Reg -> Historical Beaufighter availability (7/13/2002 7:19:33 AM)
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Historically, No. 30 Squadron was formed with Beaufighter 1C aircraft during Jun '42 and arrived in Port Moresby Sep 12, 1942 though a detachment of three aircraft was sent to Milne Bay (Gili Gili) at the end of that battle. The first Mk.VIC aircraft arrived Nov '42 and Mk.X/XI were delivered from mid 1943. All these variants are being treated as a single generic type in the game as there are few significant differences between them. As I have stated elsewhere, I think the Beaufighter is over represented in the game as there were only ever 5 squadrons equipped with the type, Nos. 30 and 31 in 1942, No. 22 in 1944 and Nos. 92 and 93 in 1945. The game's upgrade paths are also misleading as the only squadron that reequipped with Beaufighters was No. 22 Squadron who ran out of replacement Boston aircraft in late 1944. The Beaufighter Mk 21 replaced the Beaufort on the local production lines though the original intention was to produce them side by side(delays in the Beaufighter program prevented that). I think there may have been plans to reequip the Beaufort squadrons with locally produced Beaufighters but local production didn't kick in until mid/late '44 and as it turned out, new squadrons were formed (No.s 92 & 93) rather than reequipping old squadrons. You could play a variant where local production was not delayed and I suppose that replacement of Beauforts would have occurred. Hope yo find this useful, Reg.
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