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B-P

To: Tiger list <tigers@Autox.Team.Net>
Subject: B-P
From: Larry Wright <Larry.Wright@mail.wdn.com>
Date: Sat, 08 Feb 1997 14:45:30 -0800
I was just reading the article in the new TE/AE newsletter about the book 
review on Graham Robson's 
book, which raised some of the same questions I did on the List recently. This 
only proves that I 
know how to read. :)

During a discussion of the firewall/cowl/tranny-cover area, after debunking the 
sledge-hammer 
theory, it was mentioned that the Tiger-
specific pressings were made by Boulton and Paul. Perhaps those are popular 
names in the UK, but 
that's _got_ to be the same guys that made one of my favorite airplanes, the 
Boulton-Paul Defiant. 
Cool! Now I want to see a Tiger w/a 4-gun powered turret in the back. Hey, Jay 
and Steve, try and 
tell me that _that_ wouldn't be a legitimate shooting brake!!!!!


Larry Wright "I can't get no-- Satis-traction"
MK1, just got new/old rollbar, and waiting for the leather interior to arrive...

(press delete now if you already know what a Defiant was, or don't care)

The B-P Defiant was a late-30's fighter, built to a specification for a 2-place 
aircraft with the 
primary weapons in a powered turret (the other plane built to the same spec was 
the even more 
obscure Blackburn Roc). It looked a lot like an overgrown Hawker Hurricane. It 
made a good showing 
during the evacuation of Dunkirk, picking off Stukas. But by the Battle of 
Britain, the Germans had 
found its weak spot. Due to the 1000lb weight of the turret, the plane could 
not afford any forward- 
firing armament; so they were defenceless from head-on attacks. Chewed up in 
combat, they were 
retired to target-towing duty.
One has to wonder about the results of refining the idea, adding enough HP to 
afford some forward 
firing guns; might've made a great escort fighter. Another neat idea that was 
possibly not given an 
adequate chance for development--- sounds something like a sports car we all 
love???
(if by any chance there are TWO companies by that name, than this post is Waaay 
off-topic!)


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