Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter Mk.V

nathanclawfish · July 1, 2025, 2:05am

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      Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter Mk.V

Vehicle Design and Service History:

In late 1941, the production of the Short Stirling bomber was well underway, resulting in a heavy demand for Hercules engines to power the aircraft. This increased strain on demand resulted in current Hercules-powered aircraft to seek alternative powerplants, in order to not interrupt production quotas. One of the aircraft affected was the Beaufighter, which resulted in the Beaufighter Mk.IIf nightfighter, which was powered by a pair of 1,280 hp Merlin XX engines.

During this time, development was taking place on what was the Beaufighter Mk.III/IV, which were powered by A Hercules or Griffon powerplant, respectively, along with carrying six 20mms and six machine guns. This design resulted in the cost per aircraft being significantly higher then the RAF’s initial expectations, resulting in a revised design based on the Mk.IIf which would be significantly cheaper as it used pre-existing equipment and in lower volume.

The Mk.V aircraft this created was arguably the best turret fighter to ever see service in the British Airforce, as the existing Mk.IIF airframe was modified to accommodate a Boulton Paul Type A Mk.IID dorsal turret with 4 x .303 in Browning machine guns. This change increased the Beaufighter’s crew from 2 to 3, as a gunner was added, whilst retaining the existing observer. The Mk.V also had a reduced pilot’s armament, losing 2 20mm cannons and the 6 .303 Browning machineguns. The reason for this change was due to the fact Mk.IIF pilots had been having trouble accurately shooting down targets at night, due to the issues faced by both flying the plane, whilst tracking and firing at targets by sight at night. This was an issue due to the AI Mk.IV radar fitted to the Beaufighter, which could only accurately detect a enemy bomber’s position to within about 3 miles, before the interception had to be done manually by sight, due to the radar’s wave length no longer being able to accurately display the enemy position, with this limitation getting worse at lower altitudes due to ground clutter.

Based on this promising design, two examples were procured and would undergo vigorous testing from the summer of 1941 to spring in 1942 with the aircraft being flown experimentally by No.29 squadron. The aircraft, unfortunately, did not perform as expected, though, as the drag from the addition of the turret caused the aircraft to shave off 21mph from the Mk.IIf’s top speed, as the highest speed achieved was by prototype R2274, which got to 302 mph at 19,000 ft. This in combination with the uptake of more lethal 20mm cannons in RAF service left much to be desired compared to the potential usefulness of the turret, and the design was considered a failure, resulting in no more Mk…V’s being ordered, as more capable night fighter designs were selected instead such as the Night fighter configuration of the DH.98 Mosquito.

Aircraft Specification:

General: