Bristol Beaufighter sad news.
 

Sadly I hear that the last gasp of a Bristol Beaufighter has come to an end. A few chaps at RAF Duxford have been working for over 15 years to get one up again. After all their efforts, money, time etc etc has run out. Isn't there a person out there with a shed load of money they won't spend in their lifetime to fund one. Sadly not me!!!

It's been on the market for ages, the main problem as I understand it from things people have said, it is a lack of suitable engines, there are Hercules and there are Hercules engines, unfortunately those that survive are the wrong type, rotation and I think would move the prop forward or aft.. Hence a no go.

Don't quote me on it, but that's what I heard.

Hope the airframe is saved though. Great shame it will not (apparently) be seen flying. Maybe get Peter Jackson interested..................

Vortex,
It's the TFC Beau at IWM Duxford. The team have tried for years to get the correct mark of engine for the aircraft; their efforts were impacted a few years back when changes to Flight Crew Licensing meant the Company's principal was no longer permitted to fly/display twins - hence the Mosquito project was disposed of and the Beau was slowed down and put up for sale. With the retirement from display flying of the principal it is inevitable that the collection will be further rationalised - the P47 has already gone.

It's not all bad news; the Moorabin Beau has turned its props over recently, the ARCO Blenheim nears (another..) first flight and there's a Beaufort on short finals to fly 'down under'.

The issue, as I understand it, is getting a Design Authority to approve a change in mark of Hercules engine (and the costs of the one-off mods...) or a change to US engines. Without approval, and with the correct mark of Hercules very scarce, it's going to take a lot of money to get her airborne again. Ultimately, she doesn't have the appeal to most of a Mosquito.

She does to me.

I'd love to see and hear a Beaufighter flying.

A Mosquito is a wonderful thing, but a Beaufighter? One notch up.:ok:

Second that...

Is one of the Beaufighter's mentioned above the ex-RAF Halton engine running demonstrator? Last known as G-DINT prior to shipment down-under?

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2489/5...3f13f7d765.jpg

Here she is with original engines and props...

Link only due to size http://forum.keypublishing.com/attac...5&d=1379608166

Mind you not all Beau's had Hercs in them, some had Merlin's, though I bet you would have problems swapping them in the UK, more chance stateside though.

There were Lancasters with Hercules engines, but they just do not fit the legend.

There were Beaus with Merlins and Beaus with gun turrets, but they are not worth reconstructing for the same reason. Wikipedia tells us that the Beaus were "Whispering Death" only if they had Hercules engines.

I happen to be reading "The Long Road to the Sky - Night Fighter Over Germany" by Graham White, and he makes it clear that the Beaufighter II with the Merlin engines was a nasty aeroplane which was underpowered, and took off in ever-decreasing circles. The accident record was so bad they took it out of front-line units and - against all logic - sent them to training stations! Apparently 337 were built and 102 crashed - 2 due to enemy action and one shot down by the Americans...

Without Big Bristols, it just wouldn't be a Beau...

There's a pair of engines (unrestored) on display at East Fortune.

The Beaufighter wreckage displayed with them is never going to fly, so surely this pair could be rebuilt for the Duxford a/c- assuming the parts are still available?

Mind you, if it was that easy.....:uhoh:

The pilot notes would give the impression that ALL Beaus were nasty aeroplanes. So unstable were they that the notes recommend that cloud or night flying not be indulged in, and that also applied to those fitted with the dihedral tailplane, which was meant to increase stability. Yet they was used as a night fighters. Oddly, crews of the night fighter preferred the more unstable flat tailplane.

All the Merlin production (450, not including 2 prototypes) were built as night fighters, and served first with 600, 406 and 205 Squadrons. The Merlin was introduced in fear of the Hercules production being too stretched for the bombers. While the Merlin only gave 1,250 HP v Hercules 1,400 HP Mk.IF, on take off, the Merlin gave more at altitude. The Hercules finally ended with a rating of 1,735 HP.

The unbuilt Mk. IV with a proposed slim fuselage and Griffon engines would have been something to see.

An Australian Beaufighter was fitted with Wright R-2600's [1700hp] out of a B-25 Mitchell. Test were good but the supply of Hercs put paid to that project. RAAF 456 Sqn flew Merlin Mk 11F's in UK as night fighters too...

Give it to Avspecs/re-register it in NZ. Their CAA seems much more pro aviation than our rule driven one - witness KA114 (rebuilt Mosquito) that apparently cannot be put on the UK register because there is no design authority for it either; however it seems to be complete (if not better) in all respects.

Or John Caudwell?

"All the Merlin production (450, not including 2 prototypes) were built as night fighters, and served first with 600, 406 and 205 Squadrons."

Definitely not 205. Typo for 255?

AtomKraft/BH,

I agree that the Whispering Death is a more beautiful warplane than the Mossie.

My father was on 25 Squadron during the early years in WW2 and worked on Hercules engined Beaus for sure but I seem to remember him saying that they had some Merlin engined aircraft that were so bad they were removed from the squadron very promptly.

He is 94 now but I took him to Duxford back in 2003 and he got chatting with the chap working on the Beau and was allowed to climb the ladder and see inside the cockpit. It was amazing the way his memory kicked in and started reeling off what all the various bits and bobs were for. The smile on his face as he relived his days looking after the Beaufighters was wonderful to see and I really don't have the heart to tell him that he is unlikely to see a Beaufighter flying again in the UK.

BHR

Not sure if the Beau' is more beautiful, but it certainly has 'that certain something'...

A sort of pugnacious, brutish strength that's not really so evident in the Mossie.

Many years ago, at Strathallan, the old museum there had a loop showing the antics of the Banff Strike Wing.

They probably dubbed the sound on- and it was Mosquitos as well as Beaufighters- but no-one could fail to be impressed.

You can find odds and sods on youtube, but the quality is poor. Maybe Pathe news have it.

Wonderful footage.

I had a look at the Duxford Beau last month, and the work they've done looks really good. Very airworthy. :ok:

Atom,
It looks very airworthy as the restoration has been done to airworthy specs; doesn't help when there's no available engines restorable within a budget. Much like the prospects of Kermit's Tempest V ever flying with a Napier Sabre up front.....

I would like nothing more than to see a Beau whisper past in 27 Sqn markings - but it's not as fixed in the wider public's consciousness as the Mosquito (probably thanks to those awful 1960s films and the Amiens raid....) and there are simply not the same number of 'donor' airframes around - therefore not enough demand for a 'cottage industry' to spring up and support the project.

Vortex,
I've not seen any recent pronouncement from TFC re the Beau - have they formally stopped work and decided to finish as a static only?