Seemingly designed by someone who had never seen air combat, the only armament was 4 machine guns in the turret behind the pilots seat. The role that was envisioned was to would intercept and destroy unescorted bombers. That worked for a short time early in the war, before the Germans learned to shoot them down with fighter escorts.
Quickly removed from service, they found a new role as a night fighter, and the addition of onboard radar in early 1941 made them much more effective. However, Beaufighters and Mosquitos soon replaced the Defiants in the nightfighter role. Just over a thousand units were built.
No comments:
Post a Comment