Defiant turret firing forward

"The distance between the guns and the propeller is rather long, which would have made such synchronisation complex and would have resulted in a large rate of fire reduction. Distance between the gun and the propeller is important because the propeller does not always rotate at the same speed, and the longer the distance between the gun and the propeller, the more variation of blade position must be taken into account.

In theory it could still have been done. But the Defiant would still have a been a fighter with poor performance and low firepower. The RAF was actually well aware of the limitations of the Defiant, even before fighting began."

Emmanuel