Drinkwater, Kenneth Gordon

Killed in Flying Accident 1942-01-14

Birth Date: 1922-June-08

Born: Toronto Ontario

Home: Birch Cliff, Ontario

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: Unknown

Service

RCAF

Unit

60 OTU- Operational Training Unit (RAF)

Base

RAF Leconfield

Rank

Sergeant

Position

Sergeant

Service Numbers

R/82160

60 Operational Training Unit. Defiant aircraft V 1182 lost. One of the crew, not Canadian, missing believed killed.

Boulton Paul Defiant

(RAF Photo) (Source Harold A Skaarup web page)
Boulton Paul P.82 Defiant, RAF (Serial No. L7026), coded PS*V, c1941.
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The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any fixed forward-firing guns, also found in the Blackburn Roc of the Royal Navy.

In combat, the Defiant was found to be reasonably effective at destroying bombers but was vulnerable to the Luftwaffe's more manoeuvrable, single-seat Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. The lack of forward-firing armament proved to be a great weakness in daylight combat and its potential was realised only when it was converted to a night fighter. It eventually equipped thirteen squadrons in this role, compared to just two squadrons as a day-fighter. In mid-1942 it was replaced by better performing night-fighters, the Bristol Beaufighter and de Havilland Mosquito.

The Defiant continued to find use in gunnery training, target towing, electronic countermeasures and air-sea rescue. Among RAF pilots it had the nickname "Daffy".Wikipedia





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