Bristol Scout D Fleet Air Arm Museum Yeovilton Somerset. XAV 1395-307
The Bristol Scout was a simple, single seat, rotary-radial engined biplane that functioned as one of the very first UK-built and designed fighter aircraft for the British armed forces in the first two years of World War I, even though it was originially intended to be a sporting aircraft for the rich when it was first conceived. Designed in the second half of 1913 by Frank Barnwell and Harry Busteed, the first prototype of the Bristol Scout series was first flown on February 23, 1914 by co-designer Busteed, and was first seen in public at the March 1914 London Olympia exhibition centre's Aero Show event. It could have been said to have been somewhat "comical" in general appearance at that time in its original form, with characteristics like a main landing gear wheel track measured at only 39 inches [99 cm] that was barely wider than the fuselage, only about a one half degree dihedral angle on the wing panels, making them look almost totally "flat" across from a nose-on view, and an engine cowl that had no open frontal area [even though the extreme bottom was sliced away horizontally] to allow cooling air to get to its seven cylinder 80 hp Gnôme Lambda rotary engine, as well as a squared-planform "all-flying" rudder with no fixed vertical fin, which would become a hallmark (even though the shape was different) of Fokker-designed German fighter aircraft in World War I up through the Fokker After its first public appearance, by May 1914 what would later become known as the "Bristol Scout A" had been refitted with a longer span (24 ft 7 in / m versus 22 ft / m) set of wing panels that were rigged with 1-3/4º of dihedral, a larger surface area rudder, and a much more conventional open-front, ring-style, "six segment" cowl to house the 80 hp Gnôme Lambda rotary engine. The British military first evaluated the Scout A aircraft on May 14, 1914, at Farnborough when the aircraft showed a fast-for-1914 airspeed of mph [157 km/h].
Size: 5288px × 3512px
Location: Fleet Air, Arm Museum, Yeovilton. Somerset. England. United Kingdom.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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