Bristol Type 159

Last updated

Type 159
Role Heavy bomber
National originUnited Kingdom
Manufacturer Bristol Aeroplane Company
StatusCancelled project
Primary user Royal Air Force
Number builtNone

The Bristol Type 159 was a British design for a four-engined heavy bomber by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, of Filton, Bristol. A mock-up was built but the project was cancelled and no aircraft were built. [1]

Contents

Design and development

In March 1939 the British Air Ministry issued specification B.1/39 for a heavy bomber to replace the Avro Manchester, Short Stirling and Handley Page Halifax. Bristol had submitted the Type 159, sometimes known as the Beaubomber which was a low-wing monoplane with a twin tail, using mainly components used by the Bristol Beaufort. It had a nose-wheel landing gear with the 15,000 lb (6,800 kg) bomb-load stored inside the inner wing. Four Hercules engines were the proposed engines that could be swapped for Rolls-Royce Griffons. The crew, apart from the bomb aimer, would be housed in an armoured monocoque structure with a dorsal and a ventral gun turret. The Type 159 and the Handley Page HP.60 design, a variant of the Halifax, were selected and the intention was to order two prototypes of each for evaluation. The Type 159 passed wind-tunnel for stability and low drag and with design well advanced a full-scale mock-up was ready by early 1940. [1]

It was intended to build a half-scale aircraft for flight testing but with the Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) concentrating on the production of fighters, further work on the Type 159 was stopped and the mock-up dismantled in May 1940. [1]

Specifications (Proposed)

Data from [1] Bristol Aircraft since 1910

General characteristics

Performance

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Barnes, 1988, pp. 308–311

Bibliography

  • Barnes, Chris, ed. (1988). Bristol Aircraft since 1910. London: Putnam. ISBN   0-85177-823-2.