#1358
Bristol Brigand
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·first flew 1944· anti-shipping torpedo bomber, ground attack/dive bomber
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Bristol 164 Brigand MET.3 VS820 1301 Flt Luqa 06.49 edited-2: RuthAS· CC BY 3.0
- 2. Img808 Bristol Brigand RH747: Official UK government photographer· Public domain
what is it?
The Bristol Brigand was a British anti-shipping/ground attack/dive bomber aircraft, developed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as a replacement for the Beaufighter. A total of 147 were built and were used by the Royal Air Force in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency and Kenya until replaced by the de Havilland Hornet in Malaya and the English Electric Canberra jet bomber elsewhere.
How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 22.1 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 82 years ago, in 1944.
- Top speed is 4.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 22.1 m: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
- Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 3 African elephants (~6 t each).
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1944-12-04
- introduced
- 1946
- retired
- 1958
- status
- retired
- number built
- 147
- role
- anti-shipping torpedo bomber, ground attack/dive bomber
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- makers
- Bristol Aeroplane Company
- engines
- 2× Bristol Centaurus 57
- length
- 14.2 m
- wingspan
- 22.1 m
- height
- 5.3 m
- max take-off weight
- 17.7 t
- top speed
- 582 km/h
- cruise speed
- 516 km/h
- range
- —
- ceiling
- 7,925 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q589466, Wikipedia: Bristol Brigand (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.