Designed
to conform to Air Ministry F.9/35 specification, the Boulton
Paul Defiant prototype first flew 11 August 1937
The
design was an innovative one to allow the armament to
have more flexibility. Instead it proved to be an ill
fated design. The idea was to have a separate gunner to
take care of offence and defence while the pilot was free
to concentrate on flying the plane. The problem was that
in order not to shoot itself out of the sky, it did not
fire forward
The
Defiant saw action in Dunkirk in May 1940 with 264 squadron.
It achieved extraordinary success with 65 kills. The Luftwaffe
soon learned of the Defiants shortcomings and 'dead spots'
where it could not fire at the enemy and soon were able
to gain the upper hand in most dog fights by attacking from
the front. The Defiant was hastily withdrawn from active
service in this role two months later
The
Defiant found its niche in the Night Fighter role where
it successfully carried the new Airborne Interceptor (AI)
radar system. It notched up more 'kills' than any other
Night Fighter of the period
