The Bristol Bulldog entered service in the UK in May 1929 and remained one of the most popular RAF fighters until 1936, employed mostly for home defence. The Swedish Air Force bought eleven Bulldogs Mk IIA and gave them the designation J 7.  

Also the Bulldog was equipped with the ”Swedish standard” engine Bristol Jupiter, version VII F (500 hp). It was armed with two 7,7 mm machine-guns firing through the propeller and could also carry a light bomb load of four 10 kg bombs.  

Of the eleven Swedish Bulldogs, nine were lost in crashes. The remaining two airframes were donated to the Finnish Air Force. 

Photo at top: SwAF/n 211. According to the dircetives regarding the numbering of aircraft of 3 November 1931, the number on the fuselage is to be interpreted as follows: "5" - (Still) the unit number. "2" - Fighter Aircraft ("1" =Bomber , "3" or "4"= Reconnaissance, "5"= Trainer, "6"= Advanced Trainer and "7"= Transport). The last digits - the consecutive numbers within the class.

Photo below: Model of SWAF/n 217 exhibited at Flygvapenmuseum. Builder: Mikael Carlson.

Length: 7,54 m. Span: 10,36 m.  Maximum take-off weight: 1.475 kg. Max. speed: 300 km/h.

For the Model Builder

The well-known plastic model kit maker Airfix has a model kit in scale 1:72 of the Swedish variant of Bristol Bulldog, J 7. It includes decals with markings of SWAF/n 216 (code 1216).  Catalouge number 01083.
 

© Lars Henriksson

Updated 2010-03-25