Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I

Ratch · September 6, 2017

Defiant Mk.1 N3328 was first taken on charge by No. 10 M.U. on 13.11.1940 and allocated to No. 151 Squadron as a night fighter on 12 December 1940 and stayed until 22 August 1941. The Squadron was at RAF Wittering in Northamptonshire at this time. During the early months of 1941, No. 151 Squadron was flying Hurricanes and Defiants. On 4/5th February a Defiant crew claimed a Dornier 17C, which crashed at Weldon and was the first enemy aircraft to be shot down in Northamptonshire. Flight Lieutenant Desmond McMullen, DFC Bar, and Sergeant Fairweather made a most successful Defiant crew, claiming two Heinkel 111s on successive nights in April. In the following month they downed a Junkers 88.

On 3 May 41, a Defiant brought down a Ju 88A-5 over Norfolk. The crew were P/O Guy A. Edmiston and Sgt. A.G. Beale. The 151 Squadron Operations Record Book shows that P/O Edmiston and Sgt. Beale had a busy time on 2nd and 3rd May. They flew in Defiant N3386 S from Coltishall to Wittering between 14.45 and 15.20. Between 20.55 and 21.10 they took N3317 O up on an air test. Between 21.50 and 22.30 they were again in N3317 O, on patrol. Between 01.30 and 02.45 on the 3rd they were up in N3328 Z on patrol. P/O Edmiston's combat report at Kew times the incident at 01.36.

Although the camouflage value of RDM2 may be apparent, one problem was the continued use of grey codes; therefore, night-fighters soon came to wear red codes. DZ-Z of No.151 Sqn also has a most interesting piece of nose art in the form of a shark mouth and eye. After having been returned to Reid and Sigrist, presumably for modification, N3328 was later allocated to No.1 Air Armament School at Manby on 08.04.1942 and from there it was allotted to No.10 Air Gunners School at Walney Island near Barrow. On 23rd October 1942 Flight Sergeant John Leslie Coulter from No.10 AGS was flown to Manby via Grimsby, as a passenger in an aircraft flown by the Officer in Command of No.10 AGS, Squadron Leader Hubert Norman Gravenor. En route he was briefed regarding his duties concerning the collection of the aircraft from Manby. N3328 crashed in a hailstorm on 24 October 1942, killing the pilot, Sgt J. L. Coulter RAAF.

Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I N3328 No. 151 Squadron RAF Wittering, Northamptonshire, May 1942.