One special day in 1938 the Boulton Paul P82 – the turret fighter that was to become the Defiant – was rolled out onto a field for the men from the Air Ministry to look at. They had seen it without its turret nine months earlier, but this time it had teeth.
It was still a prototype being offered for acceptance, so the pilot and technicians were still works men – and dressed in white coveralls. One armament fitter opened the sliding perspex screens of the turret and perched himself on the edge of the turret ring to adjust the guns.
How do we know? Someone took a clear picture of the plane at the time with the chap perched there.
It was finished in plain matte aluminium but the works men polished the engine cover until it shone. They must have given the test pilot a headache because very shortly afterwards they painted a rather modern-looking anti-glare panel all along the nose.
My thanks to Bill and Gaynor for this plane – it was a Christmas kit that just cried out for a special treatment.
The Little World 
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