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Bristol Boxkite

For a description of the format and data included in Production Tables, see here.

Produced Variants

Standard
 
 
Two seat two-bay pusher biplane based on the Farman III, with an elevator carried on booms in front of the wings and an empennage consisting of a pair of fixed horizontal stabilisers, the upper bearing an elevator, and a pair of rudders carried on booms behind the wing. Various powerplants as indicated and some aircraft featured extended upper wings.
Military As standard model but fitted with enlarged fuel tanks and triple rudders. Various powerplants as indicated.
Exhibition As standard model with enclosed nacelles and increased span. One 70 h.p. Gnome powerplant.
Racer As Standard with reduced span wings and a small, single seat nacelle.
Modified Exhibition
 
As Exhibition Type withlongitudinal tanks and a push-pull handwheel control replacing the control stick. One 70 h.p. Gnome powerplant.
Voisin
 
Standard type modified by Gabriel Voisin using standard wings but with reduced gap and the front elevator and booms deleted.. A single large rudder replaced the normal biplane unit.



Production List Page Top
Serial Range C/n Type Batch Qty Conv. Canc'd Notes
 2 demonstration aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset. First flew 30 July, 1910. Later used by the Bristol Flying Schools.
   7  Standard  2      Initially powered by 50 h.p. Gregoire, later 50 h.p. Gnome.
   8          Powered by 50 h.p. ENV and featured double surface wing fabric.
 5 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, in 1910 for use by the Bristol Flying Schools.
   9, 11, 14-16  Standard  5      No. 16 featured upper wing extensions and 60 h.p. ENV powerplant.
 2 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, for sales missions to Australia and India. Arrived in December 1910.
   10, 12  Standard  2      No. 12 featured upper wing extensions.
 1 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, and supplied to Oscar Morison in late 1910.
   12A  Standard  1      
 11 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset for Russia, against an order for 8. Delivered in April 1911
   17-19  Military  3      All fitted with 50 h.p. Gnome. C/n 17 destroyed before delivery and   replaced.
             C/ns 18 an 19 returned and replaced by c/ns 26 and 30.
   20-25, 26, 30    8      All fitted with 60 h.p. Gnome.
 2 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, and supplied to Joseph Christiaens, Belgium, for flying displays in 1911.
   27, 28  Standard  2      
 1 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, in February 1911 for use by the Bristol Flying Schools.
   29  Standard  1      
 1 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, in early 1911 for exhibition purposes.
   31  Exhibition  1      Exhibited in Olympia in March 1911
   32    1      Exhibited in St. Petersburg, Russia in April 1911. Sold to Russia.
 1 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, and supplied to Oscar Morison.
   34  Standard  1      
 4 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, to a War Office contract. Delivered between May and August 1911
 F4, F5  37, 38  Military  4      50 h.p. Gnome; F7 & F8 later reserialled 408 and 407 respectively
 F6, F9 (See note 2)  39, 45 (? See note 1)          60 h.p. Renault
 4 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, to a War Office contract. Delivered in August 1911
 F7, F8 (see note 2)  48, 49  Military  4      50 h.p. Gnome; F7 & F8 later reserialled 408 and 407 respectively
   40, 41          Engineless spare airframes
 1 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, in late 1911 for use by the Bristol Flying Schools.
   43  Standard  1      
 1 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, for Maurice Tetard fto compete in the Circuit de l'Europe. First flew   May 1911.
   44  Racer  1      
 1 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, in late 1911 for a demonstration tour in France in September 1911.
   47  Standard  1      Subsequently sold to the Bulgarian Government
 2 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset. Supplied to Spain in late 1911.
   60, 79  Modified  2      Built as a demonstrator for Spain and subsequently purchased by the Spanish Government.
     Exhibition        C/n 79 supplied as an engineless airframe and fitted with a 70 h.p. Gnome in Spain.
 7 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, in late 1911/1912 for unknown customer(s).
   55, 61-66  Standard  7      
 1 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, for unknown customer.
   67  Military  1      
 1 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset . Delivered in November 1911.
   69  Voisin  1      Redesigned machine by Gabriel Voisin. To Larkhill, February 1912 for comparison trials.
             Subsequently reverted to Standard Type.
 1 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, for unknown customer.
   93  Military  1      
 1 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, for the R.N.A.S. Delivered in October 1912.
 24  99  Military  1      
 7 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, for unknown customer(s).
   119, 124-129  Military  7      
 1 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, for the Central Flying School of the Australian Flying Corps. Delivered March 1913.
 CFS3  133  Military  1      
 5 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, for unknown customer(s).
   134-138  Military  5      
 1 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, for the R.N.A.S. Delivered in February 1913.
 35  139  Military  1      70 h.p. Gnome powerplant.
 2 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset, for unknown customer(s).
   179, 180  Military  2      
 6 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Filton, Bristol, Somerset. Four, and possibly all six, for use by the Bristol Flying Schools.
   203, 204, 207, 222, 226,  Military  6      203, 204, 226, 347 were impressed from the Bristol Flying School, Brooklands, and given
   347          serials 640, 641, 657 and possibly 718, order unknown.
 6 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Brislington, Somerset, for the R.N.A.S. to contract C.P.5603/14. Delivered between October and December 1914.
 942 - 947  394-399  Military  6      
 12 aircraft built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Brislington, Somerset, for the R.N.A.S. to contract C.P.5603/15. Delivered between September 1915 and January 1916.
 8442 - 8453  870-881  Military  12      See note 3
  Total Production 91      




Production Summary

Page Top 

All Aircraft By Type
Type Built New
(Note 4)
Conv. Canc'd Total
 Standard 23     23
 Military 62     62
 Exhibition 2     2
 Racer 1     1
 Modified Exhibition 2     2
 Voisin 1     1
  91 0 0  


Notes
  1. Per Bruce [3], 'This Renault Boxkite was previously believed to be No.42, but it is now known that that Bristol sequence number belonged to the first Bristol Type T'. The indication here that it is No. 45 is an assumption by this author, but one that fits well with the allocation of sequence numbers.
     
  2. Although Nos 45 (but see note 1), 48 and 49 are known to have serials F7 to F9, the precise relationship between sequence number and serial is unknown.
     
  3. Per Bruce [3], this last production block had hitherto been wrongly identified as Bristol T.B.8s, consequently most reference sources quote a production total of 78 machines.
     
  4. Although indicated new, many Boxkites were rebuilds of earlier machines, given new sequence numbers.

Production References
  1. Bristol Aircraft Since 1910, C.H. Barnes (Putnam, 1964)
  2. Bristol Aeroplane Company, Derek N. James (Tempus, 2001)
  3. Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps, The, J.M. Bruce (Putnam, 1982)
  4. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/home.htm

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