“Clark Kent” two-seater reconnaissance aircraft, that surprised *everyone,* (esp. the Germans,) by becoming one of the greatest “Superman” fighters of all time. The Bristol F.2 fighter.
In 1915 and in the face of mounting losses, the Royal Flying Corps had put out a call to the British aircraft companies to replace their struggling Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c’s (nicknamed “Fokker Fodder,”)
…With its machine gunner in the front and pilot in the rear, with a focus on increased self-defense capabilities.
Bristol answered and its design, initially designed as a reconnaissance machine, some showed its additional skills as a genuine fighter, and came up with one of the toughest and agile aircraft of WWI, able to take enemy fire…and high speed dives. Nicknamed the ‘Biff’ or ‘Brisfit’ it became immensely popular with its crews, to the point of pilots of other Allied aircraft offering to fly the Bristol
The Bristol F.2 was a twin-bay biplane, with the fuselage suspended mid-way between the wings. The pilot sat forward of the observer/gunner who was equipped with a Scarff-ring mounted .303 Lewis machine gun or two in the rear cockpit. A forward-firing .303 Vickers gun was mounted on the fuselage centerline. Sometimes another Lewis gun was mounted on a Foster mounting on the upper wing above the pilot for four guns.
(Above: BTW, not a Bristol, but you see how the Vickers was roughly mounted.)
(Above: Four guns mounted, one Vickers, three Lewis, but they were not successful- the mounting caused interference with the pilot’s compass, which was mounted on the trailing edge of the upper wing, a difficulty which persisted even when the mounting was offset to starboard, and the rear gunner had problems at high altitudes wrestling with the increased weight of the double Lewis guns, and almost all were modified back to the single rear Lewis.)
A bomb load of up to 240lb was also possible. Fighter/recon/bomber=Versatile. Construction consisted of a wooden structure covered over with fabric, but was of superior design and construction.
(Above: immensely strong wings and rigging, initially to withstand fire asa recon ship, then to withstand fast dives.
The first prototype was first flown on 9th September 1916 at Filton, fitted with a newly available 190 hp Rolls-Royce Falcon I inline engine, and the results were successful enough that it was ordered onto production/service.
The first 150 or so fitted with either the Rolls Royce Falcon 1 or Falcon II engine, but the remainder, over 5000, received the superior Falcon III engine so they could achieve a top speed of around 123 mph, (vs 138 mph for a single-seater S.E.5) and reach 10,000 feet, at 889 ft/min, about 3 minutes faster. Its service ceiling was 18,000 feet, which was about 2,000 less than most German designs. But for a two-seater, its performance was fantastic.
The Bristol F.2B featured a fully covered, lower wing center-section and with downward sloped longerons in front of the cockpit which improved the pilot’s view, esp. when landing.
But the potential of the Bristol was far from clear at the beginning, when the machine entered combat service in March 1917 only to have 6 rapidly shot down by German pilots including one lost to Baron Manfred Von Richthofen.
This bad start has been attributed to the initially terribly flawed tactics where the Bristol F-2 pilots were ordered to fly like bombers, and stay in strict and tight formation and use the observer’s guns to form a crossfire effect.
This inevitably led to disastrous results. In one such early instance, six Bristol F.2’s faced off against six (some sources state five) very lethal Albatros D.III fighters – the result was four of the F.2’s were lost to enemy fire.
This inflexible formation left the aircraft very vulnerable and was quickly abandoned with the pilots finally being allowed to fly their aircraft like the fighter it was, supported by the rear guns rather than the use of the rear guns dominating combat doctrine, i.e. utilizing the aircraft’s impressive speed and maneuverability as their primary tool in conjunction with their forward-firing machine gun –
…and relying on the rear gunner as an added bonus to the aircraft’s rear defense. Once this melding of man and aircraft was achieved, the F.2 went on to become one of the most successful fighter designs of the war shooting down many German machines.
Only when its crews realized that this large and seemingly unwieldy aircraft had all the speed and maneuverability of the German single-seat fighters did it become the most successful two-eater…and perhaps best aircraft of the war. and with the addition if a rear gunner too protect its “Six.”
(Above/below: Two Mk 2 Lewis guns. Throughout the Lewis’ career, it served as a fixed defensive weapon, an aerial machine gun and as a Light Machine Gun (LMG) at the infantry level. The Lewis Gun went on to serve throughout World War 1 (1914-1918), World War 2 (1939-1945) and was in limited use during the Korean War (1950-1953). Early versions still utilized the 47-round pan magazine until, in November of 1916, the 97-round count was introduced on aircraft variants as well.
Sighting was through a blade and tangent leaf arrangement to allow for some accuracy down range. Rate-of-fire was 500 to 600 rounds per minute and the weapon offered a muzzle velocity of 2,440 feet per second. Effective range was 880 yards with a maximum range of 3,500 yards.
When it was realized that the Lewis Gun was a good aerial weapon, the cooling shroud was removed without any repercussions to the gun. Many Allied aircraft were then fitted with Lewis Guns in the rear cockpit while Vickers machine guns remained the primary forward-mounted, forward-firing weapons, a set-up identical on the Bristol. Aerial Lewis Guns were typically set on trainable ring mountings allowing for expanded firing arcs.
Despite it being a two-seater, it was an incredibly agile dog-fighter which gained superiority over many of its single-seater German opponents. It could also be stoutly defended from the rear and because if it superior construction and design could be dived at a higher speed than any other fighter on the Western Front. A number of famous Canadian airmen flew Bristols during the war and one of the most celebrated was Lt.-Col. Andrew McKeever, who achieved all of his 31 aerial victories while exclusively flying the Bristol Fighter.
(Above: Lt.-Col. Andrew McKeever on the right.)
(Above: Observer with optional modification of an acrobatic dog doing tricks along the fuselage…)
Used over the Western Front and for home defense it wouldn’t be until 1932 that the Bristol F.2 Fighter was finally retired from service by the RFC’s successor the RAF (Royal Air Force,) the longest service I believe for a WWI design of any kind, and served years after than in civilian hands, possibly into the ’40s, renamed the Bristol Tourer.
(Above: Bristol F2b with No 1 Australian Flying Corps in Palestine.)
Here in 2022 16 years of service for an aircraft doesn’t seem like much compared with B-52s and F-4 Phantom IIs seemingly flying forever, but back in those times aircraft design was whipping along too fast to see, and designs came and went in an eye blink.
But my two other favs, the S.E.5 amazingly flew into the late ‘20’s and the Fokker D VII, so feared her revealed design was part of the Treaty of Versailles, served till 1929, at least.
(Above: The ‘Bristol F2b Brisfish’, a unique and unusual livery painted for a high ranking officer in one of the training squadrons.
Above: Countries that ended up using the Bristol into the ‘30’s:
Afghanistan, Argentina,Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Honduras, Ireland, Greece, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Soviet Union, Spain, Yugoslavia, The U.K.
Numerous engines were used, but mostly it had 1 × Rolls-Royce Falcon III liquid-cooled V12 engine, 867 cu in (14.2 L) capacity, making 275 hp. To my artist’s eyes, quite elegant and beautiful, reminds me of another V-12 engine to come another 20 years up the road from Rolls Royce, also beautiful and powerful…
5,300 were eventually made, and in “peacetime”, the Bristol Fighter was used as an Army Cooperation machine, particularly in India and Iraq.
Production began in 1918 and continued until 1927, by which time 2,185 engines had been built.
Several Bristol Fighters were included in an Imperial Gift to Canada in 1920, which played an important role in the establishment of the early Canadian Air Force. And at least one Bristol Fighter is known to have operated from the historic airfield at Rockcliffe, where early aerial photographic techniques were developed, aiding immensely to the mapping of Canada’s vast North, and eventually to helping Allied WWII reconnaissance.
The best British two-seat fighter of the First World War, and was without doubt one of the most important and successful British designs to serve during WWI, and additionally, in many ways, it was THE most successful aircraft of any type during and even after WWI.
A magnificent aircraft, designed as a two-seat recon ship…that turned into one of the greatest fighters.
