| Type 123 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Single-seat fighter |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Bristol Aeroplane Company |
| Number built | 1 |
| History | |
| First flight | 12 June 1934 |
TheBristol Type 123 was a single-seat, single-enginebiplanefighter built to a United KingdomAir Ministry specification for a four-gun fighter in the early 1930s. Only one was built.
In late 1931 theAir Ministry releasedAir Ministry specification F.7/30. This was for a four-gun fighter with better high-altitude performance and endurance than current fighters, outstanding climb rate, manoeuvrability and all-round vision combined with a low landing speed. It was made clear that the evaporatively-cooledRolls-Royce Goshawk was the preferred engine. The best-known outcome of this specification was the crank-wingedSupermarine Type 224monoplane with an open cockpit and fixedundercarriage designed byR.J. Mitchell.[1][2] Bristol submitted several biplane designs, none of which brought an order for a prototype, but they were invited to offer a private-venture aircraft.
TheBristol Type 123 was the result. Bristol's last biplane, it was of compact, striking appearance and had innovative control features. It was[3] a single-bay biplane with wings of constantchord almost to the tips and heavystagger. The upper wings wereswept and withoutdihedral, thecantilever lower wings unswept with 6° of dihedral. Both wings carried full-spanailerons. The upper wing also carried full-spanslots on the leading edge, arranged in inner and outer groups. The ailerons were linked tointerceptors behind the outer slots which rose when the inner slots opened at high angles of attack. As this happened, the ailerons drooped symmetrically. The slot-plus-interceptor combination was intended to prevent a stall turning into a spin and had been tested byHandley Page on ade Havilland Moth[4] and later by Bristol on aBulldog.[5]Rudder andelevators were horn balanced, the latter carryingtrim tabs. The wings,empennage andfuselage behind the cockpit were all fabric covered over a metal structure.[3]
The combination of heavy stagger and a slender nose gave the Type 123 a slightly humpbacked appearance, with the pilot's open cockpit at the top above the centre of the lower wing and well behind the trailing edge of the upper wing. There were pairs of machine guns on either side of the engine. Theundercarriage was fixed and almost completely enclosed in forward-thrusting fairings with a cross-axle between the wheels.[3]
The aircraft was powered by a Goshawk III loaned by theAir Ministry, which used condensers in the lower wing leading edge for cooling, coupled to a forward-mounted ventral condenser. Engine cooling problems delayed the first flight, made byCyril Uwins on 12 June 1934. Testing revealed serious lateral instability that a series of modifications to fin, rudder and the inner slots failed to cure, and which may have been structural. Development was therefore abandoned.[3]
Data fromBarnes 1970, p. 248
General characteristics
Performance
