Bristol Bullfinch

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Contents

Type Description

• Type 52 Bullfinch I
• A parasol-wing monoplane single-seat fighter, the design of which was adaptable to a two-seat biplane, thus meeting the requirements of the Royal Air Force for both a single-seat interceptor fighter and a two-seat reconnaissance-fighter. The potential cost savings associated with this concept, which was planned to be powered by the Jupiter engine, the rights to which Bristol had just acquired from the bankrupt Cosmos Engineering, interested the Air Ministry, who wrote a specification (Specification 2/21) around Barnwell's proposed design, and ordered three prototypes in June 1921.
  The fighter, designated MFA, was a cantilever parasol monoplane. The fuselage was of carbon steel drawn tubing pinned into machined end sockets, built up into a pin-jointed structure braced by tie rods. The fron fuselage was faired to match the engine cowling as far back as the pilot's cockpit, but aft of this joint the four longerons were covered by flat sided fabric panels. The rudder was a simple balanced oval shape, mounted above the fuselage, with no fin, but a pair of triangular fins were located below the fuselage on the lower longerons, in front of two steerable tailskids. The wing, without dihedral, slightly swept and of constant chord, was in two halves, joined at the aircraft centreline, with each half tapering from maximum thickness at half span to both the wing root and tips. The wing was wooden on the prototypes, but was planned to be of metal construction for any subsequent production aircraft. Armament consisted of two synchronized .303 in Vickers machine guns. One 425 h.p. Bristol Jupiter III powerplant.

Specification
Span	Length	Height	Wing Area	Empty Wt	Max AUW	Cruise Speed	Maximum Speed	Endurance	Service Ceiling
38 ft 5 in	24 ft 5 in	10 ft 9 in	267 sq ft	2175 lb	3205 lb		135 mph/ 117 kn	4 hr	22000 ft
11.71 m	7.44 m	3.28 m	24.81 m2	987 kg	1454 kg		217 km/h		6706 m

• Type 53 Bullfinch II
• Two seat fighter-reconnaissance biplane adaption of the Type 52, also designated MFB. An extra fuselage bay was added aft of the pilot containing a cockpit for the observer, fitted with a .303 in Lewis machine gun mounted on a Scarff ring, and a cantilever bottom wing attached on struts directly below the observers cockpit, which compensated for the shift in centre of gravity resulting from the weight of the observer and the lengthened fuselage. One 425 h.p. Bristol Jupiter III powerplant.

Specification
Span	Length	Height	Wing Area	Empty Wt	Max AUW	Cruise Speed	Maximum Speed	Endurance	Service Ceiling
38 ft 5 in	27 ft 6 in	10 ft 9 in	391 sq ft	2945 lb	4088 lb		120 mph/ 104 kn	4 hr	18000 ft
11.71 m	8.38 m	3.28 m	36.33 m2	1336 kg	1854 kg		193 km/h		5486 m

Production Details

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Production Summary

Production References

1. Bristol Aircraft Since 1910, C.H. Barnes (Putnam, 1964, 1970 and 1988)

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