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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0613.PDF
MARCH 2, 1939 FLIGHT. 217 A Bulldog Ila single-seater fighter (Bristol Jupiter) with the typical service markings and equipment of its time. " Flight " photograph. second installed in a rotatable and retractable power-driven gun turret on top of the fuselage. The standard type as at present in service in the R.A.F. has a top speed at 15,000ft. of 285 m.p.h., and will climb to 20,000ft. in 17J min. The service ceiling is given as 27,280ft. and the range, at a normal speed of 200 m.p.h., as 1,125 miles. Empty and gross weights are 7,409 lb. and 12,030 lb. respec tively. The engines are two Bristol Mercury VIIIs of 840 h.p. (max.) each. In 1936 history was made when the Bristol 138A high-altitude monoplane fitted with a special Bristol Pegasus engine secured the world's height record for Great Britain, reach ing 49,967ft., this being the first instance of such an achievement with an aircraft and en- " flight " photograph. Fitted with four guns and powered with a Mercury engine the Bristol 131 single-seater fighter was one of the most formidable machines of its day. gun turret of Bristol design. In the same year Bulldog production reached its peak. All this time the Bristol Company was striv ing to perfect a system of all-metal stressed- skin construction, and by 1934 had built a single-seater low-wing cantilever monoplane lighter. Powered with a Mercury engine, the Bristol 133 (as this model was designated) had flaps and a retractable undercarriage and showed splendid performance qualities. The prototype, unfortunately, was crashed. At the other end of the scale another all- metal stressed-skin cantilever monoplane was produced, though the machine in question was of high-wing design and of comparatively largo proportions and was fitted with a fixed,'faired undercarriage. This was the Bristol 130 bomber transport, which, under the type name Bombay, is now in quantity production to the Royal Air Force. The two Bristol Pegasus engines used confer a very high performance for a machine in this category. In 1934 another modern monoplane—a low- wing type—of all-metal stressed-skin construc tion was being built for the civil market. Lord Rothermere, seeking a high-speed machine for his per sonal use, was responsible for the conversion of this type—the I43-—into a smaller machine fitted with two Mercury engines m place of the civil-rated Aquila sleeve-valve units originally specified. The modified machine became familiar and famous as Britain First. Its performance during Martlesham trials LOH93-D WaS so outstanding that the Air Ministry approached ora Kotherrnere for permission to make further tests, with ne result that he presented the machine to the nation, and it to^da*1'6 the forerunner of the Bristol Blenheim bomber oi d £ Blenheim (type 142M), unlike Britain First, was pro- thei aELa mid"wing type, permitting the internal stowage of mon T l0ad- Xt was the frst modern all-metal cantilever on fPplane °* stressed-skin construction to go into production Th RXpanS-0n -of the R AF- in i?36-but for f?,^™ is mtended primarily not only for bombing armedF •? nS- lt carries a crew of three and is normally with two machine guns, one fixed in the wing and the " Flight " photograph. The Bristol 120 general purpose biplane featured a "parrot cage" and provision for a stretcher case. '• Flight " photogrtfk. Now in production for the Royal Air Force, the Bristol Bombay bomber- transport is powered with two Pegasus engines. " Flight " photograph. The prototype ot the Bristol 143 transport monoplane with two civil-rated Aquila sleeve-valve engines.
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