Bristol Scout

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Bristol Scout
Bristol Scout C. Bristol Scout C.
Type: Fighter aircraft , reconnaissance aircraft
Design country:

United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom

Manufacturer:

Bristol Aircraft Company

First flight:

February 23, 1914

Production time:

1914-1916

Number of pieces:

374

A Bristol Scout equipped for ground combat in St. Omer in 1914 . Next to the cockpit is a rack with rifle grenades . The pilot had to remove the locking pin from the grenades with his teeth before throwing them down.

The Bristol Scout was a British military aircraft in World War I ; due to her small size, she was also known as the Bristol Baby .

Development history

After a previously commissioned project was canceled, Bristol designers Frank Barnwell and Harry Busteed adopted the present design in 1913 to convert it into a different aircraft. Barnwell completed the fuselage and connected it to a single- handled biplane structure and a modified tail unit. The aircraft, called the Bristol Scout-A, was tested with a 7-cylinder Gnôme rotary engine on February 23, 1914 and then provided with longer wings to improve flight characteristics. The machine was presented to the public at the London Exhibition Center in March . She took part in the London-Paris-London flight competition, but had to make an emergency watering in the canal because she was insufficiently refueled.

Bristol Scout A and B

In the summer of 1914 two more machines were built, which went as Scout A and B to Squadrons 3 and 5 of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in France. After the first operational experience, further orders followed.

In addition to its speed of over 150 km / h, the Scout had all the characteristics of a single-seater, but no appropriate armament was available. British pilots initially carried a Lee-Enfield rifle, a Mauser C96 pistol, and five rifle grenades attached to the right side of the fuselage. The Scout B with the serial number 648 was armed on both sides with a rifle firing sideways on the propeller forward.

Bristol Scout C.

Bristol Scout (above as a "parasitic plane" carried by a Felixstowe Porte Baby )

A total of 161 aircraft of the improved Bristol 1 Scout C were built between November 1914 and March 1916, 22 of which were RFC units and those of the RNAS (Royal Naval Air Service) were equipped with an 80 hp Gnome engine, the rest of the aircraft went to the RFC due to the lack of availability of this engine with an also 80 hp Le Rhóne engine.

In the two Bristol Scout Cs with the serial numbers 1609 and 1611, Captain Lanoe Hawker, who led the 6 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps , had a Lewis MG attached to the left side of the fuselage, based on this model. As the Hawker 1611 Scout flew, he succeeded on 25 July 1915 to shoot down two German aircraft and on 25 July 1915, a third between Passchendaele and Zillebeke to force to land, for which he became the first British fighter pilot with the Victoria Cross was awarded .

A number of other Scout Cs of the RNAS were also equipped with Lewis machine guns, partly on the fuselage, partly above the upper wing, and on the 5303 aircraft even a machine gun was attached so that it shot through the propeller circle, following the example the French Morane-Saulnier N had baffles attached to the propeller blades. Other naval aviation machines were armed with aviator arrows or four small bombs in order to attack enemy airships . Two aircraft were carried on board the aircraft carrier HMS Vindex , and successful flight attempts were made with a Porte baby flying boat as a carrier aircraft in order to increase the scouts' range as interceptors against zeppelins.

A total of 161 Scout Cs were delivered.

Bristol Scout D

The Bristol 2, 3, 4 and 5 operated as Scout D. These variants, introduced in November 1915, were equipped with a modified cooling and tank system, different engine mounts, modified struts and, in later versions, a larger tail rudder.

130 Bristol 3s, 60 Bristol 4s and three Bristol 5s were built, the latter with the 110 hp 9-cylinder Clerget engine. 80 machines were delivered to the RNAS, 130 to the RFC. Later some scouts were equipped with synchronized Vickers machine guns. As airship fighters, the scouts also received 48 Rankin flying arrows as drop ammunition.

The Bristol Scout, who had been used on the Western Front, in Macedonia and by the Australian Flying Corps in Egypt , were withdrawn from the front in May 1916; however, the last machines remained in service until the spring of 1917, when they too were handed over to training units. One scout each was delivered to the Australian and US aviation troops as a training aircraft. The planes were easy to fly and therefore very popular with pilots.

A total of 210 Scout D were delivered.

Whereabouts

An original Scout is no longer preserved today. However, there are some faithful replicas, such as the Bristol Scout D in the British Fleet Air Arm Museum in Ilchester. In Sywell (Northampton), an airworthy Scout C was built using original parts over a period of seven years. The machine, which bears the markings of a Scout of the No 2 Wing from 1916, flew for the first time on July 9, 2015 from Bicester Airfield. This is currently (2015) the only airworthy Bristol Scout.

variants

In addition to the series types mentioned, other test types were built:

  • An aircraft was built by the Bristol Scout SSA , an armed combat single-seater, and delivered to the French authorities.
  • The GB1 was designed but not manufactured as a single-seat, high-speed sports aircraft.
  • The S.2A was a two-seat trainer version of the Scout D. Two of these were made.
  • Three prototypes of the Scout F were built as armed fighters. However, it was too late for use.

Military users

AustraliaAustralia Australia
Kingdom of GreeceKingdom of Greece Greece
United Kingdom 1801United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom

Technical data Bristol 3 Scout D

Three side view of the RNAS Bristol Scout C
Parameter Data
crew 1
length 6.02 m
span 8.33 m
height 2.59 m
Wing area 18.59 m²
Empty mass 345 kg
Max. Takeoff mass 567 kg
Engine an air-cooled rotary motor Clerget or Le Rhône, 80 hp
Top speed 138 km / h at 3050 m
161 km / h near the ground
Ascent time to 3050 m 18:30 min
Flight duration 2 h
Armament 1 MG 7.7 mm ( Lewis )

See also

List of aircraft types

Individual evidence

  1. cf. http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/bristol.html
  2. cf. http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/bristol.html
  3. cf. http://www.awm.gov.au/units/subject_20886.asp
  4. cf. Cecil Lewis: Farwell to Wings. March 1916.
  5. cf. http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/bristol.html
  6. cf. History in Aviation at [1] , July 2, 2010
  7. http://www.fleetairarm.com/en-GB/exhibit/Bristol_Scout_D/4_6_42.aspx
  8. Bristol Scout replica flies . In: Airplane Monthly September 2015, p. 8

literature

  • JM Bruce: The Bristol Scouts. (Windsock Datafile No.44) Albatros Publications, Berkhamsted 1994, ISBN 0-948414-59-6 .
  • Kenneth Munson: Fighter Planes 1914-18. Orell-Füssli-Verlag, Zurich 1968.
  • Heinz Nowarra: The Development of Airplanes 1914–1918. Munich 1958.

Web links

Commons : Bristol Scout  - collection of images, videos and audio files