Re; the Beaufort/Beaufighter, from Wikipedia:
The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter, often referred to as simply the Beau, was a British long-range heavy fighter derivative of the Bristol Aeroplane Company’s earlier Beaufort torpedo bomber design. The name Beaufighter is a portmanteau of “Beaufort” and “fighter”.
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The idea of a fighter development of the Beaufort was suggested to the Air Ministry by Bristol. The suggestion coincided with the delays in the development and production of the Westland Whirlwind cannon-armed twin-engine fighter.[2] Bristol made proposals of a fixed four-cannon version and a turret fighter with twin cannons; the former was preferred by the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff. As a torpedo bomber and “general reconnaissance” aircraft the Beaufort had moderate performance but for fighter-like performance Bristol suggested their new Hercules engines in place of the Beaufort’s Taurus (another Bristol engine).
Since the “Beaufort Cannon Fighter” was a conversion of an existing design, development and production could be expected far more quickly than with a completely fresh design. Accordingly, the Air Ministry produced draft Specification F.11/37 written around Bristol’s suggestion for an “interim” aircraft pending proper introduction of the Whirlwind. Bristol started building a prototype by taking a part-built Beaufort out of the production line. This conversion would speed the process – Bristol had promised series production in early 1940 on the basis of an order being placed in February 1939 – and the Ministry ordered two prototypes from the line and two built from scratch. Although it had been expected that maximum re-use of Beaufort components would speed the process, the fuselage needed more work than expected and had to be completely redesigned.[3] As such the first prototype flew for the first time on 17 July 1939, a little more than eight months after the design had started, possibly due to the use of much of the Beaufort’s design and parts. A production contract for 300 machines “off the drawing board” had already been placed two weeks before the prototype F.17/39 even flew.
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