Aviation of World War II

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Bristol

Bristol was founded on February 19, 1910 at the initiative of George White, one of the pioneers of British aviation, as British and Colonial Airplane Comp. In 1919, it was renamed Bristol Aircraft Ltd. Until 1946 alone, the company created about 170 different, mainly military types of aircraft. In the First World War, most of the aircraft were fighters, for example the F-28 - 4,500 copies. In the Second World War, bombers were also produced in large series.

The first real RAF night fighter was the twin-engine Bristol Beaufighter, which had a fairly high flight speed and powerful weapons for its time. From 1942, this vehicle was also used as a torpedo bomber, successfully striking enemy ships and submarines.

Having begun the rearmament of the Air Force, the British command in 1936 already had prototypes of the new Hurricane and Spitfire day fighters in stock, but there was no aircraft capable of effectively fighting enemy night bombers, and in England they remembered the night raids of German airships on London during the First World War. Therefore, at the beginning of the next year, there was a demand for the creation of a night fighter. In addition to the long flight duration for long patrols in the air, the vehicle was supposed to have four 20-mm cannons, guaranteeing the complete destruction of the enemy.

Three firms took part in the competition: Bristol, Hauker and Westland. In mid-1938, the aircraft projects were ready, but the “Munich crisis” that broke out in September did not leave time for their further revision. Under the new conditions, a night fighter was required immediately, and Bristol engineer Leslie Fries found a way out by proposing to re-equip for this purpose the twin-engine Bristol Beaufort bomber, a prototype of which was just preparing for testing.