Boulton Paul Defiant Mk I

My 7th model of lockdown is the unsung and misunderstood aircraft, the Boulton Paul Defiant, inspired by last week's 80th anniversary of Dunkirk. The paint scheme of this model reflects that which adorned L7013 PS-U of No. 264 Squadron based at RAF Manston and which took part in both the the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation and Battle of Britain.

The Defiant, nicknamed "Daffy"by RAF pilots, was a single engined interceptor aircraft which very much resembled the Hawker Hurricane. It was designed to intercept bombers flying from Germany beyond the range of fighters; no one had thought at the time that Germany would have access to airfields just 30 miles across the Channel!

Powered by the Spitfire famed Rolls Royce Merlin, the Defiant's principal armament was a dorsal turret, equipped with four 0.303 in Browning machine guns. The Brownings were electrically fired and insulated cut-off points in the turret ring prevented the guns firing when they were pointing at the propeller disc or tailplane. The gunner could rotate the turret directly forward and transfer firing control of the guns to the pilot, with the guns firing along each side of the cockpit canopy; this was, however, rarely done as the turret's minimum forward elevation was 19° and the pilot did not have a gunsight!

The gunner's hatch was in the rear of the turret, which had to be rotated to the side for entry and exit. In the event of electrical failure, not uncommon in combat, the turret was locked in position and many a gunner was lost being unable to bail out! An interesting factoid regarding the gunner's parachute was that there was not enough room in the turret for the gunner to wear a seat-type or back pack parachute so they were provided with a special all-in-one garment nicknamed the "rhino suit"!

The first operational sortie of the Defiant was on 12 May1940. Two weeks later, between 26 May and 3 June 1940, No. 264 squadron's Defiants played a key role, flying from their base at RAF Manston to support the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk. Its primary mission was the destruction of enemy bombers while Hurricanes and Spitfires flew above to take on the fighters.

The Defiant was initially very successful against enemy aircraft, having its best day on 29 May, when No. 264 Squadron claimed 38 kills in two sorties, a record held to this day. However, The lack of forward-firing armament proved to be a great weakness in daylight combat and by 31 August, two months into the Battle of Britain, over half the delivered Defiants had been shot down by Luftwaffe aircraft, a rate that was deemed to be unacceptable. So from September 1940 onwards, just 4 months after it came into service, the Defiant converted to primarily a night fighter role.

The Times - 26 May 2020

Comparing the stats of the Hurricane, Spitfire and Defiant are however fascinating and a new book by author Robert Verkaik: "the untold story of the Battle of Britain", argues that standard accounts have underplayed the successes of the Defiant and disregarded leadership decisions influencing its later underperformance. Verkaik suggests with proper fighter protection, the Luftwaffe might have lost more bombers to the Defiant's unique gunnery system and more quickly than it did. I can see me adding this to my library.

By 1942 the Defiant was outdated as a fighter and was withdrawn from combat to be used for training, target towing, electronic countermeasures and air-sea rescue and my final factoid: On 11 May 1945, Martin-Baker used a Defiant to test their first ejection seat with dummy launches!