Defiant GB 264 Squadron 4

The Boulton-Paul Defiant was an ingenious, if flawed. design.  The concept was to have a turret with 4 machine guns fitted to allow a wide sweep of fire in any direction for attacking bombers.  

The turret was streamlined into the fuselage and the fairings were retracted to allow the turret to swivel in combat.  

The Defiant Mk I entered service in 1939 and in the first few sorties was highly successful, shooting down a good number of Ju-87s, Me-110s and even some Me-109s that seemed to have mistaken them for Hurricanes.  

This was short-lived however, once the Luftwaffe realised that there were no forward-firing guns, Defiant losses were huge.

The Defiant was switched to night fighter duty, and was reasonable successful as the NF Mk 1 and Mk 1A (Airborne Interception radar)
A Mark II was also built as a night fighter, but better aircraft were becoming available, so the Defiant was withdrawn from operations in 1942.

There was still a role for the Defiant though, in Air Sea Rescue, and many aircraft were converted to carry two dingies in under-wing canisters to be dropped to down pilots in the North Sea.

The 'last gasp' of the Defiant was as a target-tug.  There were many conversions done where the turret was removed, and some built as new with no turret, so they could be used to tow a target drone - A sad end for an interesting aircraft.

The NF Mk2 had the more powerful Merlin XX engine, larger air intake, larger radiator, a slightly longer fuselage, and a different rudder.  Some were fitted with aerials on the nose and wings for the AI radar.

This example is a Defiant Mk I of 264 Squadron 1940.