The Boulton & Paul P.3 Bobolink was a
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
single-engined single-seat
fighter aircraft. It was built by
Boulton & Paul Ltd
Boulton & Paul Ltd was a British general manufacturer from Norwich, England that became involved in aircraft manufacture.
Jeld Wen Inc. bought Boulton & Paul (along with another joinery company John Carr) from the Rugby Group plc in 1999 to ...
.
Development and design
The ''Bobolink'' was the first aeroplane designed by Boulton & Paul Limited of Norwich. The company was a manufacturer of wooden buildings but during World War I it, like many other companies, built aircraft under Ministry contracts. Aircraft built included the
Sopwith 1½ Strutter and
Sopwith Camel
The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the ...
.
The British
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 ...
requested proposals to replace the Sopwith Camel. Boulton & Paul designed and constructed the Bobolink and entered it in that competition. The
prototype first flew in early 1918, undergoing official trials in March of that year.
The Bobolink had two-bay biplane wings and was powered by the same
Bentley BR2
The Bentley B.R.2 was a nine-cylinder British rotary aircraft engine developed during the First World War by the motor car engine designer W. O. Bentley from his earlier Bentley BR.1. Coming as it did near the end of the war, the BR.2 was built ...
rotary engine
The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and its ...
as used by the competing
Sopwith Snipe
The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe was a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War, and came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of th ...
. An unusual feature of the aircraft was the use of jettisonable fuel tanks. These were fitted behind the pilot and separated by a sheet of armour, allowing an individual tank to be jettisoned in the event of a fire.
While the Bobolink and Snipe had similar performance, the Snipe was easier to build, while the Bobolink was claimed to have poor ground handling, with the Snipe winning the Camel replacement competition.
Only a single prototype was produced.
Specifications
See also
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
*
*
*
*
External links
Boulton & Paul Bobolink– British Aircraft Directory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boulton and Paul Bobolink
Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United Kingdom
Bobolink
The bobolink (''Dolichonyx oryzivorus'') is a small New World blackbird and the only member of the genus ''Dolichonyx''. An old name for this species is the "rice bird", from its tendency to feed on cultivated grains during winter and migration. ...
1910s British fighter aircraft
Rotary-engined aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Biplanes
Aircraft first flown in 1918