One might have hoped that, after decades of development of aircraft such as the Spitfire, Boulton-Paul might have come up with a design that could even approximately match it for speed, when using the same engine. But then, any designer who has so little appreciation of weight in aircraft design that they put a whacking great hydraulic turret in the back of a single-engine, single-seat fighter, clearly should retrain as an ice-cream seller.
Thank you kindly! I filmed the aircraft to show my veteran friend but decided to post it as there was no other decent video on RU-vid for this aircraft.
I saw the two Balliols in Sri Lanka. They are in Rathmalana Air Force Museum.But what happend to the other 10 aircrafts? I also forgot to ask from the staff.
It wasn't the same engine as the Spitfire at all. It was a special model of the Merlin (35) made just for the Balliol. It had 500hp less than Spitfire engines. Performance was not just about weight difference at all. Do your research!