Bristol Fighter F.2B


Bristol Fighter F.2B (Evaluation Aircraft, 1924-1934)
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The Bristol Fighter, a two-seater, first went into action over the Western Front in April 1917 and eventually proved remarkably successful. Many aircraft were also built after the war. The Army Aviation Company purchased one F.2B fitted with a Bristol Jupiter 425 hp engine. The plane was fitted with skis and was flown in the winter conditions to Kiruna, a mining town north of the Arctic Circle for evaluation together with an other British aircraft, the Armstrong Withworth Siskin IIA. After the finish of the tests in the northern climate, the F.2B was flown (on 6,5 hours including intermediate landings) back to Malmen. The aircraft was placed into active service, mostly used as a trainer but hardly as a fighter. It never got any armamets. When the Bristol Fighter was transferred to the new Air Force in 1926, it got the designation Ö 6 (Ö = Övningsflygplan/Advanced Trainer). Length:7,62 m. Span: 11,96 m. Maximum take-off weight: 1.400 kg. Max. speed: 210 km/h.
For the Model Builder Roden has produced a very fine plastic model kit of Bristol F.2B Fighter in scale 1/48. The kit contains decals for six different markings (British, Canadian and Australian). Catalouge number 425. Click on the thumbnail for larger image.


	This stamp, depicting a Bristol F.2B Fighter, was issued by Fiji Islands in 1993.




	A Bristol F.2B Fighter of No. 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, in Palestine, February 1918. The pilot (left) is Captain Ross Smith who in 1919 was part of the crew that set the record for flying from England to Australia. This aircraft has the common in-line Rolls-Royce Falcon engine, not the radial Bristol Jupiter as on the single Swedish Bristol Fighter. The photo is a colour Paget Plate created by Australian official war photographer, Frank Hurley. A public domain photo published at Wikimedia Commons.




© Lars Henriksson			Updated 2010-07-18