Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:38 am Post subject: Official Information of British Fighters by the Site Owner
Fighters
Hawker Hurricane
A Famous RAF Aircraft of WW2.It fought the German forces in the battle of France in 1940 then later became a war hero in the Battle of Britain.36 Sqaudrons opereted this formidable aircraft more than 60% fighter commands strength.It was designed by Sidney Camm in 1934 and the prototype flew intially in 1935. It was able to carry bombs a 40mm wing cannon and even early rockets.Over 14,500 marks of hurrincanes were built.They were powered by a 1280 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin XX engine giving it a top speed of 400mph.
Supermarine Spitfire
The Spitfire was said to be the best pistoned engine of WW2 but could be debateable.The RAF and many of its allies used this great plane.It had seen action in all theatres of the war.More than 20,300 examples of all variants were built.It was greatly used in The Battle of Britain.Its armorment consisted of two 20 mm cannon and four .303 machine guns.The top speed of the Spitfire was over 500mph and the fastest speed ever recorded was 606mph but the prop could not stand the speed and the gearbox broke but the pilot glided it back to earth.
Hawker Typhoon
The Typhoon was a British single-seat strike fighter, produced by Hawker Aviation starting in 1941. Intended as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane in the interceptor role, it suffered from performance problems, but eventually evolved into one of World War II's most successful ground attack aircraft.The first production Mk.IA was delivered in May 1941 with twelve Browning .303 guns, but this was followed quickly with the Mk.IB with four Hispano 20 mm cannons.The Typhoon would however become much more famous armed with four "60 lb" RP-3 rockets under each wing—the so-called "Rocketphoons". In October 1943, 181 Squadron made the first Typhoon rocket strikes.
Bristol Beaufighter
The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter, often referred to as simply the Beau, was a long-range heavy fighter modification of the Bristol Aeroplane Company's earlier Beaufort torpedo bomber design. Unlike the Beaufort, the Beaufighter had a long career and served in almost all theatres of war, first as a night fighter, then as a strike fighter, and eventually replaced the Beaufort as a torpedo bomber.The bomb-bay was dispensed with, and a forward-firing armament of four Hispano 20 mm cannons was mounted in the lower fuselage area.The earlier Taurus engines were replaced by the much-improved Hercules, whose extra power presented problems with vibration. In the end they were mounted on longer, more flexible struts, which stuck out from the front of the wings.
Bristol Blenheim
The Bristol Blenheim was a high-speed light bomber used extensively in the early days of World War II, built by Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was the first British aircraft to have an all-metal stressed skin construction and one of the first to utilize retractable landing gear, flaps, powered gun turret, and variable-pitch propellers.
It carried a crew of three – pilot, navigator/bombardier and gunner/wireless operator – and was armed with a forward firing 0.303-in machine-gun in the left wing root and a 0.303-in (7.7-mm) machine-gun in a semi-retracting dorsal turret firing to the rear. A 1,000-lb (454-kg) bombload was carried in the internal bay.
D.H Mosquito
The de Havilland Mosquito ("The Wooden Wonder", also known as "The Timber Terror") was a military aircraft that excelled in a number of roles during World War II. It was a twin-engine aircraft with the pilot and navigator sitting side by side. Unorthodox in design, it used a plywood structure of spruce and balsa in a time when wooden construction was considered outdated. It was powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Merlin engines.The Mosquito was conceived as a fast day bomber that could outrun fighter defences and hence dispensed with defensive armament; however, owing to its speed, agility and its exceptional durability due to its wooden design, it was also used as a fighter. The fighter versions used a flat windshield to aid sighting. Its various roles included tactical bomber, pathfinder, day or night fighter, fighter-bomber, intruder, maritime strike or photo-reconnaissance aircraft. It served with the RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, USAAF and Israeli Air Force, plus the air forces of Belgium, Burma, China, Czechoslovakia, France, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, Sweden, Turkey, Yugoslavia and the Dominican Republic.
During much of the war the Mosquito was one of the fastest aircraft in the sky on either side, and one of the most manoeuvrable - in mock combats it could climb faster and turn more quickly than a Spitfire.
Gloster Gladiator
The Gloster Gladiator was a biplane fighter, used by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy (as well as a number of other air forces), during World War II. The aircraft had a top speed of around 414 km/h. Gladiators were also modified for carrier operations and flown by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) as the Sea Gladiator. It was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft.
It had an enclosed, single-seat cockpit, cantilever landing gear and a 2-blade fixed-pitch propeller driven by a Bristol Mercury air-cooled engine. A total of 756 airframes were built (480 RAF, 60 RN; 216 exported to 13 countries). Gladiators were sold to Belgium, China, Egypt, Finland, Free French, Greece, Iraq, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, South Africa and Sweden.It was armed with Two o.303in. Browning machine-guns on sides of front fusalage, and one beneth each lower wing.
If there is any fighter you think is missing just post under this post
Last edited by luke481 on Sat Aug 26, 2006 1:28 pm; edited 5 times in total
The Hawker Tempest was a Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter aircraft of World War II, an improved derivative of the Hawker Typhoon, and one of the most powerful fighters used in the war.
General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 33 ft 8 in (10.26 m)
Wingspan: 41 ft 0 in (12.49 m)
Height: 16 ft 1 in (4.90 m)
Wing area: 302 ft² (28 m²)
Empty weight: 9,250 lb (4,195 kg)
Loaded weight: 11,400 lb (5,176 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 13,640 lb (6,190 kg)
Powerplant: 1× Napier Sabre IIB liquid-cooled H-24 sleeve-valve engine, 2,400 hp (1,625 kW)
Performance
Maximum speed: 435 mph at 17,000 ft (700 km/h at 5,180 m)
Range: 1,530 mi (2,465 km) with drop tanks
Service ceiling: 36,500 ft (11,125 m)
Rate of climb: 4,700 ft/min (23.9 m/s)
Wing loading: 37.75lb/ft² (184.86kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.21hp/lb (0.31kW/kg)
Armament
4× 20 mm Mark II Hispano cannons, 150 rounds per gun
2× 500 lb or 1,000 lb (227 kg or 454 kg) bombs
8× 3 in (75 mm) RP-3 rockets _________________ http://militarymodeller.myfastforum.org
The Boulton Paul Defiant was a British fighter aircraft and bomber interceptor used early in the Second World War. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a unique turret fighter that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) . The concept of a turret fighter was similar to the successful World War I Bristol Fighter and the Fleet Air Arm's contemporary Blackburn Roc but, in practice, the Defiant was highly vulnerable to the more agile Luftwaffe Bf 109 escort fighters; crucially, the Defiant did not have any forward firing guns. It was later used in the night fighter role, where it proved successful against Luftwaffe bombers, before it was phased out of combat service in favour of the Bristol Beaufighter and de Havilland Mosquito. Among RAF pilots it had the irreverent nickname, "Daffy."
Its main users were
Royal Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Polish Air Force
General characteristics
Crew: 2: pilot, gunner
Length: 35 ft 4 in (10.77 m)
Wingspan: 39 ft 4 in (11.99 m)
Height: 12 ft 2 in (3.71 m)
Wing area: 250 ft² (23 m²)
Empty weight: 6,078 lb (2,755 kg)
Loaded weight: 8,318 lb (3,773 kg)
Powerplant: 1× Rolls-Royce Merlin III liquid-cooled V12 engine, 1,030 hp (780 kW)
Performance
Maximum speed: 304 mph (264 knots, 489 km/h)
Range: 465 mi (404 nm, 748 km)
Service ceiling: 30,350 ft (9,250 m)
Rate of climb: 1,900 ft/min (9.65 m/s)
Power/mass: 0.124 hp/lb (204 W/kg)
Armament
Guns: 4 × 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns in hydraulically-powered dorsal turret (600 rounds per gun, 2,400 rounds total)
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