Bristol Beaufort. Part Two. Australian users, part one.

 

Back in May 1938 the Australian Government declined the acquisition of the Bristol Blenheim due to its impending obsolescence. Therefore, an alternative was requested and the Beaufort was recommended during August. and, by December 1939 a pact was signed for manufacturing 250 Beauforts in Australia both intended for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the Royal Air Force (RAF).

On 21st October 1939 the third production Beaufort was shipped to Australia to serve as a pattern, together with another 20 set of parts. The pattern Beaufort didn't arrive until April 1940, delaying that way the programme though. The manufacturing process was controlled by the Aircraft Construction Branch of the Department of Supply and Development, which was set up back in July 1939. In March 1940 it was replaced by the Aircraft Production Commission and, eventually in June 1941 it became the Department of Aircraft Production (DAP) controlling all of the government and private companies and factories where the Beaufort would be manufactured, including Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) and De Havilland Australia. 

A whole production chain was set up all throughout Australia and the first order of 90 machines, placed in July 1941, were intended for RAF squadrons Nos. 36 and 100 in the Far East with another 90 machines for the RAAF.

The Fall of Singapore in February 1942 changed matters and every machine intended for the RAF, was sent to the RAAF instead. DAP considered to fit their Beaufort with Bristol Taurus engines, but the embargo set by the British Government on the export of strategic materials, made it impossible, so DAP decided to fit their not-completed-yet Beauforts with Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp radial engines, delaying the completion of the first DAP Beaufort until 5th May 1941, when it flew for the first time. 

During testing it was noted that one machine had too much oscillation in roll and yaw. These problems could be serious if not corrected by rudder and the instability could be worsened a lot if the rudder or aileron was disturbed slightly, specially during turns, rolls, level flights or climbs. This problem, together with other associated disturbances, were fixed by adding additional dihedral to the tailplane, reducing this way the disturbances to acceptable levels. By 1942 the Beaufort was given highest priority rating for the RAAF and, eventually, 700 machines were manufactured locally. 

The first Australian Beauforts were built as Mk.II and were later redesignated as Mk.Vs. Other variants were introduced, as substantial changes were made in the engines and propellers. The Mk.VI was powered by Twin-Wasp S1C3-G engines, the Mk.VII was fitted with different propeller types than the Mk.VI and the Mk.VA was fitted with Twin-Wasp S3C4-G engines. 

The most numerous variant was the Mk.VIII, which was powered by the Twin-Wasp S3C4-G and was equipped with later Blenheim-type turret and the twin forward-firing Vickers K guns, which were also retrofitted to older models. Australian Beauforts were also fitted with special racks to carry the American Bliss-Leavit torpedo and the Browning chin gun instead of the Vickers K. 

To be continued.

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