Aircraft – Defiant

This watercolor of the Boulton-Paul Defiant fighter is a copy of a photo appearing in the Air Ministry publication ‘Aircraft of the Fighting Powers Volume 1′, published in 1940 by Harborough Publishing Co., Leicester, England. We assume that Des, or someone else in the camp, had a copy.

Boulton Paul Defiant

‘The Defiant was designed to engage enemy bombers. When first encountered in battle, it was a very nasty shock to German aircraft trying to sneak up behind it. The four turret mounted machine guns of the Defiant provided a very rude awakening. However, its deficiencies – lack of  maneuverability compared with the single-seat fighters – soon became apparent and high losses caused it to be reassigned to the night fighter role. Another role it took on was of air sea rescue. For this role, dinghies were carried under each wing and were dropped to survivors.’

Source: httpwww.fortsiloso.com thanks to Peter Stubbs and Graham Bettany