Bristol Scouts E and F

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Contents

Type Description

• Type 18 Scout E
• Single seat fighting biplane scout. It was a single-bay tractor biplane combining the aerodynamic refinement of the M.1C with the compact layout of the Scout D. The wings had rounded raked tips as in the monoplane and four small strut-linked ailerons of equal area. The fuselage was a wire-braced structure aft, but a Warren girder forward of the cockpit. The undercarriage was a simple Vee type with rubber-sprung cross-axle, and the engine was installed with a annular radiator forward, to which air was admitted through a large diameter annular spinner surrounding a cone at the centre. The tail was conventional, with unbalanced control surfaces. Armament consisted of a single synchronized Vickers gun recessed into the top of the fuselage ahead of the pilot and a Lewis gun on the top centre section which could be elevated through 45 degrees from its lowest position, which was arranged just to clear the airscrew. One 200 h.p. 'Cruciform' powerplant (itself never built)

• Type 21 Scout F
• Type 18 Scout E redesigned to take the 200 h.p. Hispano-Suiza, but finally fitted with a 200 h.p. Sunbeam Arab. It was a single-bay biplane with staggered unequal-span wings with straight edges and rounded tips. Ailerons were carried only on the upper planes and there were smooth cutouts in both to improve the view from the open cockpit, placed just behind the trailing edge. The upper wing was built in three pieces, with interplane and centre-section struts of N shape. The rudder and fin were the same shape and construction as the M.1 Monoplane. The revised design retained the rear fuselage and tail unit of Scout E almost unchanged, with a ply covered box girder forwar, but the deeper front end necessitated a new, shorter fuselage-mounted single-axle main undercarriage forward of the lower wing, plus a tailskid. The water-cooled V-8 Arab engine allowed a smooth and quite short installation, ending in a two-blade propeller and conical spinner. There was a small bulge on top of the cowling for the coolant header tank and the radiator was placed in a tunnel fairing between the undercarriage legs, with a pair of shutters for coolant temperature control. The Lewis gun of the Scout E was deleted and two synchronized .303 in Vickers guns were arranged side-by-side in place of the earlier single one.

• Type 21A Scout F.1
• Type 21 Scout F redesigned to take the 315 h.p. Cosmos Mercury powerplant, installed in a low-drag cowling with only the cylinder heads and exhaust stubs exposed.

Projected Variants

• Type 21 Scout F.3
• See Note 1.

Production Details

Notes

1. The Contracts Ledger in AIR 20/761 [2] gives serial J1991 for a 'Bristol SS F3 experimental' against contracts 35A/3312/C3844 and AS33826, as does the Air Britain Register [3], presumably via the same source. It is possible that this refers to B3991 (the 3rd Scout F) renumbered for submission to DofR Type 1, but subsequently cancelled. Even if the '3' of F.3 did not relate to it being the third Scout F, possibly it was indicated as the F.3 rather than F.2 to avoid confusion with the F.2A Fighter. Interestingly, though a later design than the Scout E, it appears to have been allocated the same c/n. There is no connection between this design and the Type 7 F.3A.
   The design was possibly developed against Air Ministry Specification Type 1A and Directorate of Research Specification Type 1 [4].

Production References

1. Bristol Aircraft Since 1910, C.H. Barnes (Putnam, 1964, 1970 and 1988)
2. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/rfc/home.html
3. Royal Air Force Aircraft J1 - J9999, RAF Aircraft Register Series (Air-Britain Publications, 1987)
4. Aeromilitaria, 1996/2 (Air-Britain Publications)
5. British Aircraft of WWI Volume 7 - Experimental Fighters Part 3, Colin A Owers (Aeronaut Books, 2023)