The Bristol Type 32 Bullet was a British

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

racing aircraft Air racing is a type of motorsport that involves airplanes or other types of aircraft that compete over a fixed course, with the winner either returning the shortest time, the one to complete it with the most points, or to come closest to a pre ...

. It was designed in 1919 by

Frank Barnwell Captain Frank Sowter Barnwell OBE AFC FRAeS BSc (23 November 1880 – 2 August 1938) was a Scottish aeronautical engineer. With his elder brother Harold, he built the first successful powered aircraft made in Scotland and later went on to a ...

as a high-speed testbed for the

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

engine being developed in Bristol by

Roy Fedden Sir Alfred Hubert Roy Fedden MBE, FRAeS (6 June 1885 – 21 November 1973) was an engineer who designed most of Bristol Engine Company's successful piston aircraft engine designs. Early life Fedden was born in the Bristol area to fairly weal ...

for the

Cosmos Engineering Cosmos Engineering was a company that manufactured aero-engines in a factory in Fishponds, Bristol during World War I. Sir Roy Fedden, the company's principal designer, developed the 14-cylinder radial Mercury engine during this period. The com ...

company, and also to publicise the company's name by participating in air races. The Bullet was a conventional single-seat

with single-bay wings of thin low-drag section braced by N struts. The fuselage was a wooden four-

longeron In engineering, a longeron or stringer is a load-bearing component of a framework. The term is commonly used in connection with aircraft fuselages and automobile chassis. Longerons are used in conjunction with stringers to form structural fram ...

structure faired to a circular section. The finished airframe, fitted with a dummy engine, was exhibited at the Paris Aero Salon in December 1919 but an engine did not become available until June 1920, when the aircraft was first flown, piloted by

Cyril Uwins Cyril Frank Uwins OBE, AFC, FRAeS (1896–1972) was a British test pilot who worked for Bristol Aeroplane Company, where he made the first flight of 58 types of aircraft. On 16 September 1932 he broke the world aeroplane height record by climbin ...

. It was entered in the

Aerial Derby The Aerial Derby was an air race in the United Kingdom sponsored by the ''Daily Mail'' in which the competitors flew a circuit around London. It was first held in 1912, with subsequent races in 1913 and 1914. Suspended during the First World W ...

in July of that year;Barnes 1964, p. 151. its performance in the race was disappointing, and it was substantially modified, with a new cowling, a large hemispherical spinner, and wings of greatly reduced span and gap. By the time the modifications were complete Cosmos had gone

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...

and the aero-engine business had been bought by Bristol, and the Bullet was used for the task of accumulating the necessary flight hours for the Jupiter to gain

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

type approval, a job it shared with the

Bristol Badger The Bristol Badger was designed to meet a British need for a two-seat fighter-reconnaissance aeroplane at the end of the First World War. Three Badgers were delivered to the Air Board to develop air-cooled radial engines, particularly that ...

. The modified Bullet's maximum speed was increased to , and it finished fourth in the 1921 Aerial Derby at an average speed of 141 mph (227 km/h).Barnes 1964, p. 152. A more powerful 380 hp (280 kW) Jupiter II engine was fitted, and, piloted by Rollo A. de Haga Haig, came second in the 1922 Aerial Derby, at an average speed of 145 mph (233 km/h), beaten only by the Gloster Mars (which had also won the 1921 raceJames 1971, pp. 69–71. It was entered for the 1923 Aerial Derby and Kings Cup races, but following the death of Leslie Foot, the intended pilot, flying the

Bristol M.1D The Bristol M.1 Monoplane Scout is a British monoplane fighter of the First World War. It holds the distinction of being the only British monoplane fighter to reach production during the conflict. During mid-1916, work commenced at Bristol o ...

in the

Grosvenor Cup The Grosvenor Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Grosvenor Cup, was a trophy presented by Lord Edward Grosvenor in 1923 to the winner of a light aircraft time trial competition.Dorman 1951, p. 188. Entries were initially restricted to Britis ...

race, Bristol withdrew from racing and the Bullet was retired, and eventually scrapped in 1924.

Specifications (As first built)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{Bristol aircraft 1920s British sport aircraft

Bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constru ...

Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Racing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1920