The Beaufighter Mk. VI was an improved variant of the regular Beaufighter thanks to the better Bristol Hercules VI engines, which had an increased output of 1,670 hp and that by late 1941 there were enough engines to put the new variant, the Mk. VI, into production. Powered by the new engines, the top speed of the Beaufighter rose to 333 mph (536 km/h) at 15,600 ft (4.754 m) high with a cruising speed of 243 mph (391 km/h).
The airframe received some minor modifications too, the most visible one being the installation of a single defensive Vickers .303 inch K gun in the observer's canopy. This cockpit had to be reinforced and redesigned by framing to place the gun mount. Underwing bomb racks were also introduced and the horizontal tail plane was modified with 12 degree of dihedral.
The Mk. VIC (the letter 'C' stands for 'Coastal') had also extra fuel capacity thanks to its extra wing fuel tanks which gave the type a range of 1,810 miles (2.912 km), while the standard Mk. VIF had a range of 1,480 miles (2.382 km). The suffixes F and C meant the role the variant was intended for, on one hand Mk. VIF (the letter 'F' stands for 'Fighter') was faster at higher altitude, where the extra speed was important, specially when the airframe was adapted to fit the centimetric AI Mk. VI of Mk. VII radar sets in the elongated 'thimble' nose radome.
On the other hand, those built for the Coastal Command sought for lower altitude performance, as their attacks took place below 500 feet (152 m) or even lower. This made Bristol to crop the impellers and lock the blowers of the Hercules VI engine, which lead to the creation of the Hercules XVII radial engine variant, which gave a considerable performance boost at low levels.
The transition from both the Mk. IF and the Mk. IIF to the Mk. VIF was gradual, so there is not a definite date to pinpoint when the earlier versions went out of date and the new ones took over. This meant that the Mk. VIF flew side-by-side both with the Mk. I & II in the night fighter roles.
The first successful interception of a Mk. VIF was performed by the Fighter Interception Unit (FIU) when they claimed a Dornier Do. 217 shot down on 5th April 1942, being No. 68 Squadron the first operational unit of the Royal Air Force (RAF) to be equipped with the Mk. VIF in March 1942. This was followed by Nos. 604 and 219 squadrons, out of a total of twenty-two fighter squadrons based in the United Kingdom.
Most squadrons operated the Mk I & IIF in the night fighter role, but during mid-1942 the De Havilland Mosquito night fighter started to be available in numbers, so the Beaufighter was released from home defence duties and was sent to serve overseas. Squadrons. Those squadrons not re-equipped with the Mosquito, were sent to the North African Theatre to support Operation Torch in November 1942. During the Battle for Tunisia a Beaufighter shot down five German Junkers Ju.52 in just ten minutes on 20th April 1943.
Operating from Malta, the Beaufighter could reach almost every point in the Mediterranean Theatre. Albeit initially there were only Mk. IF squadrons based there, those were soon replaced by the Mk. VIF and they were joined by two additional squadrons.
Overall, in every theatre of war, the Beaufighter proved useful as a night fighter and also as other capabilities, such as a strike fighter, where, acting in the Far East, became very popular among its crews thanks to its ruggedness and reliability, albeit being heavy to control and not easy to fly.
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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