BEAUFIGHTERS IN THE RAAF
BUILDING THE BEAU

INTRODUCTION.

Much has been written about the operations of Beaufighter Squadrons in the Pacific during WW2 and the brave crews that flew them and that is as it should be, but what of the men and women in their thousands who in their various roles made it possible for the flight of the Beaufighter from conception to completion.

We are going to look at the people who worked on the factory floors and machine shops, the squadron ground crews that serviced and cared for these aircraft under trying conditions and then there were RAAF Repair Depots, the Airfield Construction Squadrons all in the service of the RAAF. These stories have largely been ignored or if they were recognised, then it was only given a passing mention.

What is very displeasing to myself and many others has been the attitude of those from a position of power who have seen to it that we will not see a restored Beaufighter for viewing by the general public in the AWM.

Over the years many letters have been written and deputations made to those in authority by the men who were closely associated with the Beaufighter for something to be done for the preservation of a Beaufighter.

It is very clear that the bureaucrats have nothing more than a total disinterest in preservation this aircraft and what 40,000 men and women who manufactured more than 1060 Beauforts and Beaufighter operational aircraft did. All of these people were employed in the CAC factories, small and large contractors and subcontractors together with the material suppliers who made it possible for what was the largest engineering project undertaken by Australian industry during WW2 to become a reality.

So, with all this in mind, this part of the site is about the “Beaufighter” itself, it will also deal in part with the Beaufort, as the two aircraft are interlocked by parenting and manufacture –

We will be looking from Conception then to Construction, Testing and then to Destruction that occurred by many ways. There are many parts and many stories, all broken down into a number of sections: Those men with the foresight to see what was happening in the 1930’s and were able to and did do something about it. The men and women who assembled the first aircraft that arrived from Great Britain and the history of its manufacture.

The Australian made Beaufighter aircraft and the large workforce of men and women that worked in the factories all over Australia doing successfully what was thought by many to be impossible. The squadron ground crews who serviced and repaired the Beaufighters and kept them operational. It is also about fun and humour and the sad times that goes with being in operational squadrons. The men and women who repaired the Beaufighters at the forward repair depots. The work of Airfield Constructions Squadrons (ACS) building and keeping the airfields operational.

BRISTOL BEAUFIGHTER – A-19 - ENGLISH MODEL

During September 1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met with Adolf Hitler in Germany and whilst he was optimistic of ‘peace in our time’ it was obvious that a full scale war with Germany would only be a matter of time. Following the death of Frank Barnwell in a flying accident in August 1938 Leslie Frise took over and the chief designer for the Bristol Aeroplane Co Ltd. The prototype Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber made its maiden flight from Filton on October 15, 1938 and it was then test flown for almost another year to resolve problems before it went into production.

It was recognised at Bristol that the RAF had no heavily armed, twin engine, long range fighter aircraft. So following the successful test flight of the Beaufort plans were drawn up at Bristol for a Beaufort Fighter which would use the wings, tail unit and undercarriage of the Beaufort combined with more powerful engines and a new fuselage with four 20mm Hispano cannons in the nose.

The preliminary plans for the Type 156 Beaufort Fighter won immediate support when submitted to the Air Ministry in October 1938. The name Beaufighter was used for the first time in March 1939 and the first test flight of the new aircraft took place at Filton on July 17, 1939. As testing of the prototype continued a number of problems were apparent the most obvious being the tendency to swing on takeoff and as testing continued most problems apart from the tendency to swing were resolved and in July 1940 the Beaufighter Mk 1 night fighter entered service with the RAF.

Leslie Frise later said of the Beaufighter ‘The birth of the Beaufighter was unusual, and it did not follow an Air Ministry Specification, but came about in this way. Just before the war we recognised the obvious and urgent need for a long range fighter of decisive striking power. Now the design and construction of the prototype, testing, tooling and putting into production is a matter of a few years, however hard we try. Looking around for solution to this difficulty I got the idea of using as many parts as possible of the Beaufort, and actually, by putting in the larger Hercules engine and altering part of the body to take cannon and fighting equipment, was able to produce the required fighter in six months.’

Following the successful test flight of the Beaufighter the Air Board in Australia recommended that the RAAF amend its previous order for 40 Beauforts to 30 Beauforts and 10 Beaufighters and a cable was sent on June 19, 1939 to the Austalian Liaison Officer in London to be passed on to the Air Ministry. With the outbreak of war in September 1939 delivery of the Beauforts was delayed and on April 17, 1940 the War Cabinet in Australia decided to cancel the Beaufort/ Beaufighter order so as to obtain 49 Lockheed Hudsons with these being used to take the place of both Beauforts and Beaufighters.

In July 1940 following the fall of France, Britain advised that Australia could no longer expect to receive supplies of aircraft materials or equipment of any kind. However in early 1941 as the Japanese continued pushing south Prime Minister Robert Menzies visited Britain to discuss Australia’s extreme shortage of aircraft and it was agreed that Britain would give practical aid to Australia. In early May 1941 the War Cabinet noted that the Beaufighter was the only aircraft which met the Air Staff’s specifications for a high performance fighter for the RAAF and on May 20, 1941 an order was placed for 54 aircraft to be delivered by March 1942 however the aircraft had to be transported by sea in crates and delays occurred.

The first two Bristol Beaufighters delivered to Australia arrived by ship in crates and were then transported by road to Richmond on April 11, 1942. They were then assembled at No.2 Aircraft depot at Richmond NSW and with the first test flight being made to Mascot where the tail wheel pin sheered during landing which meant that the aircraft went all over the place on it landing run on returning to Richmond. In late May these first two aircraft A19-7 and A19-8 were flown to Mascot where they were accepted by the RAAF.

On June 2, 1942 the first entry in the Operations Record Book for 30 Squadron RAAF says that nine Beaufighters were at Richmond and all were seviceable being A19-7, A19-8, A19-17, A19-24, A19-2, A19-5, A19-6, A19-9 and A19-12. The first conversion flights took place on June 4, 1942 with Group Captain Heffernan in A19-4 from 11.35 to 12.05 and he was followed by S/L Walker from 1400 to 1545.

HISTORY - AUSTRALIAN BEAUFIGHTER A-8 / MK21

The people in this account are real, the information in a lot of instances comes from the sons who have made their fathers records available. We thank them for their help and assistance. It all commences in the 1930’s with the lead up to WW2 and how Australia changed forever.

The story of the Bristol Beaufighter and how it came to Australia has been documented by many writers over the past twenty five years or so and yet the most important part of the story has been mainly overlooked and in fact has been all but lost. Had it not been for the drive and determination of one man the whole project and many other projects besides may never have happened or if they had – well let us stay with the facts.

The man who was the driving force behind the industrial transformation of Australia in the 1930s was a man of action and one who was the chief confident of Prime Ministers. We take up at a point in his life when a lot of changes were occurring in the world and business.

Who was this man! His name was John Stanley Storey – he was one of the first to understand what was happening and what needed to change and bring about major industrial change to Australia and how it could be accomplished. The year was 1934 and John Storey was thirty eight years old. He just become a Director of manufacturing at General Motors Holden in Melbourne and joined the board. He went on a study trip to General Motors in Detroit USA and commenced the construction in 1935 of plants in Melbourne and Sydney and the refurbishment of plants in Brisbane and Perth.

In 1936 GMH joined the industrial syndicate to prepare Australia for war, this was formed by Essington Lewis. They setup the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) with Sir Laurence Hartnett MD of GMH and John Storey as Alternate Director to the board of CAC.

In March 1940 the Aircraft Production Commission was established to produce the Bristol Aeroplane Co.’s Beaufort bomber for the RAF and RAAF. With the fall of France John Storey resigned from GMH. Storey’s prestige as an industrialist was very high and he was chosen to direct the largest manufacturing project ever undertaken in Australia.

In January of 1941 he went to the UK with the PM – Menzies. They had meetings with Lord Beaverbrook the minister for aircraft production to secure guarantees for the delivery of materials and increased British orders for Australian–built aircraft. He carried out inspections of aircraft plants throughout the UK and he then proceeded to the USA for seven more inspections of plants.

It was Storey’s belief that the aircraft manufactured from the UK were superior to any other, he recommended that Australia manufacture the Beaufort and the Beaufighter which was similar in many respects – as much as 70 percent, together with the Lancaster bomber also be undertaken.

Not long after this the British government placed an embargo on the export of war materials and aircraft parts in any form which placed the whole Beaufort program in jeopardy. The British had promised to supply materials for the aircraft and were now saying that they no longer could. This was not good news particularly with the parts associated with the undercarriages as they were the most technically difficult to manufacture.

After many high level meetings it was decided to undertake complete manufacture of the aircraft – it was the challenge of a lifetime for John Storey. The engines were another matter and it was decided to look to the USA for these.

AUSTRALIAN BUILT BEAUFIGHTER A-8 Mk21
We realise that the task we have set is a large one, there were over 600 subcontractors for the Beaufighter – help if you can. We invite contributions from interested parties to add further information.

The Australian made Beaufighter was made in various sections all over Australia and brought together in two locations for Monocoque Fuselage
1. Wings.
2. Undercarriage.
3. Cockpit.
4. Elevators and Rudder.
5. Engines.
Details of the various sections are as follows
1. MONOCOQUE FUSELAGE ……….. Information and Photos required
2. WINGS……….. Information and Photos required
3. UNDERCARRIAGE (click to view slideshow)

This was a major challenge as Australia did not have the factory space, the machinery to produce the various parts or tradesman with knowledge in aircraft manufacture.

A complete new industry had to be set up. It was decided that the most suitable company to produce the undercarriage was that of John Storey - National Motor Springs at Alexandria in Sydney. This company had been supplying motor parts since 1925. A new annexe was built and the recruitment of labour or should I say more correctly that key personnel were seconded from other companies to establish the basis of this new enterprise and included Draftsmen, Fitters and Turners, Toolmakers, Foreman and hands on Managers and highly skilled Engineers.

The biggest challenges were associated with the actual machinery – to put it bluntly – there was not any actual specialised machinery available apart from some which had been rescued just prior to the fall of France.

One of the men who had been seconded was Reg Wood he was a Fitter and Turner and was skilled toolmaker and he was made General Manager and in charge of production. John Storey had that ability to be able to get the best people for a job and it would appear that throughout his life most of his key men nearly always came from the factory floor.

At this point it best to refer to a paper Reg Wood delivered to and spoke on at a meeting in March 1946. This paper is very interesting to read, I am very grateful to his son Reg Wood who gave me a copy of the paper which was in the magazine “The Australian Engineer dated the Seventh March 1946”. It has been reproduced separately together with photos of the manufacturing and testing.

To put it briefly manufacture had to be started from scratch. The machinery available had to be modified and rebuilt or new techniques found, toolmakers were the key to all the actual manufacture. It is interesting how this was accomplished for example the legs (ELEO) which are main component were out of a billet which weighed nearly 98k and when finished machining it was nearly 16k. Each undercarriage required two of these Eleo legs and the components for the remainder of the undercarriage gave it a total weight of 77k.

When manufacture commenced in 1941 more than one thousand four hundred aircraft were fitted with these Eleo type undercarriages of which three hundred and sixty four were manufactured for the Beaufighter plus spares.

The other component part made by National Motor Springs was the Tail Wheel more details will be shown later in this article but for now we need to look at the history of the Bristol Beaufighter.

The Beaufort with a Beaufighter variant was the best plane available for the RAAF in that it was capable of long range which was a necessary in this part of the world. It was very fast for its time and had very good weaponry.

This site will be brought up in stages as the information is collected and finalised from other sources.