Bristol Beaufighter Mk.X (93.5″) – Plan, Article & Building Notes

The discerning builder will enjoy this accurate CAD drawn 6 sheet plan with accessories to save time.

At 93.5″ wingspan, this Mk.10 Beaufighter has eight square feet of wing area, and that is a good-sized model. Twenty-eight 2.4ah Sanyocells drive the 15 x 10 props as in the Ju88 and He111, and the Beaufighter flight times are up to eight minutes. Each time I try to incorporate some extra details, and this time I aspired more towards the Brian Taylor standard. The Beaufighter has near scale wing sections, retractable mains and tailwheel, undercarriage doors, vacuum-formed radial engines, double working landing lights, releasable bombs and working flaps. The penalty is an increase in wing loading to 32 oz per square foot, but the only real disadvantage is a slight decrease in flight time.

This Beaufighter is able to fly and look good in stronger winds than our previous models. Is it something to do with the 2 lb/sq ft wing loading and the scale wing section? I don’t know, but I do enjoy flying it. Dogfighting with the Ju88 is also great fun, but don’t let him get on your tail!

Co-designer John Ranson explains why the Beaufighter? To me, the Beaufighter has always been a good looking aircraft. On the ground, it has that bulldog stance and in the air, it looks really aggressive. Having flown Ray Watson’sBeaufighter before, I knew that they do not have bad flying characteristics, but that was many years ago when methanol was my pleasure. Now it has to be electric and to a larger scale. My previous 73.5″ electric Beaufort flew really well, and the Beaufighter was a development of the Beaufort. In a classic British improvisation, the wing and tail of the Beaufort were married to a new fuselage and more powerful engines. The two sleeve valve Bristol Hercules radial engines developed 1770 hp and gave the Mk10 a top speed of just over 300 mph, and an excellent range. However, the increased turbulence reacting on the tailplane made the Beaufighter over sensitive to pitch.

So in a typically British ‘modification’, they were angled up at 12°to put them above, and away from, the turbulence. It was optimistically called a fighter and realistically could never dogfight with an Fw 190 etc, but when used for ground and shipping attacks, it excelled itself. As a rugged, no-nonsense type, it wreaked havoc in many theatres, and over 5,500 were built. Allegedly described by the Japanese as ‘whispering death’ due to its quiet approach, the engines were supposed quieter than normal due to the front cowling being effectively a collecting ring and silencer. Here the gases are cooled before being emitted to the atmosphere, thus reducing the overall volume and hence the noise. There are no full-sized flying versions as yet, but there are at least two being worked on with a view to producing airworthy versions. Now you may not be prepared to wait for the Duxford example to fly. Why should you when you can build a 1: 7.5 version in winter?