The Bristol Type 118 was a general-purpose military aircraft, a two-seat
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
built by the
Bristol Aeroplane Company
The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable a ...
in the early 1930s, powered by a
Bristol Mercury radial engine
The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...
and aimed at overseas markets. The Type 120 was a
Bristol Pegasus
The Bristol Pegasus is a British nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled radial aero engine. Designed by Roy Fedden of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, it was used to power both civil and military aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. Developed from t ...
-engined variant entered into an
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
competition and later used for armament tests. Two aircraft were built.
Development
The Type 118
was a
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
private venture, designed to provide a multi-role machine capable of acting as a
fighter,
bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...
,
reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities.
Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...
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
In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement.
The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induc ...
. Since the
Bristol Jupiter
The Bristol Jupiter was a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developments turn ...
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
The Bristol Jupiter was a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developments turn ...
XFA engine, with the Mercury V installed in the second machine which was labelled the Type 118A.
Frank Barnwell
Captain Frank Sowter Barnwell OBE AFC FRAeS BSc (23 November 1880 – 2 August 1938) was a Scottish aeronautical engineer. With his elder brother Harold, he built the first successful powered aircraft made in Scotland and later went on to a c ...
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
A strut is a structural component commonly found in engineering, aeronautics, architecture and anatomy. Struts generally work by resisting longitudinal compression, but they may also serve in tension.
Human anatomy
Part of the functionality o ...
and a three-strut
drag brace on each wing.
Frise-type ailerons were fitted only to the upper wings. The
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
was of fabric-covered metal construction,
[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.] similar in detail to that of the
Bulldog
The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.[tailplane
A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...]
was of cantilever, unbraced form. The
undercarriage
Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include:
*The landing gear of an aircraft.
*The ch ...
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
A Townend ring is a narrow- chord cowling ring fitted around the cylinders of an aircraft radial engine to reduce drag and improve cooling.
Development
The Townend ring was the invention of Dr. Hubert Townend of the British National Physica ...
.
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
The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a Water cooling, water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more me ...
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
The Scarff ring was a type of machine gun mounting developed during the First World War by Warrant Officer (Gunner) F. W. Scarff of the Admiralty Air Department for use on two-seater aircraft. The mount incorporated bungee cord suspension in eleva ...
. 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.
The Jaguar-engined first prototype, registered as ''G-ABEZ'' flew on 22 January 1931, piloted by
Cyril Uwins
Cyril Frank Uwins OBE, AFC, FRAeS (1896–1972) was a British test pilot who worked for Bristol Aeroplane Company, where he made the first flight of 58 types of aircraft. On 16 September 1932 he broke the world aeroplane height record by climbin ...
. 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
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
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
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
markings with the serial number ''K2873''. After these trials, this aircraft returned to
Filton
Filton is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, north of Bristol. Along with nearby Patchway and Bradley Stoke, Filton forms part of the Bristol urban area and has become an overflow settlement for the city. Filton Church d ...
and was stored until April 1935 when it was used as a testbed for the engine that became the two-speed supercharged
Bristol Pegasus
The Bristol Pegasus is a British nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled radial aero engine. Designed by Roy Fedden of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, it was used to power both civil and military aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. Developed from t ...
XVII.
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.
![B120](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/B120.jpg)
In April the Type 120 went to
Martlesham
Martlesham is a village in Suffolk, England about two miles (3 km) South-West of Woodbridge and East of Ipswich. It is often referred to as "old Martlesham" by locals in order to distinguish this old village from the much more recent Martl ...
as a competitor for the
Air Ministry specification
This is a partial list of the British Air Ministry (AM) specifications for aircraft. A specification stemmed from an Operational Requirement, abbreviated "OR", describing what the aircraft would be used for. This in turn led to the specification ...
G.4/31 to replace the ageing
Westland Wapiti
The Westland Wapiti was a British two-seat general-purpose military single-engined biplane of the 1920s. It was designed and built by Westland Aircraft Works to replace the Airco DH.9A in Royal Air Force service.
First flying in 1927, the Wa ...
and
Fairey Gordon
The Fairey Gordon was a British light bomber (2-seat day bomber) and utility aircraft of the 1930s.
The Gordon was a conventional two-bay fabric-covered metal biplane. It was powered by variants of the Armstrong Siddeley Panther IIa engine. A ...
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.
Specifications (Type 120)
References
Notes
Bibliography
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*
{{Bristol aircraft
1930s British military aircraft
Type 118