Tuesday, 23 September 2025

Bristol Beaufighter, part fifteen. Beaufighter TF.X

 

Initially, just like the Mk. VI, the Mk. X was at first a designation employed to distinguish Coastal Command Mk. VIs powered by the Hercules XVII engines modified for low altitude attacks. The Mk. X, which was the successor to the Mk. VI on the factory lines in May 1943, had the centimetric AI Mks. VII or VIII radar installed inside a thimble nose radome.
Thanks to its heavy armament and its ability to perform a wide variety of roles, the Mk. X became a true multipurpose aircraft which served the Royal Air Force (RAF) well for the rest of the war. 
Alternatively to the torpedo for anti-shipping strikes, the Mk. X could also carry two 500 pound (227 Kg) under the fuselage plus one 250 pound (114 Kg) under each wing. A 200 gallon (909 L) drop tank could also replace the torpedo on the central fuselage rack.
Late production variants of the Mk. X had a prominent dorsal fin extension carried forward almost to the observer's cupola, and the wings stressed (taken from a proposed Mk. XII bomber version) to take a 1,000 pound (454 Kg) bomb on each side outboard of the engine nacelles. 
In total, 2.205 Beaufighters Mk. X were manufactured, with the last aircraft being delivered on 21st September 1945 with SR919 as serial number.








Sources:
1st Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 153 - Bristol 'Beaufighter' in Action

2nd Scale Aircraft Modelling - Modellers Datafile 6 - Bristol Beaufighter
3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Beaufighter

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