Bristol Boxkite
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| Bristol Boxkite | |
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| 1963 Replica of the Bristol Boxkite, now hanging in the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery | |
| Type | two-seat trainer |
| Manufacturer | British and Colonial Aeroplane Company |
| Maiden flight | 29 July 1910 |
| Primary users | Royal Flying Corps Royal Naval Air Service South African Army Australian Flying Corps |
| Number built | 78 |
| Developed from | Henri Farman biplane |
The Bristol Boxkite is an improved version of a Henri Farman biplane, built in 1910 by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company (later to be known as the Bristol Aeroplane Company).
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[edit] History
The Boxkite was developed in 1910 at Britain's first aircraft factory in Filton, Bristol [1]. In spite of its name, it owed no more to the box kite principles developed by Lawrence Hargrave than other biplanes. It was powered by a 70 horsepower "Le Rhone" rotary engine. The aircraft first flew on the 29 July 1910 and went on to become Bristol's first successful production aeroplane. 76 were built, 61 of which were the extended military version, in the years building up to the First World War. Four of these planes constuituted the first order placed by the British War Office when it was set up in 1911. Production was at the Filton factory, which was set up within a tramworks.
Being such an early aeroplane, it holds a number of "first" records:
- First plane to fly into RAF Bicester
- Australia's first passenger flight took place in 1911, when John Hammond took his wife for a flight in Melbourne
- First plane to fly into RAAF Williams, in Point Cook, Victoria [2]
- First aeroplane to fly into Perth Airport
- No's 27/28/29 were sold by visiting Belgian Joseph Christiaens to the South African Army [3]
Flight Lieutenant Pizey (born 1 April 1883 Clevedon, Bristol; died 11 June 1915 Athens, Greece) was one of the early pioneers of British flying, having gained his certificate No 61 in a Bristol Boxkite on Salisbury Plain on 14 February 1911 - he also took place in the Daily Mail Air Race that year [4]
It was also the first aeroplane to land upside down in Brooklands Sewerage farm - Flight Lieutenant Frederick Warren Merriam was the first to enact the scene from the film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines[5]
No original Bristol Boxkites aeroplanes survive today, although three authentic flyable reproductions were created for the film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. One was sent to Australia, one to the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, and one to the Shuttleworth Collection in Bedfordshire
[edit] Specifications
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Length: 38 ft 6 in (11.73 m)
- Wingspan: 46 ft 6 in (14.17 m)
- Height: 11 ft 0 in (3.61 m)
- Wing area: 517.0 ft² (48.03 m²)
- Empty weight: 900 lb (408 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 1150 lb (522 kg)
- Powerplant: 1× Gnome rotary piston engine , 50 hp (37 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 40 mph (64 km/h)
- Wing loading: 2.22 lb/ft² (10.9 kg/m²)
- Power/mass: 0.0014 hp/lb (70.9 W/kg)
[edit] Military Operators
[edit] References
- ^ http://voxx.demon.co.uk/eccent/eccentd.php?filename=00000077.txt
- ^ http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/29/1077989433755.html
- ^ http://rapidttp.com/milhist/vol056dt.html
- ^ http://www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/worldwar1casualties.htm
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3324579.stm
