The 'Brisfit' - Bristol F.2B Fighter - The Shuttleworth Collection

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Bristol F.2B Fighter, G-AEPH, B1162 (formerly D8096) was built in 1918 and saw no operational wartime service. It did serve with No.208 Squadron based in Turkey in 1923.

Its remains were acquired in 1936 by Captain C P B Ogilvie who intended to restore it to flying condition, but failed to complete it.

The Bristol Aeroplane Company restored the aeroplane and it flew again in 1951, in the care of the Shuttleworth Collection. The engine and airframe underwent a complete refurbishment during 1980-82. In 1992 the engine (the oldest working Rolls-Royce aero engine in the world) was replaced by an overhauled unit. The original was rebuilt and is kept as a fully working spare.

The aircraft was given another overhaul and re-covering between February 2019 and December 2020 and was repainted to represent an aircraft of 22 Squadron, Royal Air Force (RAF) with serial number B1162, which was based at Villeneuve-les-Vertus, France in March 1918. It wore the code F on the fuselage sides and the undersides of the wings, along with a large letter on the central part of the top wing.

This Bristol Fighter is the only airworthy original example in Europe.

In 1915 the Royal Flying Corps had identified a need to replace their Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c's with an emphasis on self-defence capabilities.

Designed by a team led by Frank Barnwell (who had experience as a frontline RFC pilot), the prototype Bristol Type 12 F.2A (C3303) was first flown on 9th September 1916 at Filton, fitted with a newly available 190 hp Rolls-Royce Falcon I inline engine. Bristol had already received an order for 50 aircraft by the time the second prototype flew on 25th October 1916, this time fitted with a Hispano-Suiza power unit.

The type was a twin-bay biplane, with the fuselage suspended mid-way between the wings in a similar manner to the earlier Gordon England biplanes. The pilot was seated forward, the observer / gunner being equipped with a Scarff-mounted machine gun in the rear cockpit. A forward-firing Vickers gun was mounted on the fuselage centreline. The type was ordered into service with 2 prototypes and 50 production F.2A being built before construction was switched to the Type 14 F.2B, the aircraft which became the definitive Bristol Fighter.

When production was switched to the F.2B it became the subject of 'contract manufacture' across the aircraft industry with the first 150 or so fitted with either the Falcon I or Falcon II engine. The remainder received the Falcon III engine which meant they could achieve a top speed of around 123 mph and could reach 10,000 feet about 3 minutes faster.

The F.2B featured a fully covered lower wing centre-section and downward sloped longerons in front of the cockpit, to improve the pilot’s view when landing and despite being a two-seater it was an agile dog-fighter, which had superiority over many of its single-seater opposition.

At some points engine supply was outpaced by airframe production and some 5,300 Bristol F.2B were built in Britain, with an additional 68 in the USA. Rolls-Royce power plants of all types were utilised to offset the shortages. The Type 15's produced by sub-contractors received the Sunbeam Arab piston engine which relegated them to simple reconnaissance missions whilst the Type 16 was fitted with the Hispano-Suiza engine which once again failed to match the power of the Falcons. There was a proposed Type 22 fitted with a radial or rotary engine but this never came to fruition and the type number was later re-allocated to the Bristol F.2C Badger.

The Bristol M.R.1, often referred to as the 'All-metal F.2B' was in fact a completely new design although it shared similar fuselage characteristics. Only 2 prototypes were built but it never entered production.

In peacetime, the Bristol Fighter was used as an Army Cooperation machine, particularly in India and Iraq.

A structurally strengthened version the Bristol Type 96 was designated the Bristol Fighter Mk III. These aircraft were later converted in service to the Bristol Fighter Mk IV with increased weight (max 3,350 lb), taller fin, Handley Page slots and aerodynamically-balanced rudder.

There are 3 remaining airworthy aircraft with a number on static display, predominantly in museums around the UK and Europe. A replica aircraft was created at Filton to celebrate 100 years of aircraft manufacturing in Bristol, where the original Bristol Fighter was designed and built.

Filmed during the Shuttleworth Flying Festival of Britain Airshow 2021.


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