Europe Although it did see some use as a torpedo bomber, including attacks on the
battleships and while in port in
Brest, the Beaufort more often used bombs in European service. The lighter, slower Vildebeest was able to dive then flatten out before launching the torpedo; Beauforts carried too much speed after diving so it needed a longer, level approach to the torpedo drop. The first RAF torpedo attack of the war came on 11 September 1940, when five aircraft of 22 Squadron attacked a convoy of three merchant ships off
Ostend (Oostende in Belgium). One torpedo hit a ship. Four days later, the first "Rover" was mounted; a Rover was an armed reconnaissance mission carried out against enemy shipping by a small number of aircraft operating independently. "Rovers" became a major part of Beaufort operations over the next 18 months. Other more hazardous operations were to follow, with one Beaufort pilot being awarded a posthumous
VC. The only other UK based units to be equipped and fly operationally with the Beaufort,
86 Squadron and
217 Squadron, were operational by the middle of 1941. Beauforts also equipped some
Commonwealth Article XV squadrons serving within the RAF but because of supply shortages, were replaced by other aircraft types before the units flew operationally.
Torpedo dropping A successful torpedo drop required that the approach run to the target needed to be straight and at a speed and height where the torpedo would enter the water smoothly: too high or too low and the torpedo could "porpoise" (skip through the water), dive or even break up. Height over the water had to be judged without the benefit of a radio
altimeter and misjudgement was easy, especially in calm conditions. For the Beauforts using the
18-inch (450-mm) Mk XII aerial torpedo, the average drop-height was and the average range of release was . During the run-in, the aircraft was vulnerable to defensive
anti-aircraft fire and it took courage to fly through it with no chance of evasive manoeuvres. The Beaufort's optimum torpedo dropping speed was a great deal higher than that of the Vildebeests it replaced, and it took practice to judge the range and speed of the target ship. A ship the size and speed of
Scharnhorst would look huge, filling the windscreen at well over and it was easy to underestimate the range. In action, torpedoes were often released too far away from the target, although there was one recorded instance of a torpedo being released too close. For safety reasons, torpedo
warheads had a set distance (usually about from the release point before they were armed. It also took some distance for the torpedo to settle to its running depth.
Attacks on capital ships on patrol over the Atlantic Ocean. L4474 was lost during a bombing raid on Lorient, France, on 20 December 1940. IWM C 2058. Some of the Beaufort's actions were attacks on warships of the German
Kriegsmarine. The first attack was on 21 June 1940, when nine Beauforts of 42 Squadron attacked the off the Norwegian coast. No torpedoes were available at
RAF Wick and a
dive bombing attack was carried out using two bombs. The Beauforts encountered
Messerschmitt Bf 109s protecting the battleship and only four returned; shortly after, Beauforts were grounded for modifications to their Taurus engines. In early April 1941, after an air raid on
Brest by
Bomber Command, the had to move out of dry-dock because of an un-exploded bomb. Photo reconnaissance revealed that the ship was in the inner harbour. An estimated 1,000
flak guns of all calibres protected the base and adding complication to the danger was the realisation that
Gneisenau was only about from a harbour
mole, requiring extremely accurate torpedo drops. The aircraft would be forced into a steep banking turn during the escape to avoid rising ground surrounding the harbour. In spite of these dangers
22 Squadron, based at
RAF St Eval, was ordered to make a torpedo attack, timed to take place just after dawn on 6 April 1941. It was planned to attack the torpedo nets thought to be protecting the ship, using three Beauforts armed with bombs; another three Beauforts would then attack the ship with torpedoes. Following heavy rain that had drenched the airfield, the bomb-carrying aircraft became bogged down. Because of a sea mist, the other three Beauforts arrived at Brest independently; one, flown by
F/O Kenneth Campbell, managed to penetrate the harbour and torpedo
Gneisenau but was shot down immediately afterwards. Campbell was awarded the
VC and his Observer,
Sergeant J. P. Scott of Canada, the
Distinguished Flying Medal. The other two crew members were Sgts R. W. Hillman and W. Mallis; all were lost. On the night of 12/13 June 1941, 13 Beauforts of 42 Squadron, based at
RAF Leuchars and a detachment of five Beauforts of 22 Squadron from Wick, were sent out to find the heavy cruiser and an escort of four
destroyers, which had been sighted near Norway. At midnight, a signal from a Blenheim of
114 Squadron confirmed the position of the ships but most of the Beauforts failed to find them. One 42 Squadron aircraft piloted by
Flight Sergeant Ray Loveitt (who had become separated from the main force) took
Lützow by surprise. Loveitt did not attack at once but remained in the vicinity, simulating a German escort plane. Copying the recognition signals that other
Junkers Ju 88 and
Messerschmitt Bf 110 exchanged with the German ships, Loveitt was able to attack without a defensive shot being fired, Loviett's torpedo hit her on the port side. The ship took on a heavy list and lost all speed. The hit also activated her smokescreen generator and one other Beaufort attacking
Lūtzow missed because of the smokescreen. The plane was then shot down by a
Messerschmitt Bf 109;
Lützow was under repair for six months. During the famous
Operation Cerberus, the "Channel Dash" by
Scharnhorst and
Gneisenau and the
heavy cruiser , which took place from 12 February 1942, three Beaufort units, with 33 serviceable aircraft were available, 22 Squadron was under orders to move to
Singapore. 42 Squadron, based at Leuchars in Scotland, was supposed to move to
Manston but had been delayed by snow. Only 86 and 217 squadrons were in position to attack the German ships. Of the 33 Beauforts, 28 eventually set out to attack the German ships: 13 failed to find them, three were shot down and on one the torpedo failed to release. Only 11 Beauforts sighted the battleships and launched torpedoes, none of which struck a target. One of the conclusions reached by a later Court of Inquiry was that a faster, longer-ranged torpedo bomber than the Beaufort was needed. Bristol was already working on a torpedo-carrying conversion of the
Beaufighter (a development of the Beaufort airframe) and were later to develop the
Brigand. The final major operation to feature Beauforts before they were moved to other theatres was an attack on the heavy cruiser
Prinz Eugen. A report reached Coastal Command on 16 May 1942 that this ship, escorted by two destroyers, was off
Trondheim steaming south-west at high speed. A strike force was formed with 12 Beauforts of 42 Squadron, six Blenheims of
404 (RCAF) Squadron and four flak-suppression Beaufighters, two each from
235 Squadron and
248 Squadron.
Prinz Eugen was sighted with four destroyers. The Beaufighters went first, raking the ships with cannon fire as the Blenheims made dummy torpedo runs. Some Bf 109s (more than likely from
I./JG 5) appeared and the Blenheims attempted to fend them off as the Beauforts started their attack. Three Beauforts were shot down by defensive fire from the ships before they could launch their torpedoes and the nine torpedoes that were launched failed to hit the target. One Beaufort, already damaged by anti-aircraft fire, was then attacked by three Bf 109s: in spite of further heavy damage, the pilot made a successful crash-landing back at base. In the meantime, another strike force of 15 Beauforts from 86 Squadron was sent too far north by a reporting error. They too were attacked by Bf 109s: four Beauforts were shot down (in return the crews claimed to have shot down five fighters) and of the 11 Beauforts remaining, seven were forced to jettison their torpedoes. In spite of its failure, this operation set the pattern for Coastal Command operations: Beaufighters were used for the first time for
flak-suppression and escort and there had been diversionary tactics used to try to reduce attention on the attacking torpedo aircraft. It also marked the end of Beaufort operations from Britain. The remaining Beaufort squadrons now started moving east: • 42 Squadron left Scotland in June 1942 bound for
Ceylon but operated in North Africa until December. • 86 Squadron moved to the Mediterranean in July and the unit was reduced to cadre: In October it was re-equipped with
Consolidated Liberator Mk.IIIs. One ex-86 Squadron Beaufort flight, along with one from 217 Squadron, joined up with a flight from
39 Squadron on
Malta, later becoming a part of a reconstituted 39 Squadron. • The 217 Squadron ground echelon left for Ceylon in May 1942, while the Beauforts flew out via Malta. In August, 217 Squadron, minus a Beaufort flight, moved on to Ceylon to be re-equipped with Hudsons. 22 Squadron at various times operated Beauforts out of
Vavuniya and
Ratmalana, Ceylon.
Mediterranean and Malta The first Beaufort unit in the Mediterranean was
39 Squadron, which reformed in Egypt in January 1941. Initially equipped with Bristol Blenheims and
Martin Marylands, the unit started re-equipping with Beaufort Mk.Is the following August. The first operation in which Beauforts took part was an attack on the Italian T18 on 28 January 1942. The three Beauforts of 39 Squadron included in a large strike force succeeded in crippling the transport
Victoria, which was carrying 1,400 troops. The ship was then sunk by four
Albacores of
820 Naval Air Squadron. Escort ships rescued 1,046 troops. In another operation, during the early hours of 15 June 1942, nine Beauforts of 217 Squadron, which had just flown in from England, took off from
RAF Luqa,
Malta to intercept ships of the
Regia Marina, which had sailed from
Taranto. Few of the Beaufort crews had experience in night-flying: four aircraft failed to find the rendezvous and set out independently. One, flown by
Flying Officer Arthur Aldridge discovered the Italian Fleet some to the east of Malta. Like Loviett's attack on
Lūtzow, his Beaufort was mistaken for a friendly aircraft by Italian lookouts. Aldridge torpedoed and crippled the heavy cruiser , whose anti-aircraft fire started only after the Beaufort had escaped. The main formation of Beauforts then came in to attack, having been guided in by the gunfire. In the confusion and the smokescreen that had been laid by the Italian warships, 217 Squadron claimed several torpedo hits for the loss of one Beaufort, which belly-landed at Luqa. In spite of the claims, none of the other ships had been hit.
Trento was sunk later by two torpedoes fired by the submarine , which had witnessed the aerial attack. By July 1942, 86 Squadron Beauforts and crews had arrived on Malta and were soon absorbed into a reconstituted 39 Squadron, which came under the command of the inspirational
Squadron Leader Patrick Gibbs, who was soon promoted to
Wing Commander; 217 squadron moved on to Ceylon. Over the next 11 months, the Beaufort force, now usually accompanied by Beaufighters, was instrumental in crippling the convoy supply lines that were vital to
Rommel's Afrika Korps. At night, torpedo-carrying
Vickers Wellingtons of
38 Squadron also played an important part in attacking convoys. Some important ships destroyed or badly damaged were: • MV (Motor Vessel)
Reichenfels, 7,744 GRT: torpedoed by 217 Sqn Beaufort, 21 June. • MV
Rosalino Pilo, 8,326 GRT: torpedoed by two aircraft of 39 Sqn, torpedoed and sunk by submarine , 17 August. • Tanker
Pozarica, 7,800 tons (7,925 tonnes): torpedoed and badly damaged by three aircraft of 39 Sqn, later beached, 21 August. • Steam Ship
Dielpi, 1,500 tons (1,360 tonnes) : torpedoed and sunk by three aircraft of 217 Sqn, 27 August. • Tanker
San Andrea, 5,077 tons (4,606 tonnes) : torpedoed and sunk by two aircraft of 39 Sqn, 30 August. (Gibbs' last operation.) • Tanker
Proserpina, 4,869 GRT : Destroyed by combined strike of Beauforts of
47 Sqn and
Bisleys of
15 SAAF Sqn, 27 October. • Tanker
Thorsheimer, 9,955 tons (9,031 tonnes): Torpedoed by four Beauforts of 39 Sqn, 21 February 1943. In June 1943, 39 Squadron, the last operational Beaufort unit, converted to Beaufighters. One Beaufort, attached to Air Headquarters, Singapore as a reconnaissance aircraft was attacked, during its first sortie, by Japanese fighters, severely damaged and written-off. The RAF decided that the Beaufort lacked sufficient performance and armament to defend itself against late model fighters, and that 100 Squadron's crews lacked sufficient training and experience on the type. As Japanese forces approached Singapore in early 1942, RAF bases there were abandoned; the remaining Beauforts and 100 Squadron personnel were evacuated to Australia. In the
Battle of the Bismarck Sea, on 3 March 1943, eight Beauforts from
No. 100 Squadron RAAF took off from the
Milne Bay to attack the Japanese troop convoy with torpedoes although no hits were scored. Later in the battle, 13 Beaufighters from No. 30 Squadron RAAF approached the convoy at low level to give the impression they were Beauforts making a torpedo attack. The ships turned to face them, the standard procedure to present a smaller target to torpedo bombers, allowing the Beaufighters to maximise the damage they inflicted on the ships' anti-aircraft guns, bridges and crews in
strafing runs with their autocannons and machine guns. == Replacement ==