Bristol Beaufort Mk.IA
Bristol Beaufort Mk.IA
Airfix 1/72
The Bristol Beaufort (manufacturer designation Type 152) is a British twin-engined torpedo bomber designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and developed from experience gained designing and building the earlier Blenheimlight bomber. At least 1,180 Beauforts were built by Bristol and other British manufacturers.
Beauforts first saw service with Royal Air ForceCoastal Command and then the Royal NavyFleet Air Arm from 1940. They were used as torpedo bombers, conventional bombers and mine-layers until 1942, when they were removed from active service and were then used as trainer aircraft until being declared obsolete in 1945. Beauforts also saw considerable action in the Mediterranean; Beaufort squadrons based in Egypt and on Malta helped interdict Axis shipping supplying Rommel's Deutsches Afrikakorps in North Africa.
Mk.IA variant was based on its predecessor but benefitted from increased
strengthening and the addition of a Bristol B1 MK.V turret.
Schemes
Bristol Beaufort Mk.IA, No. 217 Squadron, Royal Air Force, South East Asia Command (SEAC), Vavuniya, Ceylon, April 1944.
Bristol Beaufort Mk.IA, No.2 Torpedo Training Unit, Royal Air Force Castle Kennedy, Scotland, September 1943.
