h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It is hardly accurate to claim that the Beaufighter was a better aircraft than the Whirlwind. It was a completely different aircraft doing a very different job and was technically inferior to the Whirlwind in most respects. The Whirlwind was potentially a superb aircraft that unfortunately was due mainly to its engines never developed to reveal that full potential. Indeed no other aircraft performed in a single mark for so long in that conflict. Had it had Merlins as Westland wished it would have potentially been a totally different story but the fact was that the war machine couldn't afford at that time to use twice the engines per aircraft while it never quite found its niche in the RAF as needs and tactics changed. It is certainly debatable that the aircraft that replaced it the Typhoon was even superior though that aircraft's later developments the Tempest and Fury were true stars. But that only goes to prove how important development is in the success of an aircraft.