The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force during World War II. The Defiant was designed as a turret fighter, without any forward-firing guns.
Boulton Paul Defiant production lineBoulton Paul Defiant Prototype K8310 at Northolt, 22 May 1939The prototype Boulton Paul Defiant, K8310, which first flew in August 1937Boulton Paul Defiant Mk Is N1536 PS-RBoulton Paul DefiantBoulton Paul DefiantBoulton Paul DefiantBoulton Paul DefiantPilot Officer MH Young (pilot)(left) and Leslie Plimmer Russell (Air Gunner)(right) standing beside their No. 264 Squadron DefiantAn airgunner of 264 Squadron wearing a GQ Parasuit or rhino suit August 1940Flight Sergeant E R Thorn pilot and Sergeant F J Barker air gunner pose with their Boulton Paul Defiant after their 13th victoryBoulton Paul Defiant Gun TurretBoulton Paul Defiant TurretThe pilots of 264 Squadron in front of a Boulton Paul DefiantFitters working on the 1,030hp Rolls-Royce Merlin III of a No 125 Squadron Defiant at Fairwood Common, January 1942Boulton Paul Defiant Mark Is, N1536, PS-R nearest, of No. 264 Squadron RAF, lined up at Kirton-in-Lindsey Boulton Paul Defiant Mark I night fighter, T4037 JT-T, of No. 256 Squadron RAF, on the ground at Squires Gate, Blackpool, Lancashire. The retractable fuselage fairings aft of the turret have been lowered for firing.Boulton Paul Defiant of No. 264 Squadron being refuelled, July 1940.Boulton Paul Defiant of No. 264 Squadron being refuelled, July 1940.Boulton Paul Defiant of No. 264 Squadron being refuelled, July 1940.Crews being taken out to their Boulton Paul Defiants of No. 264 Squadron, July 1940Boulton Paul Defiant Mark Is (L7006 ‘PS-X’ nearest) of No. 264 Squadron RAF, being prepared for take off by groundcrew at Kirton-in-LindseyBoulton Paul Defiant Riggers examining the damage to the elevators of a Boulton-Paul Defiant Mark I, of No. 264 Squadron RAF in a hangar at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, following their battle with German fighters over Dunkirk on 29 May 1940.Air Gunner with No. 264 Squadron, wearing an oxygen mask, standing beside his DefiantAir Gunner Leslie Plimmer Russell standing beside his No. 264 Squadron Defiant PS-LBoulton Paul Defiant Mark I night fighter, N1801 ‘PS-B’ ‘Coimbatore II’, of No. 264 Squadron RAF, undergoing a routine service in a dispersal, probably at Colerne, Wiltshire. This aircraft was flown by the effective night-fighting team of Flying Officer F D Hughes (pilot) and Sergeant F Gash (gunner), and displays a victory tally of 5 enemy aircraft shot down.Bouton Paul Defiant Group of No. 264 Squadron personnel pose for the camera during clearing snow from one of their aircraftBoulton Paul DefiantBoulton Paul DefiantDefiants of No 264 Squadron The Squadron Leaders aircraft signified by the A on the fuselageBoulton Paul Defiant TT Mk 1Boulton Paul DefiantBoulton Paul DefiantBoulton Paul DefiantBoulton Paul Defiants of 264 SquadronBoulton Paul Defiant Mark I night fighter, N3313 PS-P, of No. 264 Squadron RAF based at West Malling, Kent, in flightNo 264 Squadron’s CO, Squadron Leader Philip Hunter, leads a ‘vic’ of Defiants up from Kirton-in-Lindsey, early August 1940Six Boulton Paul Defiant Mark I night fighters of No. 264 Squadron RAF based at West Malling, Kent, flying in port echelon formation.Boulton Paul DefiantBoulton Paul Defiants of No 264 Squadron 1940Boulton Paul DefiantBoulton Paul Defiant Mk I night-fighter of No. 264 Squadron RAFBoulton Paul Defiant Mark III, N1697 target tug at Desford, Leicestershire Previously a Mark 1 fighter with No 256 Squadron RAFBoulton Paul Defiant TT Mark I, DR863, on the ground at the Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd aerodrome, Wolverhampton.
Photographs of scale models of the Defiant can be found here
