#WW2 #RAF Not Very Good Aircraft Flown By The Royal Air Force In The Second World War

We are always told how great the Supermarine Spitfire was in the Second World War, how Adolf Galland told Goering that he wanted a squadron for his men.  What we don't often see is the bad aircraft the RAF had to fly, especially in the early years of the war.So I thought I would put together some facts about some of them here.

The Boulton Paul Defiant, the Fairey Battle, the Blackburn Gotha and the Hawker Typhoon, just some of the aircraft that were not designed for the Second World War.

The Boulton Paul Defiant

Boulton Paul Defiant found at:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Boulton_Paul_Defiant_Mk_I_in_flight.jpg

This was a tragic design. An aircraft designed to attack bomber formations without a forward firing machine gun or cannon. It is a shame nobody mentioned it may be attacked by fighters. The Defiant had a turret with four .303 machine guns and a crew of two. Due to the aircraft's poor manoeverablity and vulnerability to a frontal attack, it was withdrawn from daylight operations and became a night fighter.

Crew -2

Max Speed- 315mph at 16,500 ft.

Range- 465 miles.

Armament-4 Browning .303 machine guns in turret with 600 rounds per gun.

PLEASE NOTE, I AM CURRENTLY RESEARCHING INFORMATION ABOUT HOW SUCCESSFUL THE DEFIANT WAS IN SHOOTING DOWN ENEMY PLANES - WATCH THIS SPACE & KNEE JERK REACTION FROM THE AIR MINISTRY WHICH LED TO IT BEING TAKEN OUT OF FRONT LINE DUTIES 1940 WATCH THIS SPACE PLEASE

The Fairey Battle

Fairey Battle, image found at:http://www.svida.cz/horrido/fairey/battles.jpg

Again, like the Boulton-Paul Defiant, the Fairey Battle was hopelessly outclassed by the time it met with enemy aircraft. The best feature was a forward firing machine gun, it was better than nothing. Losses in the Battle of France were heavy, particularly in the raids on the Maastricht bridges and Luxembourg.The aircraft was hopelessly underpowered by one Rolls Royce Merlin engine, see specifications below.

Crew - 2

Max Speed - 241 mph.

Range - 795 miles.

Armament - One aft firing Vickers machine gun and one Browning .303 forward. It also carried a 1000lb bombload.

After being retired from active service the Fairey battle was used for training, mainly target tugs and gunnery.

Blackburn Botha

                                         Blackburn Botha, image found at:http://www.newzeal.com/aviation/BL/BlackburnBotha2.jpg

Testing of the Blackburn Botha  showed some serious failings; it had poor stability and virtually non-existent vision from ether side due to the engines and also poor vision to the rear. Whoever designed this aircraft for an Air Ministry requirement of a 3/4 seater aircraft, twin engined, suitable for torpedo bombing and reconnaissance was maybe paid by the Luftwaffe? It was powered by a Perseus X engine of 880hp. In practice the aircraft proved to be underpowered and unstable resulting in fatal crashes. Strangely enough, the Botha was withdrawn from frontline service and was used as a trainer, resulting in more fatalities.

Crew -3

Max Speed- 249 mph.

Range- 1270 miles.

Armament-3 - .303 machine guns. Torpedo, mines or bombs up to 2000lbs.

The Hawker Typhoon

                                                  Hawker Typhoons, found at:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/56_Sqn-1.jpg

I can hear people asking, why has this dude put the Hawker Typhoon in this poxy list? Well, there's one reason and it's a good one. When the Typhoon went into a steep dive, the tail sometimes detached itself from the rest of the aircraft. It may have been an excellent tank buster, but the Typhoon had such a bad reputation that pilots were forcibly transferred from fighter squadrons to fly Typhoons. To the best of my knowledge there are no Typhoons flying today, maybe that's a good thing.

Crew - 1

Max Speed - 412 mph.

Range - 510 mph.

Armament - 8 rockets, 4x20 mm cannon, 2x 500lb or 2 x 1000lb bombs.