The main problem was that propellent that ended up in them was the one of original choice. That would have made it more accurate but also created too much of a flare/flash. This affected the pilots vision. There's quite a good summary of this in one of my books - just can't remember which one at the moment.
I'm getting older, my bones are creaking, my memory is shot to pieces........but I get there in the end. From The Strike Wings - Special Anti-Shipping Squadron 1942-45 by Roy Nesbit (OK, I know I'm going senile because I'd forgotten I had the book!)
Showing off your Nesbit collection now? Good post, interesting to know the motor was simply a charge. Makes sense really. Easy to make.
Australian Archives digitised copy of the report entitled Torpedo Reconnaissance Aircraft (Beaufighter Attack Aircraft) You may need to take the day off for this one - there are 310 pages of documents, notes and minutes!! http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=199208&I=1&SE=1
Same source as above: Armament Trials Beaufighter M21 Aircraft (Beaufighter MK XXI) Service Trials 1944-45 The interesting stuff starts in page 12 (of 75) http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=199359&I=1&SE=1
Another one in the archives: Beaufighter aircraft - armament specifications (258 pages) http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=3192692&I=1&SE=1
Nowhere near comprehensive re survivors but the two Camden Beaus are rarely seen so it's a pleasure to run your eyes over these few pics! http://www.warbirdregistry.org/beaufighterregistry/beaufighterregistry.html Hopefully post more detail of survivors in a sec. I can think of another four off the top of my head!
http://www.em.com.pg/PNG/Paradisearticles1/Finding Beaufighter A19-130.htm Awesome, didn't know about this one!
Great article/find Andy. A well written description - too often one just reads something along the lines of "put on gear, dived down, found wreck of aircraft. Don't know what it wasbut looked old".
Very good article! It is always interesting to read about the various crash sites, but this one combines a good story with good scenery!
And ends with Andy wondering how hard it'd be to recover an aircraft in his "backyard" rather than in Russia! Now to find the winner of the $15 million the other day...
This is the survivor list from Wikipedia. It does not include the aircraft owned by HARS in Sydney or Guy Black (?) in the UK. Ooh, and the South Africans have one too! The National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio has completed the restoration of a rare Beaufighter Mk I. The aircraft is displayed as the USAAF Beaufighter flown by Capt. Harold Augspurger, commander of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, who shot down an He 111 carrying German staff officers in September 1944. The Beaufighter went on display on 18 October 2006. The Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon, London, UK has a Beaufighter TF X on display along with a Bristol Hercules engine. The Canada Aviation Museum presently is storing Beaufighter TF X RAF serial RD867 for future restoration. The museum aircraft is a semi-complete RAF restoration with no engines, cowlings or internal components, received in exchange for a Bristol Bolingbroke on 10 September 1969. A privately owned Beaufighter is currently undergoing a lengthy restoration in the UK. Its owner hopes to eventually restore it to flying condition. (Edit- this is The Fighter Collection one presently up for sale) There are two Beaufighter Mk XXI aircraft on static display in museums in Australia, one at Moorabbin[2] and the other at Camden. The Midland Air Museum, Coventry, England has a Beaufighter cockpit section on public display. Its identity is thought possibly to be T5298.
The Canadian Aviation Museum one. Click on the additional photos button down the bottom! http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/collections/artifacts/aircraft/BristolBeaufighterTFX.shtml
Recent discovery: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3897/is_200106/ai_n9002453 There was another in 1995: http://www.pacificghosts.com.au/priam/view_recovery.asp?id=6
Forgot about this. Not sure if South Africa still has a Beau. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3901/is_200101/ai_n8929238
