The Fairey Battle light bomber is best remembered for the courage of its crews and the sacrifices they made during the fighting in France in 1940. 115 of some 150 Battles deployed with the British Expeditionary Force were lost in the fighting, many while making suicidal attacks against overwhelming odds. The Battle was designed in 1934 as a metal monoplane replacement for the Hawker Hart biplane bomber. Originally meant to use an 1800 horsepower, 24 cylinder engine driving contra-rotating propellers, early failure of that design resulted in the Battle relying instead on the smaller Merlin engine that powered the Hurricane and Spitfire. With only 1030 horsepower available, the Battle was severely underpowered and slow. Having a defensive armament of only two machine guns, one fixed and one for the gunner, it was also grievously under-armed. Obsolete and unarmored, it suffered accordingly in combat. Little known is that, after France fell, over 100 Battles remained in operational service in England ready to defend it from invasion. Battles were even used to make some cross-channel raids and to attack E-boats during the Battle of Britain. By 1941, most were relegated to training duties as their squadrons converted to other, more capable aircraft.
DEFENSIVE GUNS: The Battle's weak defensive armament consists only of a single .303 machinegun firing to the rear, partially blocked by the airplane's tail structure.
