| B.R.7 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Role | two-seat military |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | The British and Colonial Aeroplane co. Ltd. |
| Designer | Henri Coandă |
| First flight | March 1913 |
| Number built | 8 (including one German-built machine) |
The Bristol B.R.7 was a Romanian-designed single-engine two-seat biplane built by Bristol to a Spanish government order in 1913. It failed to meet its specifications and the order was cancelled.
The Romanian aircraft designer Henri Coandă was appointed head designer at the Bristol Aeroplane Company in January 1912. He began by building the series of Bristol-Coanda Monoplanes, but when the structural failure of one of these [1] led to a War Office ban on the use of monoplanes by the RFC, Coandă turned to biplane designs. His first such effort, a two-seat single-engine machine, attracted the interest of both the Spanish and German governments. [2]
The Spanish requested the use of the 70 hp (50 kW) Renault engine which they already used in their Maurice Farmans. The German version was to be built by Deutsche Bristol-Werke using a 90 hp (70 kW) Daimler engine, so Coandă had to prepare a design suitable for both powerplants. The Renault-engined version become known as the B.R.7; the German design seems not to have had a distinct label. The first of five B.R.7s ordered for Spain appeared at the Olympia Aero Show in February 1913, flying for the first time in March at Larkhill. Its wings were of two-bay form with no stagger. There were two tandem cockpits, one under the wing and the other, for the pilot behind the trailing edge. Behind the cockpits, the fuselage was quite slender, carrying a nearly semi-circular tailplane with a one-piece elevator and a finless balanced rudder. The undercarriage had the unusual four-wheel form used by the monoplane, with a pair of large wheels mounted below the wing trailing edge and aft of the centre of gravity, together with a slightly smaller pair forward of the engine; the B.R.7 sat on the ground like a tricycle undercarriage aircraft. [2]
Early tests showed the wings of the B.R.7 produced too little lift because they used the lower camber associated with monoplanes. The wings were replaced with a set with greater camber, which improved performance but not by enough to meet the specification. Experiments with a four-bladed propeller also failed to produce sufficient improvement and the Spanish contract was cancelled. The second machine was lost to fire and the remaining four of the Spanish order flew rarely. A final, seventh B.R.7 was fitted with larger-span wings, but the only example to do much flying was the first prototype, which remained in service at Larkhill as an advanced trainer. [2]
The German-built Daimler-engined machine had wings of much-increased span (from 38 ft/11.58 m to 57 ft/17.37 m) on the upper plane and a consequent increase in wing area of 30%. [3] It also had a larger rudder and ailerons. It flew in July 1913. [2]
Data from Barnes 1964, p. 84
General characteristics
Performance
The Boxkite was the first aircraft produced by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company. A pusher biplane based on the successful Farman III, it was one of the first aircraft types to be built in quantity. As the type was used by Bristol for instruction purposes at their flying schools at Larkhill and Brooklands many early British aviators learned to fly in a Boxkite. Four were purchased in 1911 by the War Office and examples were sold to Russia and Australia. It continued to be used for training purposes until after the outbreak of the First World War.
The Bristol Scout was a single-seat rotary-engined biplane originally designed as a racing aircraft. Like similar fast, light aircraft of the period it was used by the RNAS and the RFC as a "scout", or fast reconnaissance type. It was one of the first single-seaters to be used as a fighter aircraft, although it was not possible to fit it with an effective forward-firing armament until the first British-designed gun synchronizers became available later in 1916, by which time the Scout was obsolescent. Single-seat fighters continued to be called "scouts" in British usage into the early 1920s.
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.
The Bristol Biplane Type 'T', sometimes called the Challenger-Dickson Biplane, was a derivative of the Bristol Boxkite. It was built in 1911 by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company and was designed as a cross-country racing aircraft for Maurice Tabuteau.
The Bristol T.B.8, or Bristol-Coanda T.B.8 was an early British biplane built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company and designed by the Romanian Henri Coandă. Fifty four Bristol T.B.8s were built, being mainly used as a trainer. A small number of Bristol T.B.8s were briefly used as bombers at the start of the World War I by the Royal Naval Air Service.
The Bristol Coanda Monoplanes were a series of monoplane trainers designed by the Romanian designer Henri Coandă for the British company British and Colonial Aeroplane Company.
The Bristol Gordon England biplanes were a series of early British military biplane aircraft designed by Eric Gordon England for the Bristol Aeroplane Company that first flew in 1912. Designed for easy ground transport, the aircraft could be quickly disassembled.
The Bristol Badger was designed to meet a British need for a two-seat fighter-reconnaissance aeroplane at the end of World War I. Despite the 1918 Armistice, three Badgers were delivered to the Air Board to develop air-cooled radial engines, particularly that which became the Bristol Jupiter; two other Badgers were also built.
The Bristol Babe was a British-built light single-seat biplane, intended for the private flyer and produced immediately after the First World War. Only two flew.
The Bristol Type 123 was a single-seat, single-engine biplane fighter built to a United Kingdom Air Ministry specification for a four-gun fighter in the early 1930s. Only one was built.
The Bristol Type 6 T.T.A was a British two-seat, twin-engine biplane, designed in 1915 as a defence fighter. Two prototypes were built, but the T.T.A. did not go into production.
The Hydro no.120 was a Romanian-designed two-seat, single-engine biplane configured as a single-float seaplane. Built by Bristol in 1913, it was lost on its first flight.
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.
The Avro Burga was built by Avro for R.F. Burga to test his unique system of lateral control. It was a single-engined two-seat monoplane, fitted with differentially operated surfaces above and below the central fuselage.
The Blackburn Type E was a development of the earlier Blackburn Mercury single-engined monoplanes, but was innovative in its use of steel tubing to construct the fuselage. It was built during 1912 to compete in the Military Aeroplane Trials. A single-seat version flew, but the military two-seater did not.
The Dunne D.7 was one of J. W. Dunne's swept wing tailless aircraft designed to have automatic stability, first flying in 1911. It was a single seat, single engined pusher monoplane developed from the unsuccessful D.6.
The Aerial Wheel Monoplane was an experimental British aircraft built during 1912 in order to compete in the Military Aeroplane Competition which was to be held at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain in August of that year. It was not assembled in time, and the aircraft was not allowed to enter the competition.
The Bristol Racing Biplane was a British single-seat biplane designed to combine the performance of a monoplane but using the strength of the biplane. It was designed by Robert Grandseigne and Léon Versepuy, who were supervised by George Challenger for the British & Colonial Aeroplane Company of Bristol, it crashed on its first flight.
The Bristol S.S.A.,, was an armoured scout built at Bristol in 1914 to fulfill a French government order.
The Bristol P.B.8, or Bristol-Coanda P.B.8', was an early British-built, Romanian-designed two-seat biplane trainer made by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1914. Only one was completed, which was never flown.
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bristol B.R.7 . |