May 1949: The Boulton Paul Balliol
The Boulton Paul Balliol had just about everything the RAF and Fleet Air Arm could want from an advanced trainer, writes Jason Ford
Specifications defined by the Ministry of Supply asked for an all-purpose service training platform with high performance and good manoeuvrability. It had to be suitable for training in day or night flying, gunnery, navigation, bombing, photography, or glider towing. Finally, the new aircraft had to be ‘readily adaptable for deck landing’.
Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd delivered on the specs with the design of three Balliol variants, namely the Mk. l with an Armstrong Siddeley Mamba or Rolls-Royce Dart gas turbine engine; the Mk. 2, with a Rolls-Royce Merlin twelve-cylinder vee engine; and the P.l08, with a Bristol Mercury engine.
By the time The Engineer visited the company’s facilities in Wolverhampton, six prototypes had been built and a small-scale preproduction order for 17 Mk. 2 aircraft had been received. In the air, the aircraft was said to perform as well as the British fighters that took part in the Battle of Britain.
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