British Boulton ''Defiant'' Fighter Plane

By Crusader1307

Designed to attack and destroy German Bombers, The British Boulton Paul “Defiant” was a “Turret” Fighter. It featured no forward mounted (Wing) armament, but concentrated them in the center of the Fighter’s fuselage. The design was standard with most Bomber Planes, but was not so with a typical Fighter. First deployed in 1939, The aptly named “Defiant” (although RAF Pilots called her “Daffy”) – was a Twin-seater. It was 35-feet long with a wingspan of 40-feet long. The “Defiant” was powered by a single Rolls-Royce Merlin Radial V-12 Engine and was capable of 300-mph. The “Defiant” was heavily armored with steel plate, which caused some maneuvering and take off problems. Normally, the rated 300-mph was drastically cut down to 175-mph. The Fighter had an operational ceiling of 31,000-feet. Armed with a quad package of (4) .303 Browning Machine Guns mounted in her Turret, this component could traverse 360-degrees. The “Defiant” Fighter was deployed to cover the Evacuation at Dunkirk (1940) and saw limited action over Normandy, France (1944). Effective in it’s designed Mission, The “Defiant” was hard pressed against Germany’s Messerschmitt Me 109 Fighter. Over 1,000 were produced, with only 2 known surviving Models in existence today.