Beaufort Mk VIII

Beaufort Mk VIII

Blenheim Mk IV

Beaufort Mk VIII

Blenheim Mk IV

Britain

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.3	1.7	2.0

Class:

Bomber

Frontline bomber

Torpedo bomber

Research:3 000

Purchase:6 300

Description

The Beaufort Mk VIII is a Rank I British light bomber with a battle rating of 1.3 (AB), 1.7 (RB), and 2.0 (SB). It has been in the game since the start of the Open Beta Test prior to Update 1.29. Though the plane is in the British tech tree, it is painted with Australian markings.

The Beaufort Mk VIII is a superb low level bomber. For a bomber it's fast and agile and it has a great rear armament for its rank (the twin rear .50s can be more powerful than the Lancaster's 4 x .303s!). It is able to do very good low level bombing runs. With its 4 x 250 lb or 2 x 500 lb, it is easily able to destroy light, medium and heavy tanks. The Beaufort is also able to take a few hits, making it a great bomber to start the British line.

The best thing to do with this bomber is to put it in a shallow dive after you spawn in and head for where you want to bomb (be careful when diving, the plane locks up at high speed). Get low to the ground, as your rear turret does not provide cover for below the plane. Once you have dropped your bombs, you have a decision to make. You can re-arm and go for another bombing run (or just wait if you are playing arcade), or go fighter hunting with your tail gunner.

Overall, this is a great low rank bomber and easily able to turn the tide of any battle.

General info

Flight Performance

Characteristics
Stock
Max Speed (km/h at 1,981 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
418	405	5,029	41.1	41.8	2.7	3.9	414
Upgraded
Max Speed (km/h at 1,981 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
?	?	5,029	??.?	??.?	?.?	?.?	414

Details

Features
Combat flap	Take-off flap	Landing flap	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wing-break speed (km/h)	Gear limit (km/h)	Combat flap (km/h)	Max Static G
			+	-
523	450	???	~11	~8

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< 300	< 300	< 350	> 200

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
4,000 m	1,800 hp	1,944 hp

Survivability and armour

• 12.7 mm Steel - Armor plate behind pilot
• 6.35 mm Steel - Armor plate behind gunner

Armaments

Suspended armament

      Main article: Bombs, Torpedoes

The Beaufort Mk VIII can be outfitted with the following ordinance:

• 4 x G.P 250 lb Mk.IV bombs (1,000 lb total)
• 1 x 690 kg 18 inch Mark XII torpedo
• 2 x G.P 500 lb Mk.IV bombs (1,000 lb total)

Defensive armament

The Beaufort Mk VIII is defended by:

• 2 x 12.7 mm Browning M2 machine gun, dorsal turret (600 rpg = 1,200 total)
• 2 x 7.7 mm Browning .303 machine gun, nose turret (1,150 rpg = 2,300 total)

Usage in the battles

When engaging fighters (Yak-7, Bf 109E, Spitfire, P-36, A5M ect.) try to force them onto your tail. The Beaufort's twin rear .50 cals tear everything up at this rank. Try to avoid head-ons, as your pilots are prone to being wounded behind that large glass window. If you get a enemy fighter to stay on your tail at wing level, your gunner will show no mercy!

When engaging bombers, try to come below them and pepper them with your tail gunner. Flying in front of them and aiming for the enemy bombers pilot is also effective.

Be mindful of these things too; watch out for players diving on you, as they can easily kill your tail gunner from above. Also watch out for rockets, even a B-17 can't take a rocket hit! Plus some of the American planes (F2A, F4F) are armed with four or more .50s, try to avoid these as their ammunition count is very large and they are easily able to critically damage a Beaufort.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Separate	Not ontrollable	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage Repair	Radiator		Turret 7 mm	TBC-A
II		Compressor	Airframe	New 7 mm MGs (Turret)	MBC-A
III	Wings Repair	Engine		Turret 12 mm
IV		Engine Injection	Cover	New 12 mm MGs (Turret)

• Researching all the belts and turrets is helpful in this very aggressively played bomber. Further enhancements should be in the plane's performance. Compressor, Engine and Engine Injection for the quickest gain in top speed. As bomber Airframe and Cover are also useful, but to an lesser extent. They improve the maximum possible damage received.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Very strong rear 12.7 mm machine guns
• Fast and agile (for a bomber)
• Two pilots (if one is dead, you can still fly)
• Universal ammo belt for the 12.7 mm machine guns contains a large amount of API ammo
• 12.7 mm machine guns can engage enemy aircraft effectively over 1,500 m away

Cons:

• Low endurance
• Below average payload
• Does not have ventral gunner
• Dorsal turret cannot turn 360 degrees, cannot fire forward
• Loses the single offensive machine gun of the Blenheim. Doesn't seem like much, but it comes in useful sometimes
• Arguably has less effective defensive armament than the Blenheim. Experienced players will be able to take advantage of your limited coverage

History

The Beaufort design process began in 1935, when Great Britain’s Air Ministry formulated the M.15/35 and G.24/35 specifications for the development of a torpedo bomber and a general reconnaissance aircraft/bomber, respectively. While working on these aircraft designs Bristol proposed one aircraft, manufactured in two different variants, for both of these specifications. After submitting two separate designs to the Air Ministry, the favoured design was selected and named the Beaufort.

The Beaufort was based on the Blenheim light bomber, from which were borrowed the designs of the wing, tail unit, and landing gear. To increase the bomb bay’s size to carry a torpedo, the cockpit’s floor was raised. Nevertheless, the torpedo did not fully fit in the bomb bay and had to be partially suspended.

Bristol was commissioned in August 1936 to produce 78 Beauforts, before the first prototype had even flown. Teething problems with the prototype resulted in a number of design modifications, and the first aircraft did not enter service until January 1940.

In 1940, production of the Beaufort began in Australia. Due to the fact that the Australian government was not confident in an uninterrupted supply of Taurus engines, it was decided that the Twin Wasp engine would be used instead. In addition, the Australians expanded the tail fin to increase stability.

The last Australian modification, the Beaufort Mk VIII, used 1200 hp engines and had an ASV Mk II radar. It also had additional wing-mounted fuel tanks.

This modification made up 520 of the 700 Beauforts built in Australia in addition to the 1180 aircraft built in Britain until production ceased in November 1944.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

Read also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

Sources

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• topic on the official game forum;
• page on aircraft encyclopedia;
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