Interesting RAF bit-players 1939-1941 No.2: The Defiant

AWL_Spinner · #1 04-22-2010, 06:10 AM

Boulton-Paul Defiant (or "lousy by day, deadly by night")

I would love these lesser types to be represented in SoW - they have at least (well, more) claim to inclusion than the Italian aircraft, welcome as they are (the more the merrier!)

Now, everyone knows about the Defiant, and the conventional wisdom is that it was a flop, easy meat for German fighters etc. And yes, when it was thrown into exactly the wrong kind of battle (e.g. during the day, against escorted bombers) this was very much the case.

However, let me present to you one of many combat reports regarding the Defiant as flown as a somewhat successful night-fighter. A completely different kettle of fish in a scenario where a turret-fighter has certain advantages: four machine guns at point-blank range from a formated aircraft with no deflection could be quite devastating! Many German crews were not as lucky as these chaps (although ground witnesses report one crewmember, presumably the unlisted mechanic, as a fatality after attempting to bail at too low an altitude).

This extract is from the excellent "Broken Eagles 2: Luftwaffe Losses over Northumberland and Durham" by Bill Norman, which I would thoroughly recommend. I purchased this book as it describes in detail the fate of a downed Me-110 that my Grandfather pilfered a bit of metal skin from, that I now own. But I digress.

Note the references to De Wilde ammunition in the brownings, and the attack profile. Can we load De Wilde rounds into our browning ammo drums in SoW?

Quote:

5-6 May 1941 (Whorlton Park, Newcastle)
Heinkel 111H-5 5J+IH 1./KG4
w/nr. 3520

Surviving Crew:
Fw. Franz Olsson (pilot, pow)
Hptm. Eugen Eichler (observer, pow)
Obgfr. Wilhelm Koch (wireless op, pow)
Gefr. Hans Schiedlinski (gunner, pow)

Heinkel 111 5J+IH crashed in Whorlton Park (military map ref. Q6889), three miles north-west of Newcastle in the early hours of 6 May 1941. The aircraft had dropped bombs on Greenock and was a few miles south-west of Glasgow when it was attacked at 01.44 hours by a Defiant night fighter (T3943) of 141 Squadron, Ayr, crewed by Sergeant G.L. Lawrence (pilot) and Sergeant Hithersay (gunner). Lawrence's report of the incident describes what happened:

Quote:

On the night of 5-6 May 1941 I was ordered off to patrol according to vectors at midnight. I was airborne at 00.04 hours on the 6th and was controlled by Vandyke for the first 30 minutes then switched over to GCI, being controlled by them until I was forced to ask for a homing vector because of a faulty microphone and lack of petrol: I had 15 gallons left. I was given a vector of 120 degrees, which brought me to the coast at 12,000ft, a few miles south of Greenock and was asked to call Vandyke for further homing vectors. Shortly after receiving a vector for 140 degrees from Vandyke, my gunner, Sgt Hithersay, saw a twin-engined aircraft some 300 yards behind and some 200 yards to port, flying on a parallel course and silhouetted against some cloud lit up by incendiaries on the ground.

I throttled back to 120mph IAS to allow the aircraft to overtake me. It came up to within 100 yards and then altered course and passed behind to my starboard and when next seen by me was some 200 yards away on my beam, flying due south. I recognized the aircraft as a Heinkel 111 and closed in rapidly, intending to take up my position slightly ahead of and to port of the enemy aircraft but my gunner opened fire at approximately 150 yards with a three-second burst while I was still to beam and slightly below. Some of these rounds could be seen striking the fuselage near the tail. The next two bursts, from 50 yards and point blank range, raked the length of the fuselage and port engine.

The De Wilde (an explosive incendiary .303 bullet) ammunition could be seen exploding very plainly. The enemy aircraft then started doing steep turns to port and starboard and I endevoured to formate, keeping slightly ahead and below while my gunner was firing when he could, all bursts being at close range. By this time the engine was alight and emitting while smoke. I had also seen two small explosions about halfway down the fuselage. We were down to 5,000ft and I decided to beak off to check up on my fuel but kept the enemy aircraft in sight... I still had about 9 gallons left so I decided to have another two minutes as I reckoned I was not far from my base. I took up position ahead and to port of the enemy aircraft and my gunner fired a three-second burst into the port engine from a range of about 30ft. He then informed me that his ammunition was expended so I left the Heinkel at less than 3,000ft, flying very slowly in a south-easterly direction with its port engine burning. I landed at Prestwich at 02.10 hours with about 4 gallons of petrol

Sergeant Hithersay's shooting caused critical damage to both of the bomber's engines, closing down the left one completely and drastically impairing the operation of the other. The Heinkel struggled on as far as the outskirts of Newcastle before the starboard motor packed in and the crew prepared to bale out. However, the Heinkel had lost a lot of altitude by then and was below tree height when one of its wings hit a telegraph pole and was torn off. 5J+IH crashed to earth 600 yards further on and was badly damaged. Of the crew, only Franz Olsson emerged unscathed from the incident. The four fliers were found by pitmen Thomas Dawson and Ernest Stoker, two members of the local Home Guard, who subsequently handed them over to the police.

PeterPanPan · #2 04-22-2010, 08:27 AM

I totally agree. The Defiant played a role in the BoB right up to the end of August 1940, so it really ought to be included. Maybe in the first expansion pack?
PPanPan

Romanator21 · #3 04-22-2010, 09:25 AM

Should be AI at the start:

PeterPanPan · #4 04-22-2010, 04:40 PM

@ Romanator21 - wow, fantastic!! Great screen shots, lovely looking model. I see both day and night versions are to be modeled ... plus a hint that maybe it will be flyable one day

Is this an official Team Daidalos development for IL2 or are you talking for BoB SoW?

PPanPan

Romanator21 · #5 04-23-2010, 02:23 AM

These were posted by Oleg a few years ago for SoW.

For more, go to Foo'bar's site:

http://fooblog.mexxoft.com/

To the right under "Kategorien" are the SoW updates since 2005

Avimimus · #6 04-23-2010, 03:25 AM

And it is good to pre-emptively point out that what was shown in 2005 may not apply to the 2010 release. Nevertheless, it shows that Oleg Maddox has always intended a more complete aircraft set than any past BoB sim, including some of the more minor players.

Insuber · #7 04-26-2010, 07:56 PM

Spinner,

Nice read, thank you.

Insuber

AWL_Spinner · #8 03-21-2011, 09:17 PM

Going to bump this due to the other Defiant thread currently running. The first post contains a good account of a night-fighter attack which shows the aircraft's potential effectiveness in this role.

Cheers, Spinner

ATAG_Dutch · #9 03-21-2011, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AWL_Spinner

Going to bump this due to the other Defiant thread currently running. The first post contains a good account of a night-fighter attack which shows the aircraft's potential effectiveness in this role.

Cheers, Spinner

Nice post Spinner, thanks!

Moggy · #10 03-22-2011, 09:40 AM

Top bumpage sir! I think we need some Defiant vids to whet the appetite a bit.

I know I've posted these already but I just don't care. The Defiant operation starts at 8:35 in the 1st video. Enjoy people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFt9IJ71LjU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4OLe9Ujzb0