The Bristol Type 146 was a British single-seat, eight-gun fighter

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

prototype built to a mid-1930s

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 Stat ...

contract. Powered by a radial engine, it was outclassed by

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and leg ...

-engined fighters and only one was built.

Design and development

The Bristol 146 was built by Bristol Aircraft to an Air Ministry order for a prototype single-seat eight-gun fighter meeting Air Ministry specification F.5/34 issued in 1934. The specification further called for an air-cooled engine for overseas use. The Type 146 incorporated the experience of metal-skinned monoplanes that Bristol had gained with the earlier Type 133, but was quite different in detail. The Type 146 was a low-wing

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...

monoplane with tapering wings of moderate dihedral on the outer sections. The wings were stress skinned with

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

with only the

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s and tail control surfaces fabric-covered. The two sets of four Browning machine guns were housed in the outer wing sections. The undercarriage was mounted about halfway along the centre section and retracted cleanly inwards into the wing; the tailwheel was also fully retractable. In contrast to the Type 133, 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 a

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

structure. The cockpit was enclosed with a one-piece sliding canopy. The Type 146 was designed to be powered by a

supercharged 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 indu ...

Bristol Perseus The Bristol Perseus was a British nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled radial aircraft engine produced by the Bristol Engine Company starting in 1932. It was the first production sleeve valve aero engine. Design and development In late 192 ...

sleeve valve The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the usual poppet valve. Sleeve valve engines saw use in a number of pre-World War II luxury cars and in the United States in the Willys-Knight car and light truc ...

radial engine, but this was not ready and the older, lower-horsepower Mercury IX was used instead.

Testing

The Type 146 flew for the first time on 11 February 1938 in the hands of

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 ...

and was flight tested satisfactorily before going on to be assessed against the F.5/34 specification by the

Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) was a research facility for British military aviation from 1918 to 1992. Established at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, the unit moved in 1939 to Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, where its work ...

RAF Martlesham Heath Royal Air Force Martlesham Heath or more simply RAF Martlesham Heath is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. It was active between 1917 and 1963, and played an important role in the development o ...

in April 1938. Its competitors there were the Gloster F.5/34, the Martin-Baker MB2 and the Vickers Venom. Though the Type 146 met the specification neither it nor any of the other competing designs was taken into production. The RAF believed that the future of British fighter design was with the emerging

Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was late ...

-engined aircraft (Specification F.36/34) which had more power and cleaner aerodynamics. The second Type 146 prototype was cancelled, while K5119 continued to fly. On 28 May 1938, following an Empire Air Day display at

Filton Aerodrome Filton Airport or Filton Aerodrome was a private airport in Filton and Patchway, within South Gloucestershire, north of Bristol, England. Description The airfield was bounded by the A38 road to the east, and the former London to Avonmouth ...

, the sole Type 146 struck a "set-piece" display while taxying and was damaged beyond economic repair. It was the last single-engined fighter to be built by Bristol.

Specifications

Notes

References

* * * "Bristol 146." ''Control Column'', Official Organ of the British Aircraft Preservation Council, Volume 12, No. 6, August/September 1978. {{Bristol aircraft 1930s British fighter aircraft Type 146 Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1938