Tuesday, 20 May 2025

Bristol Beaufighter, part two. The Beaufighter in Dominican Republic.

 

The Bristol Beaufighter Mk. VI was a Hercules-powered variant of the Bristol Beaufighter. The Mk. VIF variant was equipped with the Al Mk. VIII radar and was exported to Dominican Republic. 
In 1948 ten Beaufighter TF. Mk. X (TF stands for 'Torpedo Fighter') were stripped of their torpedo release gear, being  modified back to the Mk. VIF variant, to be sold to the Dominican Military Aviation Corps ('Cuerpo de Aviación del Ejército Nacional' in Spanish). 
The Beaufighters, which were equipped with Al Mk. VIII radars installed inside a nose radome and had underwing rocket launcher equipment, received a three-digit serial numbers from the Dominican Air Corps, those being from 306 to 315, with the sole exception of No. 309 which was previously RD432. All of them were assigned to the 'Escuadrón de Caza-Bombardeo' (Fighter-Bomber Squadron)
The Dominican Beaufighters were employed in combat for the first time on 14th June 1949  (though, according to some other sources, it was on 20th June) when, together with two Dominican de Havilland Mosquitoes, attacked a Consolidated Catalina and two ships belonging to Dominican exiles at Luperón bay which were trying to disembark and overthrow the Dominican President Leonidas Trujillo.  Anyway, the Beaufighters strafed and destroyed the Catalina with fifteen men inside which were forced down off Puerto Plata the previous day. 
The last three flyable Dominican Beaufighters were written off from frontline service in June 1954 (although, according to some sources it wasn't until 1958), with the remaining ones having been stripped to provide spare parts.







Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Beaufighter
2nd https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuerza_Aérea_de_República_Dominicana (translated)
3rd Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 153 - Bristol Beaufighter in Action

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