Beaufighter or Hudson

It is either LZ146 or LX946, both from No 304 Ferry Training Unit at RAF Port Ellen. They crashed on high ground not far from the airfield on the same night, 12 Sept 1943. The accident investigators believed that the crew of one might have flown into high ground while watching the other aircraft burning on the ground. The same night, another Beau was written off in a heavy landing. It caught fire but prompt action by the station fire party allowed the crew to escape.

The quite substantial remains of Firefly WB336 of 717 Sqdn are also on Islay. Crashed on a training flight from Eglinton 25/9/51.

The engine mount ring, induction pipe serving two cylinders and the carburettor make it an early Hercules.
The fuselage piece comes from a Beaufighter and is directly behind the pilot. The large hole is where the DF loop protruded and the fasteners held the perspex cover over the loop. The hole just above the skin joint line is the fuel tank vent.

Larger Pics

The reason I think its a Bea is that a nearby airfield (Glenegadale) once operated Beafighters and presumably lost some locally.

As an intimate Hudson person those are not Wright cylinders but equally knowing Hercules engines pretty well they are some variant therefof. The flat heads of the cylinders and the studs etc confiirm that

please post larger pics!

Galdri… I agree with you to a point… could be any sleave-valve engined aircraft. However, I think you forget that some Beaufighter variants were also equipped as torpedo bombers as well, which very much puts it in the anti-shipping bomber-type.

Cheers,
Richard

Hi Nimroddy,

It would help if we had bigger pics!

There are some good engine photos here on Wikipedia including this Taurus…

Well, in the pictures is a sleeve valve radial, so that pretty much rules out the Hudson. However, why would it be a Beaufighter ? A Hudson is a bomber/anti-shipping machine, making the assumtion it is a Beaufighter does not really make sense! If it was a bomber/ anti shipping machine of some sorts (and the locals identify it as Hudson), why couldn’t it have been a Beaufort? It used Bristol Taurus sleeve valve engines?

You have to give the local folklore one thing, they might not be right about the exacact type, but, they would certainly know whether it was a bomber or a fighter. If we take that debate all the way till the end, it might have been any bomber with a sleeve valve engine in it. On the other hand, since they identified it as a Hudson, which was generally speaking, a ship/sub hunter, I would bet my money on it being something working along similar lines. Only two types come to mind, the Wellington and the Beaufort, with the Beaufort the likely candidate.

Can’t open your images, but the engine is definately sleeve valve radial, almost certainly a Hercules thus pointing to the Beaufighter hunch.

One of the resident Beaufighter experts may be able to confirm on the panel.