| Defiant | |
|---|---|
 Boulton Paul Defiant Mk I | |
| General information | |
| Type | Two-seat fighter, night fighter, trainer, target tug |
| Manufacturer | Boulton Paul Aircraft |
| Designer | |
| Status | Retired |
| Primary users | Royal Air Force |
| Number built | 1,064[1] |
| History | |
| Introduction date | December 1939 |
| First flight | 11 August 1937 |
The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter" to meet the RAF requirement for day and night fighters that could concentrate their firepower on enemy bombers which were not expected to have fighter escorts due to the distance from Germany to the United Kingdom. The Defiant had all its armament in a dorsal turret offering the ability to fire in most directions. The same principle was used in the Royal Navy's Blackburn Roc which was also built by Boulton Paul.
In combat, the Defiant was found to be effective at destroying bombers, the role it was designed for,[2] but was vulnerable to the Luftwaffe's more manoeuvrable, single-seat Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters operating from bases in Northern France. The Defiant had been designed to destroy unescorted bombers by means of beam or ventral attacks[2][3] and therefore lacked forward-firing armament, which proved to be a great weakness in daylight combat with fighters. It was withdrawn from daytime operations for use as a night fighter and found success in combination with the use of aircraft interception radar (A.I.) to locate the enemy.[4] It eventually equipped thirteen squadrons in this role,[5] compared to just two squadrons as a day-fighter,[6] though this was mainly due to slow initial production.[7] In mid-1942 it was replaced by better performing night-fighters, the Bristol Beaufighter and de Havilland Mosquito.[5] The Defiant continued to find use in gunnery training, target towing, electronic countermeasures and air-sea rescue. Among RAF pilots it had the nickname "Daffy".[8]
- ^ Bowyer 1966, pp. 11–12.
- ^ a b Verkaik, 2020 p334
- ^ Verkaik (2020). Defiant Forgotten heroes of the Battle of Britain. Robinson. p. 145.
- ^ Wheeler 1992, p. 48.
- ^ a b Cagill 2005, p. 44.
- ^ Cagill 2005, p. 41.
- ^ Verkaik, 2020 p309
- ^ "Boulton Paul Defiant". www.tangmere-museum.org.uk. Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. August 2009. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
The "Daffy", as the Defiant was affectionately known, also saw service with the Royal Navy and the air forces of Australia, Canada and Poland.