Bristol Type 159

Type 159
Role	Heavy bomber
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Bristol Aeroplane Company
Status	Cancelled project
Primary user	Royal Air Force
Number built	None

The Bristol Type 159 was a British design for a four-engined heavy bomber by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, of Filton, Bristol. A mockup was built but the project was cancelled and no aircraft were built.^[1]

Design and development

In March 1939 the British Air Ministry issued specification B.1/39 for a heavy bomber to replace the Avro Manchester, Short Stirling and Handley Page Halifax.^[1] Bristol had submitted the Type 159, sometimes known as the Beaubomber which was a low-wing monoplane with a twin tail, using mainly components used by the Bristol Beaufort.^[1] It had a nosewheel landing gear with the entire 15,000lb bomb-load stored inside the inner wing.^[1] Four Hercules engines were the proposed engines with the ability to interchange with Rolls-Royce Griffons.^[1] The crew, apart from the bomb aimer, would be housed in an armoured monocoque structure with both a dorsal and a ventral gun turret.^[1] The Type 159 and the Handley Page HP.60 design, a variant of the Halifax, were selected and the intention was to order two prototypes of each for evaluation.^[1] The Type 159 passed wind-tunnel for stability and low drag and with design well advanced a full-scale mock-up was ready by early 1940.^[1]

It was intended to build a half-scale aircraft for flight testing but with the Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) concentrating on the production of fighters, further work on the Type 159 was stopped and the mockup dismantled in May 1940.^[1]

Specifications (Proposed)

Data from ^[1]Bristol Aircraft since 1910

General characteristics

Crew: seven
Length: 80 ft 3 in (24.46 m)
Wingspan: 114 ft 0 in (34.75 m)
Height: 20 ft 3 in (6.17 m)
Wing area: 1,800 sq ft (170 m²)
Empty weight: 37,350 lb (16,942 kg)
Gross weight: 71,000 lb (32,205 kg)
Powerplant: 4 × Bristol Hercules VII radial piston engine, 1,500 hp (1,100 kW) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 302 mph (486 km/h; 262 kn)
Range: 2,500 mi (2,172 nmi; 4,023 km) at 280 mph
Service ceiling: 25,300 ft (7,711 m)

References

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Barnes 1988, pp. 308-311

Bibliography

Barnes, ed. (1988). Bristol Aircraft since 1910. London: Putnam. ISBN 0 85177 823 2. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)

Bristol Aeroplane Company aircraft

Pre-numbering
scheme

Manufacturer
designations

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
36
37
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
52
53
55
57
62
71
72
73
75
76
77
79
81
83
84
86
88
89
90
91
92
93
95
96
99
101
105
107
109
110A
118
120
123
124
130
133
135
137
138
142/142M
143
144
146
148
149
152
156
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
166
167
170
171
172
173
175
182
188
191
192
193
198
200
213
223

By role

Fighters	Scout M.1 Monoplane F.2 Fighter Badger Jupiter Fighter Bagshot Bulldog Bullfinch Type 123 Type 133 Beaufighter

Passenger Transports	Tourer Ten-Seater Taxiplane Pullman Type 142 Britain First Brabazon Britannia

Reconnaissance	Bloodhound

Trainer	Bristol Boxkite Bristol Coanda Monoplanes T.B.8 P.B.8 Primary Trainer Buckmaster

Transports	Bombay Brandon Buckingham Freighter Superfreighter

Experimental	X.2 X.3 Bullet Racer Type 92 Type 138 Type 188 Type 221

Bombers	Braemar Berkeley Bombay Blenheim Beaufort Buckingham Brigand

Sporting	Babe Brownie

Helicopters	Sycamore Type 173 Belvedere

Designers

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 4/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.