In 1919, Frank Barnwell crashed the MR1 – the first all-metal airframe produced by Bristol and a development of the F2B – into a tree at Farnborough, successfully decapitating the tree and writing the airframe off in the process.
Engine: 1 x 140hp Hispano-Suiza
Take-off weight: 1276 kg / 2813 lb
Empty weight: 772 kg / 1702 lb
Wingspan: 12.85 m / 42 ft 2 in
Length: 8.23 m / 27 ft 0 in
Height: 3.12 m / 10 ft 3 in
Wing area: 42.55 sq.m / 458.00 sq ft
Max. speed: 177 km/h / 110 mph
The prototype Bristol M.1A, designed by Frank Barnwell with a 110 hp Clerget engine, flew for the first time on 14 July 1916. Streamlined for its day, it reached a top speed of 132 mph.
Four M.1B’s were built for service trials, differing from the prototype only in having a pyramid-shape wing support structure, in place of the former curved cabane, and a 7.7mm Vickers machine-gun on the port side of their front fuselage and a clear-view cut-out panel in the starboard wing root to afford the pilot a measure of downward visibility.
A production order for 125 aircraft was placed on 3 August 1917 as M.1s. Powered by a 110hp Le Rhone 9J nine-cylinder rotary engine, the M.1C had a centrally-mounted Vickers gun, but its subsequent operational career was largely confined to the Middle East where 33 M.1Cs were sent during 1917-18.
Only five squadrons were partly equipped with the M1 for operational use although a number were issued to flying schools. No aircraft of this type were issued to RFC squadrons based in France, the 97km/h landing speed being considered too high for small Western Front airfields.
Replica: Northern Aeroplane Workshops Bristol M1C
M.1A
Engine: 110 hp Clerget
Seats: 1
M.1B
Engine: 110 hp Clerget
Seats: 1
M.1C
Engine: 110hp Le Rhone 9J nine-cylinder rotary
Wingspan: 9.37 m / 30 ft 9 in
Length: 6.23 m / 20 ft 5 in
Height: 2.37 m / 7 ft 9 in
Wing area: 13.47 sq.m / 144.99 sq ft
Empty weight: 406 kg / 895 lb
Take-off weight: 611 kg / 1347 lb
Fuel capacity: 18 gal
Max. speed: 209 km/h / 130 mph at SL
Service ceiling: 20,000 ft
Endurance: 1 hr 45 min
Armament: 1 x Vickers 7.7mm mg
Seats: 1
1920
Bristol Bullet
Engine: 1 x 450hp Bristol Jupiter II
Take-off weight: 1044 kg / 2302 lb
Empty weight: 817 kg / 1801 lb
Wingspan: 9.50 m / 31 ft 2 in
Length: 7.34 m / 24 ft 1 in
Height: 2.95 m / 9 ft 8 in
Wing area: 27.41 sq.m / 295.04 sq ft
Max. Speed: 250 km/h / 155 mph
Endurance: 2 hr 30 min
Crew: 1
The Bristol Babe was the creation of Frank Barnwell, Bristol’s chief designer. It was aimed at the private owner flyer and was a small single-engined single-seat biplane with unswept staggered single-bay wings of unequal span. Full-span ailerons were fitted on the top wing only. The fuselage was plywood-skinned, with fabric covering it for protection. The cockpit was below the upper wing trailing edge with rounded decking aft to the tail. The fin and rudder were generous and rounded, the undercarriage a conventional single-axle plus tailskid arrangement.
The original intention was to use the 60 hp (50 kW) ABC Gadfly radial, but in April 1919 ABC pulled out of aero-engine manufacture. A possible alternative was the 40 hp (30 kW) flat-twin Siddeley Ounce currently being developed, so a third Babe was begun as a testbed. In the meantime, Barnwell resurrected a 1911 Viale 35 hp five-cylinder radial engine of 45 hp (34 kW) that had been installed in an Avro Type F and which had been put into storage following a crash. This engine ran satisfactorily for up to half an hour, after which it tended to overheat. This was installed in the second Babe which made its first flight on 28 November 1919. The pilot, Cyril Uwins reported that it was an easy aircraft for an experienced pilot but rather unstable for a novice.
Though it was useful for testing, the old Viale was not reliable enough for sale, so following discussions at the Paris Aero Show in November 1919, two seven-cylinder 60 hp (50 kW) Le Rhône Type 7B2 rotary engines were ordered for the first two Babes. The third Babe appeared at this show with an incomplete Ounce engine.
The second Babe built was referred to as the Babe I when it had the Viale engine and then as the Babe III with the Le Rhône engine. The Le Rhône-powered first machine was the other Babe III. The Ounce-powered third machine, designated Babe II, never flew, but the two Babe IIIs did and were registered over the winter of 1919-20.
The first Babe underwent a drastic modification in May 1920 when it received a thick cantilever monoplane wing. Safety concerns prevented its testing and by February 1921 both aircraft were off the Civil Register. The Viale engine is now in the Science Museum, London. In the retrospective allocation of Bristol type numbers made in 1923, the Babe I was labelled Type 30, the Babe IIs as Type 46 and the unflown Babe III the Type 46A.
Engine: 1 x 45hp Viale
Wingspan: 5.99 m / 19 ft 8 in
Wing area: 10.03 sq.m / 107.96 sq ft
Length: 4.55 m / 14 ft 11 in
Height: 1.75 m / 5 ft 9 in
Take-off weight: 310 kg / 683 lb
Empty weight: 209 kg / 461 lb
Max. Speed: 137 km/h / 85 mph
Ceiling: 3048 m / 10000 ft
Crew: 1
Babe III
Powerplant: 1 × Le Rhône Type 7B2, 60 hp (45 kW)
Wingspan: 19 ft 8 in (6.00 m)
Wing area: 108 sq ft (10.0 m2)
Length: 14 ft 11 in (4.55 m)
Height: 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Empty weight: 460 lb (209 kg)
Gross weight: 840 lb (381 kg)
Maximum speed: 107 mph (172 km/h, 93 kn)
Service ceiling: 15,000 ft (4,570 m)
Crew: one
The Jupiter Fighter was essentially an adaptation of the F.2B airframe to take a 425hp Bristol Jupiter IV engine and an oleo-type undercarriage. Three conversions were completed, the first of these flying in June 1923. One of the three Jupiter Fighters was purchased by the Swedish government and entered service with Flygkompaniet in May 1924. The first Jupiter Fighter had crashed on 23 November 1923 as a result of an engine seizure at high altitude, and, in September 1924, the third example was converted as a dual-control trainer.
Engine: 425hp Bristol Jupiter IV
Take-off weight: 1397 kg / 3080 lb
Empty weight: 993 kg / 2189 lb
Wingspan: 11.96 m / 39 ft 3 in
Length: 7.62 m / 25 ft 0 in
Height: 2.89 m / 9 ft 6 in
Wing area: 37.62 sq.m / 404.94 sq ft
Max. speed: 216 km/h / 134 mph
Intended as a successor to the F.2B two-seat fighter-reconnaissance aircraft, the F.2C Badger was designed for the 320hp ABC Dragonfly I nine-cylinder radial. Three prototypes were ordered. Armament comprised two fixed 7.7mm Vickers machine guns and a 7.7mm Lewis gun mounted on a Scarff ring in the rear cockpit.
The first prototype suffered a crash landing because of an engine failure during its first take-off on 4 February 1919, but was rebuilt and flown. The second prototype was completed with a nine-cylinder Cosmos Jupiter of 450hp and flew on 24 May 1919, but later had a Dragonfly substituted for the Jupiter. A third aircraft was completed as the Badger II with a Cosmos Jupiter engine and redesigned wings, this being re-engined in 1921 with a 385hp Jupiter II (this power plant having meanwhile been taken over by Bristol) and subsequently being used primarily for engine development purposes.
F.2C Badger
Engine: 320hp ABC Dragonfly I nine-cylinder radial
Take-off weight: 1430 kg / 3153 lb
Empty weight: 884 kg / 1949 lb
Wingspan: 11.20 m / 36 ft 9 in
Length: 7.21 m / 23 ft 8 in
Height: 2.76 m / 9 ft 1 in
Wing area: 33.18 sq.m / 357.15 sq ft
Max. speed: 217 km/h / 135 mph
In March 1916 the design was begun of a 120 hp Beardmore powered tractor replacement for the B.E. pusher scouts. The type was designated R.2A and was intended to be armed with one wing mounted Lewis machine gun and another for the observer on a Scarff ring. At the same time a similar design using the 150 hp Hispano Suiza was produced, but lack of power from the Beardmore caused the designer, Captain Frank Barnwell, to produce a new design using the new 190 hp Rolls Royce Falcon and with the designation F.2A. This was an unequal span two bay biplane with its fuselage, tapered to the rear mounted mid way between the wings.
Two prototypes were completed by the early autumn of 1916, one with the Rolls-Royce Falcon engine (A3303), the other with the 150 hp Hispano Suiza. Prototype A3303 was first flown at Filton on 9 September 1916, and after successful trials a first batch of 50 Rolls Royce powered production F.2As was ordered with a synchronized Vickers machine gun mounted in the top of the engine cowling in addition to the Scarff mounted Lewis, entering service with No.48 squadron in February 1917.
Meanwhile the second, Hispano Suiza powered, prototype had been modified to improve the pilot’s view and given a larger fuel tank, increased ammunition stowage and a modified lower wing affording a small increase in gross area. New horizontal tail surfaces of greater span and increased aspect ratio were introduced. Further production machines were ordered with the 190 hp Rolls-Royce Falcon I and the designation F.2B; after the first 150 the 220 hp Falcon II was substituted for a further 50, and production was intended to continue with the 275 hp Falcon III. F.2B deliveries began on 13 April 1917, and the success of this type led to the decision to re-equip all RFC fighter-reconnaissance squadrons with F.2Bs.
By the autumn of 1917 production of the aircraft was outstripping that of the engine, and the 200 hp Hispano Suiza was substituted in the aircraft intended for reconnaissance squadrons, but this proved unreli¬able and was replaced by the 200 hp Sunbeam Arab in a modified nose. Some later F.2Bs were fitted with the 220 hp Siddeley Puma and a number of subcontractors were given contracts to produce the F.2B, 3050 being completed by the end of 1918.
Production continued until September 1919, by which time a total number of 4,747 had been completed, 3,126 of these by the parent company, the last to the RNZAF. Of the final batch, 153 were delivered with the 200hp Sunbeam Arab engine and 18 with the 230hp Siddeley Puma. When the RAF was re-established on a peacetime footing, the F.2B was adopted as standard for the army co-operation role and reinstated in production for this task as the Mk II, others being refurbished to similar standards. Fifty structurally revised aircraft delivered in 1926 were designated as Mk IIIs, all surviving aircraft of this mark being converted in 1928 as dual control Mk IVs for a final total of 3,576. It was finally withdrawn from RAF service in 1932.
The greatest number of F.2Bs used the Falcon engines, however, and it was these fighter/reconnaissance machines which won the Bristol Fighter its reputation though only after some severe early setbacks.
The first F.2A unit to arrive in France was 48 Squadron, RFC, in March 1917, and their first patrol ended in disaster. On April 5 six of their fighters were attacked by Manfred von Richthofen’s Jasta 11 and four were shot down. Further combat failures followed before it was realized that the fault lay in the tactics, not in the aircraft. Previous fighting scouts had the observer’s gun as their primary if not only armament, but the F.2As synchronized Vickers was a much more potent combat weapon, and once the pilot’s learned to aim the whole aircraft at the target the Fighter never looked back. F.2Bs of 48 Squadron accounted for 148 enemy aircraft by the time of the Armistice. As well as mounting offensive scouting patrols, F.2Bs were used as bomber escorts and bomber intercepters and on, ground attack missions, for which they could carry up to 12.9 kg (20 lb) fragmentation bombs. Because of their success their introduction to reconnaissance squadrons was delayed almost until the end of the war.
Bristol Fighters also served with distinction in Italy, while in Palestine they equipped 1 Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps. Ross Smith of 1 AFC scored the majority of his victories with the F2B. Numbers were also used by Home Defence squadrons. 3,101 were produced through the end of WW 1.
In July 1917 the Bristol Fighter was adopted by the British War Office as the standard model for all fighter-reconnaissance squadrons. This led to a greater demand for the aircraft than the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company could handle, so production was undertaken by several other companies. As production of the aircraft increased Rolls-Royce found they could not keep up with the demand for Falcon engines, so several alternative powerplants were tried before the 200 hp Sunbeam Arab was chosen. Although Bristol Fighters fitted with this engine tended to be somewhat underpowered, such was the demand for the aircraft that several hundred were delivered to the Royal Flying Corps.
It proved so successful that it equipped 14 RFC squadrons and remained in RAF service until 1932. After the First World War the F.2B became the standard RAF army cooperation aircraft, serving with the RAF until 1932 in Germany, the Middle East and India. Small numbers were supplied to Belgium, Greece, the Republic of Ireland, New Zea¬land, Norway and Spain, and SABCA in Belgium built 40, with 300 hp Hispano Suiza engines, under licence in 1925. In 1927 a Mexican purchasing commission placed contracts in the UK for 10 new Hispano-Suiza engined Bristol Fighters.
The Bristol Fighter saw service in New Zealand when a pair of First World War standard aircraft (H1557 and H1558) arrived in August 1919. A further five (6856-6859, and 7120) arrived in 1825 and 1926, and together they formed the backbone of the New Zealand Permanent Air Force and later the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Operating as Army co-operation, advanced trainers and aerial survey aircraft, they were used extensively, and for a time in the 1920s and early 1930s they were the only armed aircraft in the country. By the time the surviving four aircraft were withdrawn in 1936 (two had been destroyed in fatal crashes and one was withdrawn in 1930 because of its ago) they were the last Bristol Fighters in service anywhere in the world.
Production of the Bristol Fighter continued until 1919, by which time approximately 4469 had been built. In a modified form and known as the Mark IIIa, it continued in service in RAF Army Co-operation Squadrons until 1932.
The US Army had become interested in the type when the United States entered the First World War in 1917, and a contract for 1,000 planes placed with Fisher Body Corp was cancelled and reassigned to Curtiss, to be powered by the 400hp Liberty 12. The Liberty proved too heavy for the airframe and was responsible for a series of crashes. McCook Field experiments on the pattern plane supplied by RAF (A7207) showed that its Hispano-Suiza was the ideal match, so the contract was cancelled in July 1918 after 26 planes (AS34232/34257) had been built as O-1. Most of those were rebuilt with a monocoque plywood fuselage and refitted with 300hp Wright-Hisso H, others experimentally with 280hp Liberty 8, and all redesignated as B-1.
Further production as B-1 was then handed over to Dayton-Wright. Two prototypes of another modified F.2B design were produced as the B 3 and B 4 (later XB 1 and XB 2), and 40 production aircraft with the designation XB-1A, powered by 300 hp Wright engines and armed with twin Browning machine guns, were built by Dayton-Wright as night observation aircraft.
Replica:
Storo Bristol F.2B
Bristol F2A
Engine: 190 hp Falcon I.
Span: 11.96 m (39 ft 3 in).
Length: 7.85 m (25 ft 9 in).
Gross weight: 1210 kg (2670 lb).
Maximum speed: 177 km/h (110 mph).
F2B Fighter
Engine: Rolls Royce Falcon III, 275 hp
Wingspan: 39 ft 3 in / 11.99 m
Wing area: 37.68 sq.m / 405.58 sq ft
Wing chord: 5 ft. 6 in.
Length: 25 ft 10 in / 7.87 m
Height: 9 ft 9 in / 2.97 m
Empty weight: 875 kg / 1929 lb
Max take off weight: 2593.1 lb / 1176.0 kg
Fuel capacity: 45 gal
Max. speed: 110 kts / 203 km/h / 125 mph at SL
Service ceiling: 10827 ft / 3300 m
Absolute ceiling: 21,500 ft
Range: 252 nm / 467 km
Rate-of-Climb: 869ft/min (265m/min)
Climb to 6500 ft: 6.5 min
Endurance: 3 hours.
Crew: 2
Armament: 1x MG 7,7mm Vickers, 1 or 2 x MG 7,7mm Lewis
Bombload: 12 x 20 lb / 240 lb. (110 kg.)
F2B
Engine: Sunbeam Arab, 200 hp
Empty weight: 1733 lb
Loaded weight: 2630 lb
Wing area: 406 sq.ft
Wing loading: 6.4 lb/sq.ft
Armament: 1 x Vickers mg, 1 or 2 Lewis mg
Crew: 2
F2B
Engine: Hispano-Suiza, 200 hp
Span: 39 ft 3 in
Length: 24 ft 9 in
Height: 9 t 6 in
Empty weight: 1733 lb
Loaded weight: 2630 lb
Wing area: 406 sq.ft
Wing loading: 6.4 lb/sq.ft
Armament: 1 x Vickers mg, 1 or 2 Lewis mg
Crew: 2
Climb to 6500 ft: 8.7 min
In March 1916 the design was begun of a 120 hp Beardmore powered tractor replacement for the B.E. pusher scouts. The type was desig¬nated R.2A and was intended to be armed with one wing mounted Lewis machine gun and another for the observer on a Scarff ring. At the same time a similar design using the 150 hp Hispano Suiza was produced, but lack of power from the Beardmore caused the designer, Captain Frank Barnwell, to produce a new design using the new 190 hp Rolls Royce Falcon and with the designation F.2A. This was an unequal span two bay biplane with its fuselage, tapered to the rear mounted mid way between the wings.
The first of two prototypes was flown on 9 September 1916, one with the Rolls¬-Royce engine, the other with the 150 hp Hispano Suiza. After successful trials a first batch of 50 Rolls Royce powered pro-duction F.2As was ordered on 28 August armed with a single forward-firing 0.393 Vickers machine gun controlled by a Constantinesco interrupter mechanism to fire through the propeller arc, and either single or twin 0.303 Lewis machine guns on a Scarff ring in the observer’s position.
Deliveries began early in 1917 and it entered service in March 1917 as the first British two-seat fighter. Compared to single-seat fighters of the day such as the Sopwith Pup and Camel the Bristol Fighter was huge, with a wingspan of almost 40 feet and weighing almost a ton fully loaded. Initial operational experience in April 1917 was disappointing, due to the combat techniques used. Confidence in the type was restored when newly-evolved methods were proved successful.
Meanwhile, the improved model had been evolved, the 51st and subsequent production aircraft being of this standard, and delivery of the F.2B resulting in the withdrawal from frontline use of the F.2A.
Take-off weight: 1210 kg / 2668 lb
Empty weight: 783 kg / 1726 lb
Wingspan: 11.96 m / 39 ft 3 in
Length: 7.87 m / 25 ft 10 in
Height: 2.89 m / 9 ft 6 in
Wing area: 36.14 sq.m / 389.01 sq ft
Max. speed: 177 km/h / 110 mph
A derivative of the Scout D intended to meet an Admiralty specification for a two-seat fighter, the S.2A had side-by-side seating and was intended to be armed with a single 7.7mm Lewis gun. In the event, it was rejected by the Admiralty in favour of the Sopwith 1/2 Strutter, but work continued on the two prototypes at the request of the War Office which envisaged the type as potential an advanced trainer for the RFC.
The two prototypes were completed in May and June 1916 respectively, being powered by the 110hp Clerget engine (although one was later re-engined with a 100hp Gnome Monosoupape), and were delivered to the Central Flying School at Upavon. They were found to be manoeuvrable and fast, but no further development was undertaken.
Take-off weight: 635 kg / 1400 lb
Wingspan: 8.58 m / 28 ft 2 in
Length: 6.48 m / 21 ft 3 in
Height: 3.05 m / 10 ft 0 in
Max. speed: 153 km/h / 95 mph
In 1916, Captain Barnwell, not satisfied with the Royal Aircraft Company R.E.8, of the Bristol Aeroplane Company produced the 120 hp Beardmore powered tractor R.2A.
This R.2A was a two-seat machine with a pilot-operated forward-firing synchronised Lewis Gun, and an observer close behind with a folding seat to enable him to stand and fire a single Lewis gun mounted on a rotating ring. To improve the pilot’s view, and the rear gunner’s forward field of fire, the wings were mounted low in relation to the fuselage. Towards the rear of the aircraft, the fuselage was tapered to a small cross section and about a third of the fin and rudder was placed below the horizontal tailplane; increasing the gunner’s field of fire in that direction. After some modification, an engine change and armament rethink, the company received an order for 50 aircraft. The first of these flew on 09 September 1916.
The R.2A was to have been powered by a 120 hp Beardmore engine, but by this stage Rolls-Royce had produced the 190 hp Falcon I. Bramwell decided that with the extra power provided by the Falcon I the R.2A could be transformed from a reconnaissance aircraft to a fighter, so it duly became the F.2A.
