BRISTOL BEAUFORT OIL TEMP GAUGE

The Bristol Beaufort was introduced into the RAF in 1940 as a replacement for the two seater Vickers Vilderbeest torpedo bomber biplane.

It came as a shock to pilots more used to the light weight and significantly slower Vilderbeest. The Beaufort was a fast, heavy and far more complex aircraft to master and the RAF’s cross-over program took far longer than was originally anticipated.

Primarily used as a torpedo bomber against lightly defended Axis shipping, the Beaufort's performance in Europe was decidedly mixed with its failures far outweighing its successes.

Although it was faster than its predecessor, it had nowhere the speed of many of the new Luftwaffe fighters and was totally outmatched in its defensive armament and many Beauforts found themselves ‘jumped’ by the Bf109 and 110s diving from height after they had released their torpedoes and were trying to climb away.

Results were far different however in the Pacific campaign where the Beaufort played an early and key role in attacks on Japanese defences and shipping.  

By 1938 the Australian Government had partnered with 3 companies to establish the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation with the aim of developing and producing a locally designed and built fighter and fighter bomber. Production was already underway with the CAC Wirraway Trainer and the Buffalo single-seat fighters when the 8th production Bristol Beaufort MK I was shipped to Australia to be used as the pattern for the wartime production of an Australian Beaufort. 

The first CAC Beaufort flew in August 1941 and the first 50 examples built were designated as Beaufort MK V aircraft which used the US designed and Australian built Pratt & Whitney engines.

Over the course of the war, 700 Australian Beauforts rolled out of the CAC factory going onto serve with newly formed RAAF squadrons in operations against Japanese forces in New Guinea.

They attacked shipping in all areas of the South-West Pacific and sank cruisers, destroyers and submarines, as well as bombing and strafing inland supply dumps and troops. 

Easily recognised by their over-sized numeral Indicators, the Bristol Beaufort’s two Oil Temperature Indicators were installed an a line at the bottom of the aircraft’s main flying panel, directly in front of the pilot’s control column. Running to 120°C, the same instrumentation can also be found in the Bristol Beaufighter and Bristol Blenheim.

Mounted in its 100yr old, hand-crafted Mango Wood display stand with engraved plaque and highly detailed scale model of a Bristol Beaufort perched atop its magnetic display arm, plus a detailed laminated Fact Sheet featuring a photo of the instrument in the Beaufort cockpit, this Recovery Curios Aircraft Collectable would make a perfect gift for the pilot or aviation enthusiast in your life.

This Bristol Beaufort Instrument comes complete with detailed Scale Model, Mango Wood Stand & Plaque plus Printed Fact Sheet featuring photo of instrument in aircraft cockpit

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