Parked Fighter

Built in 1918, this is an original, airworthy, British Bristol F.2B two-seat biplane fighter and reconnaissance aircraft of WWI, flown by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). It is often simply called the Bristol Fighter or popularly the "Brisfit" or "Biff".

 

Despite being a two-seater, the F.2B proved to be an agile aircraft, able to hold its own against single-seat scouts. It remained in military service into the 1930s and surplus aircraft were popular in civil aviation.

 

Only 52 F.2As were produced before production switched to what became the definitive Bristol Fighter, the Bristol Type 14 F.2B which had first flown on 25 October 1916. Most were equipped with the 275 hp Falcon III engine, reaching a maximum speed of 123 mph.

 

When initially deployed, F.2A aircrews were instructed to maintain formation and use the crossfire of the observers' guns to meet any threat from enemy fighters. This was standard procedure at the time, but for the Bristol these tactics were flawed and did not withstand the first contact with the enemy. In April 1917 during the Battle of Arras, the very first F.2A patrol of six aircraft from No. 48 Squadron RFC, led by Victoria Cross winner William Leefe Robinson, ran into five Albatros D.IIIs from Jasta 11 led by Manfred von Richthofen. Four out of the six F.2As were shot down, including Robinson who was captured, and a fifth was badly damaged.

 

More flexible, aggressive tactics soon proved that the new Bristol was by no means as ineffective in air-to-air combat as its first encounter with the enemy seemed to indicate. In fact it was eventually realised that the type was fast enough and manoeuvrable enough to be flown in combat more or less like a single-seat fighter; the pilot's fixed forward-firing gun serving as the principal weapon, with the observer's flexible gun serving mainly as a bonus "sting in the tail". Flown in this manner the Bristol Fighter was a formidable opponent for any German single-seater.

 

In September-October 1917, orders for 1,600 F.2Bs were placed and by the end of WWI, the RAF had 1,583 F.2Bs in operation. A total of 5,329 aircraft were eventually built, mostly by Bristol but also by the likes of Standard Motors, Armstrong Whitworth and even the Cunard Steamship Company.

 

After the war, F.2Bs continued to operate in army co-operation (close air support in modern terminology) and light bombing roles throughout the British Empire, in particular the Middle East, India and China. The F.2B also served with the New Zealand Permanent Air Force and RAAF as well as with the air forces of Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Greece, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Spain and Sweden. It was not until 1932 that the F.2B was finally withdrawn from RAF service, its last unit being No. 20 Squadron RAF stationed in India. The type lasted a further three years in New Zealand.

 

There remain three airworthy Bristol Fighters in 2015 (and several replicas). The Shuttleworth Collection contains the F.2B Fighter, identity D-8096, seen above before the Collection's 50th Anniversary Air Show, which still flies during the English summer. The Canada Aviation Museum owns a second, D-7889, while the New Zealand film director Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings, et al.) owns D-8040, which flies from the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, which also holds a second original fuselage.

 

Info all from Wikipedia.

6,410 views
5 faves
1 comment
Uploaded on July 24, 2015
Taken on September 1, 2013