaya, the RAF evacuated Malaya and its airfields taking both Beauforts and personnel to Australia. As the type wasn't liked by the crews, the remaining DAP Beauforts were sent to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

The Beaufort was also sent to the Indian Ocean. On 28th April 1942 the first Beaufort arrived in Colombo, Ceylon, operating with No. 22 Squadron. Beaufort's operations here were fruitless because there were no sightings of Japanese ships for the next two years plus. 

However, a great number of patrols were performed there in support of Allied shipping in the area. The last operational mission of a Beaufort in the Indian Ocean took part on 15th July 1944 when some airplanes of No. 217 Squadron flew a patrol. Although this unit kept the Beauforts in inventory until early September. 

In the late war, on the British isles the last units to operate the Beaufort were Nos. 51 and 54 Operational Training Units (OTU), two Flying Instructors' Schools and No.1 Ferry Unit.

The Beaufort was also used as an experimental platform and trainer. In fact, for most of the war Beaufort-equipped OTUs undertook al flying and armament tuition except for almost all of the torpedo dropping, which was performed by Nos. 1 and 2 Torpedo Training Units. The Beaufort also proved to be a good training platform for night-fighting OTUs. 

The last 121 exemplars of the Beaufort Mk.IIA were completed as trainers, using stock-pilled parts. Other machines, which were operational, were converted, during the late-war to trainers. One hundred Beauforts served also with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) mainly as trainers. 

The Beaufort also served as the platform for some experimental modifications such as new turret types, new ASV radars and a new airborne flamethrower designed to deter enemy fighters from rear attacks. However, this idea didn't prosper. 

Sources:

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Beaufort

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bristol_Beaufort_operators

3 Hall Park Books - Warpaint 50 - Bristol Beaufort