The Defiant (Hardback)

The Defiant was an advanced aircraft at the time it was designed. Crewed by a pilot and an air gunner, the latter in a Boulton Paul powered turret, it was an exceptionally good gun platform. Though it suffered reliability issues during its early days, once its teething issues were banished the Defiant was a powerful, incredibly stable, and, in the hands of a good pilot, quite manoeuvrable aircraft.

A concept that could be traced back to the First World War, it was thought that turreted interceptor aircraft such as the Defiant would be at the forefront of intercepting enemy bomber formations. First flown on 11 August 1937, the development of the Defiant and the tactics to be used by its crews continued right up to, and even beyond, the outbreak of war in 1939.

The Defiants’ first combat successes and losses were suffered by 264 Squadron from mid-May 1940 when they operated out of RAF Manston providing air cover over Dunkirk. It is stated that on one single day – 29 May 1940 – Defiant crews destroyed no less than thirty-seven enemy aircraft. By the time the Battle of France had ended, several Defiant crews had reached ‘Ace’ status. Ahead, though, lay the Battle of Britain – by when a second Defiant squadron, No.141, had been formed and become operational.

Having only moved south from Scotland eight days earlier, 141 Squadron encountered the Luftwaffe for the first time on 19 July 1940. It was a disaster – six of the nine Defiants were lost, along with ten aircrew. Within forty-eight hours, 141 Squadron was removed from operations and returned to Scotland. Not for nothing have the events that day come to be referred to as the ‘Slaughter of the Innocents’.

With 264 Squadron’s losses continuing to mount, after the debacle of 19 July the role of the Defiant as a day fighter came under scrutiny. Even as the Battle of Britain still raged, the Defiant was reborn as a night fighter.

The first confirmed Defiant nocturnal ‘kill’, by a 141 Squadron crew, came in mid-September 1940. This was also a period in which Defiant began night intruder sorties over France.

New squadrons were soon being formed, with a further four raised by the end of 1940. Six more followed by the end of 1941. They all continued in the night fighter role until March 1942, when it became apparent that the Defiant could no longer compete with the newer German bombers. Nevertheless, in its time as a night fighter, not only had Defiant crews shot down sixty-four enemy aircraft, but they had also been instrumental in the development of Airborne Interception, or A.I., radar.

The Defiant still had a part to play in the Allies’ war effort. A number were used by air sea rescue squadrons, as training aircraft at air gunnery schools and operational training units, or even as target tugs. It was with 515 Squadron, which was formed in October 1942 and operated the type until December 1943, that the Defiant undertook radio-countermeasure sorties over Europe. It was these flights that brought to an end the Defiant’s varied and, at times, controversial career – all of which is explored in detail in this book.