Aussie Beaus

Beaufreighter going well. It is at least as good as a lot of mainstream kits.
There a couple of photos on the net. Just Google and go through the results.
The management of High Planes have also been very helpful.
Anyone wanting more info please contact.
Dai

Australian experience found that by increasing fin and rudder area by 15.5%, the problem was fixed. This information was made available to Bristol in late 1941 and the subsequent British built aircraft were so rectified.

Are you sure? I thought that only the Aussie Beauforts had the enlarged fin and rudder.

Best wishes
Steve P

………I am building the High Planes 1/72 injection limited run kit and was hunting for photos,
especialy of the undercarriage, when I ran accross this site.
About 46 were built, 1 silver the rest RAAF Foliage green overall.
Dai

This one folks……..

Guday and Greetings from Hazelbrook in the Blue Mountains.
Yes the Beaufreighter was an Australian development of the Beaufort MkIX.
The term Beaufreighter was unofficial but stuck.
I am building the High Planes 1/72 injection limited run kit and was hunting for photos,
especialy of the undercarriage, when I ran accross this site.
About 46 were built, 1 silver the rest RAAF Foliage green overall.
Dai

Hi Wombat,
Aussie development if I recall correctly. I’ve seen a few pics – a long time ago – in Stewart Wilson’s book, and some of the Kookaburra publications, IIRC. Only a few were built I think. Er… That’s all I kno. Anyone else?

Yep, BeauFREIGHTER

Ja/JDK

That’s correct – I was referring to the converted Beafort with the high rear fuselage and faired over turret opening. I think I’ve only ever seen one photo and a vacuum formed plastic kit a few years ago – until I saw the kit, I’d never heard of the ‘freighter. Was it an Australian development or British?

Regards

Wombat

Hi,

Photos of Israeli Beaufighters are extremely rare. I certainly haven’t seen that one before.

Alex

I think he Meant BeaFREIGHTER – the Beaufort sans turret, plus high back…

Look again Wombie, see where it says Beaufighters 😉

Would like to see other pics if anyone has any

Ja

Nice shots – got any of the Beaufreighter?

Wombat

Thanks Wombie, Just spicing up the forum with some3 Aussie talk, but I always find that no one really talks about these planes.

There aren’t too many pics of Beauforts around are there?

And here are some of Beaufighters

Ja

After reading your post, I consulted Armed and Ready, a reference book I have found invaluable with questions such as this.

Owing to the difficulty in getting the necessary components from Britain under wartime conditions, the APC was forced to seek many parts from the USA, which led to problems due to the differing manufacturing techniques between the UK and the USA.

During its early experience with the Beaufort, the RAAF found that it had a tendency to yaw and roll, which Bristol knew about but had failed to properly address. Australian experience found that by increasing fin and rudder area by 15.5%, the problem was fixed. This information was made available to Bristol in late 1941 and the subsequent British built aircraft were so rectified.

Other problems with the Beaufort arose because it was a cold-climate aircraft and this was addressed during Aussie manufacture. As well as this, other problems needed to be addressed and a total of 1606 parts were modified for Australian use. Some of these changes were to address design inadequacies for Australian use, whilst some were simply Australian manufacturers developing their own techniques for local manufacture.

To quote A.T. Ross, author of Armed and Ready:

“The result of all this was that the Australian Beaufort was not a faithful copy of the British aircraft as originally expected in early 1939. They were significantly different and were in fact probably superior to the British model because, amongst other things, the Twin Row Wasp gave them more power.”

Ja, hope this info is part of what you were looking for.

Regards

Wombat

Beaufort/Beaufighter

The Beaufort was built to a RAF Coastal Command requirement for a Torpedo Bomber to replace the obsolete bi-planes currently in use.

The prototype flew on 15th Oct 1938 with an in-service date with CC in Dec 1939. The RAF operated it in Europe until 1943ish and the last RAF mission was flow by 217Sqn in Ceylon in Apr 1944.

The RAAF started to operate them around May 1941 with an out of service year of 1946.

As for the Beaufighter TF Mk X once again it was in service from 1943 with the RAF as a Beaufort replacement.

The RAAF operated the Mk I, VI, X, XI and the Australian built Mk 21 was operated from May 1944 and was based on the TF Mk X. The biggest changes were the wing guns replaced by 4x .50 Cal MG, Sperry autoplilot (the bumps on the nose) and no torpedo.

The Mk I, VI, X when operating in RAAF markings (off course there were RAF contolled RAAF Sqn’s in Europe) were allocated A19-xxx serials, the Australian built Mk 21’s A8-xxx).

Any comments?