Bristol Scout

The Bristol Scout was a pre-war racing design with simple and handsome lines. For clarity, the prototype was given the name Bristol Scout A. The first two production machines, named the Bristol Scout B, were sent to France as quickly as they cleared testing, they differed in only minor ways from the original.

The next order of twelve scouts for the RFC and twenty-four for the RNAS became the Bristol Scout C, and after the first batch was delivered in March 1915, a second order for seventy-five was placed. They differed little from the Type B -- the main visible change being the removal of stiffening ribs from the engine cowl. As was common at the time, the were scattered among many squadrons in small numbers and mixed with other scouts and two-seaters. Planes with Gnome engines were reserved for the RNAS because the engine they were more likely to be flying over water and the Gnome was thought to be more reliable than the Le Rhône. Partly through Production of the Type C a widened tail was fitted and the dihedral was increased to 3&deg;.

Eighty Bristol Scout Ds were ordered by the RFC in late 1915 for the RFC. The Type D had shorter ailerons and increased dihedral and the Le Rhône engine. Late production RNAS Type Ds used the 100hp Gnome Monosoupape engine, but vibration problems forced the final twenty RNAS Type Ds to revert to the 80hp Gnome.

While most Scouts were delivered unarmed, various jury-rigged guns were mounted, and Scouts built for the RFC in 1916 used a synchronized Vickers machine-gun with the Challenger or Scarff-Dibowski interrupter.

Eighty RFC Scouts were sent to France in total, and they served through summer 1916, after which they were repurposed as trainers. Thirty-two went to the Middle East, nine to Home Defense, and 115 went straight to flight schools. The early piecemeal distributions of Scouts can be illustrated by unit strength in September 1915 when seven Squadrons had one Scout each and No.8 had two.

In the RNAS, the Bristol Scout pioneered flight from a carrier deck from the H.M.S. Vindex (which was used against Zeppelin L.17), in the Dardanelles, and in the Aegean.

Card Links

 * Hawker
 * Hawker
 * 6 Sqn - Hawker
 * 6 Sqn - Hawker

Aircraft Chart

1:144 Scale

 * Shapeways: Kampfflieger
 * Metal kit:

1:285/6mm/1:288 Scale

 * Shapeways: Kampfflieger
 * Metal Cast:
 * Type C:
 * Type D: