Bristol F.2 Fighter D8096 | The Shuttleworth Collection

  • STATUS: Airworthy
  • LOCATION: Old Warden
  • OWNER: The Shuttleworth Collection
  • ROLE: Fighter
  • BUILT: 1918
  • LENGTH:  25ft 10in\7.87m
  • WINGSPAN:  39ft 3 in\11.96m
  • ENGINE: Rolls-Royce 275hp Falcon III
  • MAXIMUM SPEED:  198 kph\123mph
  • RANGE:  3 hours
  • ARMAMENT: One fixed Vickers Machine Gun and one\two 7.7mm Lewis in cockpit guns

The Bristol F.2 Fighter was a British two-seat biplane fighter and reconnaissance aircraft which first flew in 1916, one year into the First World War. Initially intended as a replacement for the pre-war Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c reconnaissance aircraft, the  Rolls-Royce Falcon V12 engine gave it the performance of a two seat fighter. As a result the pilot and an observer gunner could each engage the enemy independanctly, the pilot with a fixed forward facing machine gun and the observer with a maneuverable Lewis gun.  Designed by Capt. Frank Barnwell at the Bristol Aeroplane Company, it is often simply called the Bristol Fighter or the“Brisfit” or “Biff”.

Mainly used by the Royal Flying Corps and the Polish Air Force, a number of other nations also had a handful of Bristol Fighters. Three airworthy examples exist worldwide. At the end of 2006, Bristol Fighter (G-AANM, D-7889) was exchanged by the Historic Aircraft Company based in the UK with the Canada Aviation Museum for a duplicate Heinkel 162. The Bristol arrived in Canada in early December, 2006. New Zealand film director Peter Jackson owns Bristol Fighter D-8040, the aircraft is flown from the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, who also own a second original fuselage.

D8096

The Shuttleworth Collection’s  Bristol F.2 Fighter F.2B D8096 was built in 1918 but didn’t see war time service. It did serve with 208 Sqn in Turkey after the war. Entrusted to the collection by the Bristol Aeroplane Company who restored it in 1952.  It was fully overhauled between 1980 and 1982 with a new engine added 10 years later.  D8096 is the only airworthy  Bristol F.2 Fighter in Europe.

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