Beaufighter Mk X

Description

The Beaufighter Mk X is a rank British strike aircraft with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It has been in the game since the start of the Open Beta Test prior to Update 1.27.

General info

Flight performance

Details

Survivability and armour

• 25 mm Steel - Armoured nose plate
• 1 mm Steel - Forward engine nacelle armour plates
• 25 mm Steel - Rear aircraft/gunner protection armour plate
• 38 mm Bulletproof glass - Armoured windscreen

Modifications and economy

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Beaufighter Mk X is armed with:

• 4 x 20 mm Hispano Mk.II cannons, belly-mounted (283 rpg = 1,132 total)
• 6 x 7.7 mm Browning machine guns, wing-mounted (2 x left, 4 x right) (1,000 rpg = 6,000 total)

Suspended armament

The Beaufighter Mk X can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• Without load
• 1 x 18 inch Mark XII torpedo
• 8 x RP-3 rockets
• 4 x 250 lb M.C. Mk.I bombs (1,000 lb total)
• 4 x 500 lb M.C. Mk.I bombs (2,000 lb total)
• 2 x 500 lb M.C. Mk.I bombs + 2 x 250 lb M.C. Mk.I bombs (1,500 lb total)
• 2 x 1,000 lb M.C. Mk.I bombs (2,000 lb total)

Defensive armament

The Beaufighter Mk X is defended by:

• 1 x 7.7 mm Vickers K machine gun, dorsal turret (1,000 rpg)

Usage in battles

Just like the Mk VIc version of the Beaufighter, you can use this aircraft in a variety of roles. Heavy fighter, torpedo bomber, and attacker are all still viable roles for this aircraft. The big difference is in how effective you are at these roles. In the ground attack role, you see a large improvement in capabilities. This is mainly due to the additional ability to carry rockets for ground attack, and the increase in 20 mm cannon ammo. Torpedo bomber tactics should be avoided, however. With the torpedo on offer still being very poor in terms of drop requirements, surviving against incoming flak will be a real challenge. Heavy fighter tactics can be used once again, but with a few changes. Compared to the Mk VIc, you pack a much bigger punch with your weaponry. Unfortunately, this adds weight to the airframe. Thanks to the extra weight, climb rate, manoeuvrability, and speed will all suffer. In short, you will find it harder to find and catch targets, but you can shoot them down more easily. Overall, stick to relatively low altitude. Go after ground targets whenever you see the opportunity and attack any bombers operating at low altitude the second they show up. In order to ensure effectiveness in this role, ground target or universal ammo belts should be used with the 20 mm cannons. The same applies to your 7.7 mm machine guns ammo belts; armoured or universal should be used. With a good flight escort, you can take give your opponents a lot of trouble attacking their ground units, ultimately helping to secure victory for your team.

The Beaufighter Mk X is a substantial upgrade over previous versions of the airframe in its role as close air support in combined arms battles. It gains access to 250, 500 and 1000 pound bombs, and more of them too. Additionally the aircraft can also carry up to 8 of the RP-3 rocket. The recommended loadout in most cases will be the 4 x 500 pound loadout, as the RP-3 rocket is relatively inaccurate and with only 5.44 kg of explosive mass, it requires a direct hit. The 1000 pound bombs will be more effective for knockout out tanks of course, but the Beaufighter is limited to only carry two of these instead of the four 500 pound bombs, leading to fewer opportunities for pilots to support the action on the ground. Additionally the plane also gains access to engine fire extinguishers, which can prove to be very helpful when fighting enemy SPAA such as the M16 MGMC which relies on doing critical damage and starting fires rather than blowing off pieces of the aircraft. Pilots can use this system to extinguish fires in the engines and limp back to base on their remaining engine.

Manual Engine Control

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Excellent armament consisting of four Hispano Mk II cannons and six 7.7 mm machine guns
• Very likely to come out on top during a head-on attack
• Can actually intercept bombers, provided they are flying low enough
• Center-lined cannon armament makes them much more accurate and easier to aim
• Good horizontal agility
• Very good ammo amount, especially helpful during RB and SB
• Can carry 8 powerful RP-3 rockets, with 60 mm of penetration
• Can be used as a torpedo-bomber
• Gains an extra pair of bombs when compared to its predecessor

Cons:

• Mediocre climb rate
• Machine guns' accuracy suffers from wing mounting (convergence)
• Bad roll rate at high speeds
• Gunner is almost useless due to only having a single machine gun for defensive armament

History

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Beaufighter Mk X from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

See also

Related development

• Beaufighter (Family)

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Bf 110 (Family)
• Ki-45 (Family)
• Potez 630 (Family)
• Bréguet 693 AB.2
• Blenheim Mk IV
• Fokker G.IA
• Yak-2 KABB

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.