The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Bristol Beaufort VIII
| Crew | 4 |
| Dimensions | 57’10” by 44’2”
by
14’3” 17.63m by 13.46m by 4.34m |
| Weights | 14,070-22,500 lbs 6380-10,200 kg |
| Maximum speed | 268
mph
(431 km/h) clean 225 mph (362 km/h) with torpedo |
| Service Ceiling | 25,000
feet 7600 m |
| Power plant |
Two 1200 hp (895 kW) Pratt
& Whitney R-1830-S3C4G
Twin Wasp
14-cylinder two-row radial
engines, build under license by CAC,
driving three-bladed propellers |
| Armament | Two 0.50 Browning
machine guns in dorsal turret Four 0.50 Browning machine guns in the wings Two 0.50 Browning machine guns in the nose |
| Bomb load | one 18” torpedo or 2000lbs (910 kg) of bombs |
| Range | Normal 1060 miles (1710 km) Maximum 1450 miles (2330 km) |
| Sensors |
ASV Mark II radar |
| Production | A total of 2080, including 700 built in Australia for the Pacific theater between August 1941 and August 1944. Of these 520 were the Mark VIII. |
| Variants |
Those Beauforts build in Britain used two
1130 hp (843 kW) Bristol Taurus VI
14-cylinder
sleeve-valve radial engines. Defensive armament varied
widely. The Mark VIII was the only model used extensively in the Pacific. |
The Bristol Beaufort was a development of the Blenheim intended for use as a
torpedo bomber in the Far East. The prototype flew on 15 October 1938
and production began shortly thereafter. Much of the early production
was reallocated to Coastal Command due to the failure of the Blackburn
Botha, where it was commonly employed as a horizontal bomber or
minelayer. The Beaufort got off to a rocky start due to the
unreliability of the Taurus, the entire fleet being grounded for two
months at one point.
The Beauforts used in the Southwest
Pacific were built in Australia
using
the most readily available engine,
the
Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp, which was built under license by the
Commonwealth
Aircraft Corporation. The airframes themselves were
produced by the Department of Aircraft Production.
They were just
coming into
production when
war broke out in the Pacific, and a few had already been delivered to Singapore.
Beauforts played a crucial role in several actions, sinking a sizeable tonnage of enemy ships.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2009 by Kent G. Budge. Index
