Bristol Aeroplane Company
3 types ยท 0 airframes
Pre-1950 Narrative
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Aircraft Types
Bristol 170 Freighter
The Bristol Type 170 Freighter was a twin-engined cargo aircraft built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company and first flown in December 1945. Designed during the war as a rugged transport able to carry heavy loads, vehicles included, it loaded through clamshell nose doors into an unobstructed hold, with the flight deck perched above the doors. It became best known as a car ferry, flying cars and their passengers across the Channel for Silver City Airways; the passenger version was the Wayfarer and the lengthened Mk 32 the Superfreighter. Bristol built 214 by the end of production in 1958, and the type also served air forces including New Zealand's. Only a handful survive, one of them now under conservation at Filton, where the type was built.
Bristol Beaufighter
The Bristol Beaufighter was a British twin-engine heavy fighter of the Second World War, developed from the Beaufort torpedo bomber. Carrying early airborne interception radar, it became the RAF's principal night fighter during the Blitz, and later served widely as a maritime strike and torpedo aircraft in Europe, the Mediterranean and the Pacific.
Bristol Sycamore
The Bristol Sycamore, the Bristol Aeroplane Company's Type 171, was the first British-designed helicopter to fly and the first British helicopter to receive a certificate of airworthiness. Designed under Raoul Hafner by the company's new Helicopter Department, the single-engined type first flew in July 1947 and entered RAF service in 1953, equipping nine squadrons mainly on search and rescue, casualty evacuation and training work, including operations in the Malayan Emergency. About 180 were built by 1959 and sold to Australia, Belgium and Germany as well as to civil operators; the RAF retired its last in 1972, and survivors are preserved in museums in Britain and Australia, with one still flying in Austria.