Defiant Rebuild.

[Batchy]

Last weekend I made a fleeting visit down to Rochester to see the RAF Museums Boulton Paul Defiant. As you can see the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society team have already made considerable progress, thankfully the airframe is remarkably complete which will hopefully make the project a little easier.

The engine is also in extremely good condition despite its many years of display at Hendon and storage at various other RAF bases.

I hope to get down to Rochester for a longer visit in the near future to record future progress of this sole survivor.


Batchy.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/woodlands/DefiantWeb2-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v157/woodlands/DefiantWeb1-1.jpg

[kluge]

Great pics - it looks in remarkable condition.

Always thought of the BPDefiant as an inline engined and prettier Roc !

Interesting that BP made both.

[Double Zero]

All my best to the Defiant Team, she'll be a fascinating addition to the show circuit, with the added bonus of maybe taking up fund contributors - if the idea is get airworthy ?

Even allowing for the more serious hurdles in getting into the air, given the choice it's a tough call with a one-off...

If possible I from my comfy chair would say ' fly ' - a grp mock-up is relatively easy to sort out.

[Batchy]

Double Zero,

Unfortunately the restoration of the Defiant is for the RAF Museum and will be to static condition only.

There are rumours of a another Defiant in India as these were used until 1947 by the Indian Air Force as target tugs.

Batchy.

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

I’ve often wondered what the Defiant would have been like as a conventional 8 gun fighter. Without that turret, all the accompanying hydraulics and it’s driver, the performance should have been pretty close to Hurricane standards, at least.

[diesel addict]

Er - Blackburn 'Roc' .... sorta Turret-fighter version of the 'Skua' dive-bomber.

IIRC at least one 'Skua' scored a gun kill, And I am fairly sure no 'Roc' ever did.

[brokenlink]

What about the Defiant with the turret AND 8 Brownings in the wings! Intersting combination. Mind you with all that extra weight I suspect it would have been lucky to get airborne!
Wonder if the Merlin will be run in the one at Rochester?