Bristol Beaufighter Mk.VIF/C "Formidable Fighter"

This injection-moulded kit contains 53 parts and six clear parts (cockpit canopies, position lights etc.). A comprehensive instruction leaflet and a decal sheet are included.

The Bristol Beaufighter was a British heavy fighter, developed from the Beaufort torpedo bomber and its first prototype flew in July 1939. The first Beaufighter variants the Mk.IF and Cs were high performance fighters and long-range fighters, respectively, while the former Mark also became an efficient night-fighter, employing the then novel AI radar.

The Beaufighter was a two-seat, twin engine, all-metal mid-wing cantilever monoplane, fitted with a retractable undercarriage. It was powered by two Hercules radial engines and the armament consisted of four cannons in the nose, four guns in the starboard wing and another two guns in the port wing. The Beaufighter Mk.VIF, introduced in 1942, was fitted with more powerful engines and its wing mounted guns could be replaced by additional fuel tanks to extend the aircrafts range.

Like its predecessors, the Mk.VIF was produced for Fighter Command and the Mk.VIC for Coastal Command. Some 1,840 Mk.VI aircraft were produced and this type remained in service until the summer of 1944.

The Beaufighter had a long career and served in almost all theatres of war during the WWII, at first as a night fighter, then as a fighter-bomber and eventually being used as a torpedo-bomber.