Bristol Buckmaster
Type 166 Buckmaster | |
---|---|
Role | Advanced trainer aircraft |
National origin | United Kingdom |
Manufacturer | Bristol Aeroplane Company |
First flight | 27 October 1944 |
Introduction | 1945 |
Primary user | Royal Air Force |
Produced | 1945–1946 |
Number built | 112 |
Developed from | Bristol Buckingham |
The Bristol Buckmaster was an advanced British
Design and development
By 1945, there was a serious gap in performance between the so-called advanced trainers in use – such as the Avro Anson, Airspeed Oxford, dual-control Bristol Blenheim and Lockheed Hudson – and the combat aircraft which the pilots would be expected to fly on graduation.
The
to allow side-by-side seating for an instructor and trainee and room for a radio operator. All armament and armour and military equipment was also removed.The Buckmaster was a propeller-driven, twin-engine mid-wing aircraft. The retractable undercarriage was of conventional (tailwheel) configuration. The radial engines were equipped with four-blade propellers.
Two partly completed Buckinghams were converted as prototypes, the first flying on the 27 October 1944. Unused sets of Buckingham components[a] were used to produce 110 aircraft which were delivered in 1945 and 1946.
Operational history
All production aircraft were intended to serve as a
Operators
Specifications
Data from Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II[4]
General characteristics
- Crew: 3 (student pilot, instructor pilot, radio operator)
- Length: 46 ft 10 in (14.27 m)
- Wingspan: 71 ft 10 in (21.89 m)
- Height: 17 ft 7 in (5.36 m)
- Wing area: 708 sq ft (65.8 m2)
- Empty weight: 23,000 lb (10,433 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 38,193 lb (17,324 kg)
- Powerplant: 2 × Bristol Centaurus VII eighteen-cylinder air-cooled radial engines, 2,400 hp (1,800 kW) each
- Propellers: 4-bladed Rotol constant-speed propellers
Performance
- Maximum speed: 352 mph (566 km/h, 306 kn) at 12,000 ft (3,700 m)
- Cruise speed: 325 mph (523 km/h, 282 kn) at 18,000 ft (5,500 m) (weak mixture)
- Range: 2,000 mi (3,200 km, 1,700 nmi) [5]
- Service ceiling: 30,000 ft (9,100 m)
- Rate of climb: 2,245 ft/min (11.40 m/s)
See also
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Related lists
Notes
- ^ Buckingham orders were cut at the end of the war
References
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Barnes, C. H. Bristol Aircraft since 1910. London: Putnam, 1964.
- Bridgeman, Leonard. "The Bristol 166 Buckmaster." Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. London: Studio, 1946. ISBN 1-85170-493-0.
- Mondey, David. The Hamlyn Concise Guide to British Aircraft of World War II. London: Aerospace Publishing Ltd., 1982 (reprint 1994). ISBN 1-85152-668-4.
- Winchester, Jim. The World's Worst Aircraft: From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters. London: Amber Books Ltd., 2005. ISBN 1-904687-34-2.