Bristol Brigand (airplane)
| Bristol Brigand | |
|---|---|
 Bristol 164 Brigand in Luga (Malta) |
|
| Type: | three-seater light ground attack bomber |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: |
Bristol Aircraft Company |
| First flight: |
December 1944 |
| Commissioning: |
1945 |
| Number of pieces: |
143 |
The Bristol Brigand was a ground attack aircraft owned by the Bristol Aircraft Company .
history
This aircraft was originally planned as a three-seat torpedo bomber with a Hercules radial engine, which was to replace the Bristol Beaufighter . After the Bristol Buckingham took over this, the design was changed and the aircraft was designed as a ground attack bomber with a short fuselage, no turret and a more powerful engine. The first flight of the prototype ( Type 164 ) powered by two Bristol Centaurus VII radial engines took place on December 4, 1944. In 1949 three squadrons of the RAF were equipped with brigands: No. 8 Squadron in Aden in July 1949, No. 45 Squadron in November 1949 in Ceylon and No. 84 Squadron in February 1949 in Habbaniyah / Iraq. 45 Squadron was relocated to Tengah / Singapore in December 1949, 84 Squadron in April 1950. There both squadrons were used to fight insurgents in Malaya. The brigand's use ended in February 1953 when the 84 Squadron was disbanded. The other two squadrons had already given up their brigand in the course of 1952. In the course of the mission, the 8 Squadron 11, the 45 Squadron 4 and the 84 Squadron 10 Brigand lost, mainly due to aircraft accidents. 16 machines that were used as Brigand-Met. (Mk-3) were found as a weather plane at No. 1301 Met Flight in Negombo / Ceylon used from June 1949 to November 1951. Nine newly built machines as well as a large number of conversions from B.1 were named Brigand-T. (Mk-4) used as a night chase or radar trainer. Other machines, including those from the newly built T.4, were converted as the Bristol Brigand-T. (Mk-5) is used.
Production numbers
| version | number |
|---|---|
| Prototypes | 4th |
| TF.1 | 14th |
| B.1 | 96 |
| Met.3 | 16 |
| T.4 | 9 |
| Pakistan | 2 |
| total | 141 |
| year | number |
|---|---|
| 1946 | 12 |
| 1947 | 5 |
| 1948 | 33 |
| 1949 | 70 |
| 1950 | 6th |
| 1951 | 9 |
| total | 135 |
Technical specifications
| Data | Parameter |
|---|---|
| crew | 3 |
| length | 14.15 m |
| span | 22.05 m |
| Max. Takeoff mass | 17,690 kg |
| drive | two Bristol Centaurus 57 radial engines, each with an output of 2,095 kW (2,850 hp) |
| Top speed | 567 km / h at 16,000 feet (4,875 meters) |
| Range | 3,185 km |
| Armament | four 20 mm cannons under the fuselage and 16 rockets in mounts under the wings or up to 907 kilograms of bombs under the fuselage |
Incidents
Only the data of 3 incidents of this type of aircraft with a total of 4 fatalities are currently available. Here are two of them:
- On July 2, 1956, the machine with the registration number RH753 crashed at Bemerton Heath, Salisbury in the county of Wiltshire , Great Britain with a crew of two due to a pilot error during take-off. There were no survivors.
- On March 3, 1956, a machine of this type with the registration number RH831 crashed near Colerne Airfield in the county of Wiltshire , UK during a failed emergency landing in which the machine brushed several trees. There were two deaths, the other two inmates survived.
literature
- Susan Harris: Encyclopedia of Airplanes - Technology, Models, Data. Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1994, page 211, ISBN 3-89350-055-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Air Britain: Aeromilitaria 1979, p. 3 ff.
- ↑ Air Britain 1/1979, p. 3 ff.
- ↑ accident report Bristol Brigand RH753 , Aviation Safety Network WikiBase (English), accessed on 2 September 2018th
- ↑ accident report Bristol Brigand RH831 , Aviation Safety Network WikiBase (English), accessed on 2 September 2018th