Bristol Type 118

Last updated

Type 118 & 120
B118.jpg
Bristol 118
RoleMilitary general-purpose
National originUnited Kingdom
Manufacturer Bristol Aeroplane Company
Designer Frank Barnwell
First flight22 January 1931 (118)
29 January 1932 (120)
Number built2

The Bristol Type 118 was a general-purpose military aircraft, a two-seat biplane built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in the early 1930s, powered by a Bristol Mercury radial engine and aimed at overseas markets. The Type 120 was a Bristol Pegasus-engined variant entered into an Air Ministry competition and later used for armament tests. Two aircraft were built.

Contents

Development

The Type 118 [1] was a Bristol private venture, designed to provide a multi-role machine capable of acting as a fighter, bomber, reconnaissance or casualty-extraction aircraft for foreign air forces unable to afford a range of more specialised aircraft. The variety of roles required a two-seater and the need for high-altitude performance for the photo-reconnaissance role, for example, called for supercharging. Since the Bristol Jupiter radial engine design was ageing, the newer Bristol Mercury seemed a natural choice of powerplant. The first prototype was to have a supercharged Bristol Jupiter XFA engine, with the Mercury V installed in the second machine which was labelled the Type 118A. [1]

Frank Barnwell designed a clean single-bay biplane with staggered and unequal-span wings. Wire bracing was used only in the centre section; outboard of that was a single streamlined compression strut and a three-strut drag brace on each wing. Frise-type ailerons were fitted only to the upper wings. The fuselage was of fabric-covered metal construction, [2] similar in detail to that of the Bulldog. Rudder and elevators were horn balanced and the tailplane was of cantilever, unbraced form. The undercarriage was divided and attached to the fuselage with streamlined legs and struts. The Jaguar installation left the cylinder heads exposed, but later engines were cowled with a Townend ring. [1]

The pilot's cockpit was high and positioned below a cutout in the trailing edge of the upper wing. He had a synchronised .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun mounted in a trough on the port side. The observer's cockpit was behind the pilot, where he could be rear gunner, bomb aimer, photographer or radio operator. For the rear gunner's task there was a .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun mounted on a Scarff ring. For bombing and photography, he could reach a prone position with a downward view through windows in the floor. Alternatively this space could hold one person on a stretcher and a second could be carried under the removable rear fuselage decking. Bombs could be carried on external racks. [1]

The Jaguar-engined first prototype, registered as G-ABEZ flew on 22 January 1931, piloted by Cyril Uwins. It flew under the experimental registration R-3 during 1931 and received its airworthiness certificate that December. A planned Baltic sales tour was disrupted by disputes over engine-manufacturing licensing rights. In the meantime Air Ministry interest in the Type 118 had increased and they hired "R-3", now powered by a Mercury V, fitted with a four-blade propeller and stripped of armament for endurance and desert trials (in Iraq) of that engine from February 1932. During this time, the Type 118 wore RAF markings with the serial number K2873. After these trials, this aircraft returned to Filton and was stored until April 1935 when it was used as a testbed for the engine that became the two-speed supercharged Bristol Pegasus XVII. [1]

The second prototype, originally the Type 118A made its first flight, with the Mercury V engine that it was designed for and bearing the experimental marking R-6, on 29 January 1932 . By that time, though it had acquired a rotatable turret or cupola over the gunner's cockpit and a new type number, 120. The Mercury was a stopgap engine (though the Mercury V had been recently renamed the Pegasus) and a Pegasus I.M.3 replaced it that April. The cupola was a lightweight transparent structure that completely enclosed the gunner and rotated with his Lewis gun, its Scarff ring now mounted higher in the cockpit. It gave him protection from the slipstream, which was particularly helpful when he was standing to fire downwards. [1]

Bristol 120 B120.jpg
Bristol 120

In April the Type 120 went to Martlesham as a competitor for the Air Ministry specification G.4/31 to replace the ageing Westland Wapiti and Fairey Gordon but was not successful, chiefly because the Air Ministry had added torpedo bombing to the tasks required of the general-purpose aircraft. Despite this the Type 120 was bought by the Air Ministry and used to investigate the drag of the turret by flying with and without it. During this time, it was in RAF markings with the serial K3587. Continuing disputes over engine manufacturing licensing meant that Spanish interest in the Type 120 came to nothing. [1]

Specifications (Type 120)

Data from Barnes 1970, p. 242

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

Related Research Articles

Hawker Hedgehog

The Hawker Hedgehog was a three-seat reconnaissance biplane, to be used for naval scouting, produced to meet Air Ministry Specification 37/22.

Short Springbok

The Short Springbok was a two-seat, all-metal reconnaissance biplane produced for the British Air Ministry in the 1920s. All together six aircraft of the Springbok design were built but none entered service with the armed forces.

Bristol Type 84 Bloodhound

The Bristol Bloodhound was a British two-seat reconnaissance/fighter aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as a possible replacement for the Bristol F.2 Fighter for the Royal Air Force. It was unsuccessful, only four prototypes being built.

Blackburn Airedale

The Blackburn R.2 Airedale was a single-engine three-seat monoplane deck-landing aircraft for land and sea reconnaissance, built in the UK in 1924. Only two were built.

Blackburn Beagle

The Blackburn B.T.1 Beagle was a British single-engine, two-seat biplane bomber/torpedo aircraft from 1928. Designed to Air Ministry specifications which led to no contracts for any manufacturer, only one Beagle was built.

Gloster Goral

The Gloster Goral was a single-engined two-seat biplane built to an Air Ministry contract for a general-purpose military aircraft in the late 1920s. It did not win the contest and only one was built.

Gloster Goring

The Gloster Goring was a single-engined two-seat biplane designed to meet 1926 Air Ministry specifications for a day/torpedo bomber. It was not put into production and the one aircraft built served later as an engine testbed.

Bristol Berkeley

The Bristol Berkeley was built to a British government specification for a single-engine day or night bomber. Three of these two-seat biplanes were built, but no contract for further production was awarded.

Bristol Type 148

The Bristol Type 148 was a two-seat, single-engine low-wing monoplane built in 1937 to an Air Ministry specification for an army cooperation aircraft. It lost in the competition to the Westland Lysander and did not progress past the two prototypes that were built.

Vickers Type 253

The Vickers Type 253 was a single-engined two-seat biplane general-purpose military machine built to a 1930 government specification. It won a production contract, but this was transferred to the same company's monoplane equivalent, the Wellesley. Only one Type 253 was built.

Fairey G.4/31

The Fairey G.4/31 was a British single-engined, two-seat biplane contender for an Air Ministry specification for a multi-role or general purpose aircraft. Unsuccessful, only one was built.

Handley Page HP.28 Handcross

The Handley Page Handcross was a single-engined biplane day bomber built to an Air Ministry specification. It was not put into production and only the three prototypes were built.

Handley Page H.P.43

The Handley Page H.P.43 was a three-engined biplane bomber-transport built to an Air Ministry specification. It did not fly well and the biplane configuration was out-dated at completion; the only one constructed was later turned into a monoplane and led to the Handley Page H.P.54 Harrow.

Handley Page H.P.47

The Handley Page H.P.47 was a British single-engined low-wing monoplane built to an Air Ministry specification for a general-purpose bomber and torpedo bomber aircraft. Only one was built.

Westland Westbury

The Westland Westbury was a British twin-engined fighter prototype of 1926. Designed by Westland Aircraft it never entered service but played a useful role in the testing of the COW 37 mm gun. Only the two prototypes were completed.

Boulton Paul P.32

The sole Boulton & Paul P.32 was a British three-engined biplane built to an Air Ministry specification for a long range night bomber. A lack of engine availability slowed construction and by the time it went for tests the thinking on bomber types had moved on.

Westland Witch

The Westland Witch was an unsuccessful British bomber prototype, first flown in 1928. Only a single aircraft of this type was built.

The Short S.6 Sturgeon was a prototype single-engined biplane naval reconnaissance aircraft, built to an Air Ministry specification but mostly intended as a demonstrator of the corrosion resistance of duralumin aircraft structures. Two were made.

Short Gurnard

The Short Gurnard was a single-engined two-seat biplane naval fighter, built in the United Kingdom to an Air Ministry specification in 1929. It failed to win production orders and only two flew.

The Westland PV.7 was a private venture submission to a 1930s British specification for a general-purpose military aircraft with two crew. It was a single-engined, high-wing monoplane of promise, but was destroyed early in official tests.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Barnes 1970 , pp. 238–42
  2. Most aeronautical texts on pre-Second World War aircraft would describe this as all metal construction: until quite late in the 1930s the default position was that aircraft were fabric covered.

Bibliography