Bristol

The British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Ltd was founded in 1910 by Sir George White - the owner of Bristol Tramways - to manufacture aircraft at Filton near Bristol. Unlike most aviation companies at the time, started by enthusiasts with little financial backing or business organisation, British and Colonial was from its outset well funded and run by experienced businessmen. The Company's initial venture was a licensed and improved version of the Voisin brothers' Zodiac 'Boxkite' biplane, which was shown at the Aero Show at Olympia in March 1910. The Zodiac was extremely underpowered, and never flew.
Production of Bristol's first successful design, the Bristol Boxkite, started in a former tramway shed at Filton in June 1910. A month later the Company formed a flying school, with premises at Brooklands near London, and Larkhill on Salisbury Plain. This flying school was regarded as one the best in the world between 1910 and 1914. By 1914, 308 of the 664 Royal Aero Club certificates issued had been gained at the Company's schools.

The Company expanded rapidly, reaching a payroll of 200 by the outbreak of the First World War. The chief designer (styled chef technique) from January 1912 until October 1914 was the Romanian engineer Henri Coandă. Coandă was succeeded by Frank Barnwell, who was to become one of the world's foremost aeronautical engineers. One of Barnwell's first designs, the Bristol Scout, was one of the first fighter aircraft to enter British service. Later in the war came the mass-produced two-seat Bristol Fighter, which was one of the backbones of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), later the Royal Air Force (RAF). - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Aircraft_Ltd

Bristol Fighter

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The Bristol F.2 Fighter was a British two-seat biplane fighter and reconnaissance aircraft of the First World War flown byBristol f2b Fighter , (c) James Hucklethe Royal Flying Corps. It is often simply called the Bristol Fighter or popularly the "Brisfit" or "Biff". Despite being a two-seater, the F.2B proved to be an agile aircraft that was able to hold its own against opposing single-seat fighters. Having overcome a disastrous start to its career, the F.2B's solid design ensured that it remained in military service into the 1930s and surplus aircraft were popular in civil aviation.

The Bristol fighter's basic design stemmed from design studies by Frank Barnwell in March 1916 for an aircraft in the same class as the R.E.8 and the F.K.8 - the Type 9 R.2A with the 160 hp Beardmore engine and the R.2B, powered by the 150 hp Hispano Suiza. Neither type was built as the new 190 hp (142 kW) Rolls-Royce Falcon I inline engine became available, and Barwell designed a new aircraft around the Rolls-Royce engine. This, the Type 12 F.2A was a more compact design, intended from the outset as a two-seat fighter: it first flew on 9 September 1916. The F.2A was armed in what had by then become the standard manner for a British two-seater: one synchronised fixed, forward-firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun, and one flexible .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun mounted on a Scarff ring in the observer's rear cockpit. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_F2b

Bristol Fighter, May 2008

Recording of Bristol F2b Fighter, May 2008. Bristol f2b Fighter SpectrographThe Brisfit is probably my favourite sounding aircraft. Recorded using NT4 and FR2-LE rig at Old Warden.

Bristol Fighter Recorded June 2009

Bristol Fighter Recorded June 2009. Recorded using NT4 and FR2-LE rig.

Bristol Fighter 1, recording date unknown

The preserved Bristol Fighter operated by the Shuttleworth Collection. Recording date unknown.

Bristol Fighter 2, recording date unknown

The preserved Bristol Fighter operated by the Shuttleworth Collection. Recording date unknown.

Bristol M1C

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The Bristol M.1 Bullet was a British monoplane fighter of the First World War.

The M.1A prototype was designed by Frank Barnwell in 1916 and built as a private venture by the Bristol Aeroplane Corporation. The War Office ordered four aircraft for evaluation - designated M.1B - which had a single .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun mounted on the port wing and a clear-view cut-out in the starboard wing to give the pilot more downward visibility.

A production order for 125 aircraft was placed on 3 August 1917. Designated M.1C, this version was fitted with a Le Rhône rotary engine and had a Vickers machine gun centrally-mounted in front of the pilot. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_M.1

Bristol M1C

Recording of the Bristol M.1C at the Shuttleworth Collection

Bristol Boxkite

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The Bristol Boxkite was an improved version of the early Henri Farman biplane, built in 1910 by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company.

The Boxkite was developed at Britain's first aircraft, Filton, Bristol (later to be known as the Bristol Aeroplane Company).

The aircraft was powered by a 70 horsepower "Le Rhone" rotary engine and first flew on the 29 July 1910.

 

Bristol Boxkite, recorded May 2008

Bristol Boxkite, recorded May 2008.This is one of three Bristol Boxkite replicas built to be used in the film, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. One was sent to Australia, one to the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, and this one, operated at the Shuttleworth Collection.