Origin: United Kingdom
Year: 1937
Type: Fighter
Weight: 6,078 lb (2,763 kg)
Height: 11 ft 4 in (3.46 m)
Wingspan: 39 ft 4 in (11.99 m)
Length: 35 ft 4 in (10.77 m)
Max speed: 304 mph (489 km/h)
Range: 465 mi (749 km)
Ceiling: 31,000 ft(9,250 m)
Engine: 1 × Rolls-Royce Merlin III liquid-cooled V12 engine
Armament: 4 × 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns
Crew: 2

The Boulton Paul Defiant was a British single-engine fighter which saw service in the early days of World War Two. The aircraft was notable in that it had no forward firing armament and instead had its four .303 caliber machine guns placed in a turret on top of the aircraft in a concept known as a turret fighter. While such an arrangement took some Luftwaffe pilots by surprised initially, the Defiant quickly began to suffer heavy losses as their German opposition adapted to the unique design. However, the aircraft proved to be well-suited to the role of night fighter with later examples being fitted with radar to aid in intercepting Luftwaffe bombers in the dark. The Defiant was withdrawn from combat in 1942, though it continued to serve as an electronic countermeasures aircraft, target tug, rescue aircraft, and test-bed for experiments with ejections seats for several more years.