Bristol Scout

what is it?

The Bristol Scout was a single-seat rotary-engined biplane originally designed as a racing aircraft. Like similar fast, light aircraft of the period it was used by the RNAS and the RFC as a "scout", or fast reconnaissance type. It was one of the first single-seaters to be used as a fighter aircraft, although it was not possible to fit it with an effective forward-firing armament until the first British-designed gun synchronizers became available later in 1916, by which time the Scout was obsolescent.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 7.5 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 151 km/htop speed
• size 542 kgmax take-off weight
• built 374made in total

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 112 years ago, in 1914.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1914-02-23

number built

374

role

single-seat scout/fighter

makers

Bristol Aeroplane Company

engines

1× Le Rhône 9C

crew

1

length

6.3 m

wingspan

7.5 m

height

2.6 m

max take-off weight

542 kg

top speed

151 km/h

range

—

ceiling

4,877 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.