Bristol Boxkite

Infobox Aircraft
name=Bristol Boxkite


caption=1963 Replica of the Bristol Boxkite, now hanging in the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
type=two-seat trainer
manufacturer=British and Colonial Aeroplane Company
designer=
first flight=29 July 1910
introduced=1911
retired=
status=
primary user=Royal Flying Corps
more users=Royal Naval Air Service
South African Army
Australian Flying Corps
produced=
number built=78
program cost=
unit cost=
developed from=Henri Farman biplane
variants with their own articles= The Bristol Boxkite was an improved version of the early Henri Farman biplane, built in 1910 by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company (later to be known as the Bristol Aeroplane Company).

History

The Boxkite was developed in 1910 at Britain's first aircraft factory in Filton, Bristol [ [http://voxx.demon.co.uk/eccent/eccentd.php?filename=00000077.txt eccentrica ] ] . In spite of its name, it owed no more to the box kite principles developed by Lawrence Hargrave than other biplanes. It was powered by a 70 horsepower "Le Rhone" rotary engine. The aircraft first flew on the 29 July 1910 and went on to become Bristol's first successful production aeroplane. 76 were built, 61 of which were the extended military version, in the years building up to the First World War. Four of these planes constituted the first order placed by the British War Office when it was set up in 1911. Production was at the Filton factory, which was set up within a tramworks.

Being such an early aeroplane, it holds a number of "first" records:

* First plane to fly into RAF Bicester
* Australia's first passenger flight took place in 1911, when John Hammond took his wife for a flight in Melbourne
* First plane to fly into RAAF Williams, in Point Cook, Victoria [ [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/29/1077989433755.html Point Cook may take off as big tourist attraction - National - www.theage.com.au ] ]
* First aeroplane to fly into Perth Airport
* No's 27/28/29 were sold by visiting Belgian Joseph Christiaens to the South African Army [ [http://rapidttp.com/milhist/vol056dt.html They Mounted up as Eagles - South African Military History Society - Journal ] ]

Flight Lieutenant Pizey "(born 1 April 1883 Clevedon, Bristol; died 11 June 1915 Athens, Greece)" was one of the early pioneers of British flying, having gained his certificate No 61 in a Bristol Boxkite on Salisbury Plain on 14 February 1911 - he also took place in the Daily Mail Air Race that year [ [http://www.clevedon-civic-society.org.uk/worldwar1casualties.htm Clevedon Civic Society Military History Records ] ]

It was also the first aeroplane to land upside down in Brooklands Sewerage farm - Flight Lieutenant Frederick Warren Merriam was the first to enact the scene from the film "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3324579.stm BBC NEWS | Magazine | My grandad was an aviation pioneer ] ]

No original Bristol Boxkites aeroplanes survive today, although three authentic flyable reproductions were created for the film "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines". One was sent to Australia, one to the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, and one to the Shuttleworth Collection in Bedfordshire

pecifications

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
ref=
crew=2
capacity=
length main=38 ft 6 in
length alt=11.73 m
span main=46 ft 6 in
span alt=14.17 m
height main=11 ft 0 in
height alt=3.61 m
area main=517.0 ft²
area alt=48.03 m²
airfoil=
empty weight main=900 lb
empty weight alt=408 kg
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
useful load main=
useful load alt=
max takeoff weight main=1150 lb
max takeoff weight alt=522 kg
more general=
engine (jet)=
type of jet=
number of jets=
thrust main= lbf
thrust alt= kN
thrust original=
afterburning thrust main= lbf
afterburning thrust alt= kN
engine (prop)=Gnome rotary piston engine
type of prop=
number of props=1
power main=50 hp
power alt=37 kW
power original=
max speed main=40 mph
max speed alt= 64 km/h
cruise speed main=
cruise speed alt=
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
range main=
range alt=
ceiling main=
ceiling alt=
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main=2.22 lb/ft²
loading alt=10.9 kg/m²
thrust/weight=
power/mass main=0.043 hp/lb
power/mass alt=70.9 W/kg
more performance=
armament=
avionics=

Military Operators

;AUS
* Australian Flying Corps
** Central Flying School AFC at Point Cook, Victoria.;flag|Bulgaria|1878;RUS;flag|South Africa|1928 ;flagicon|Spain|1785 Kingdom of Spain;UK
* Royal Flying Corps
* Royal Naval Air Service
** No. 3 Squadron RFC

References

External links

* [http://buy.bristol-city.gov.uk/Bristol_City_Council_Photo_Library/asp/list.asp?filter=b Bristol City Council catalog - Box Kite entry]
* [http://met.open.ac.uk/group/jwl/movies/boxkite.html short video showing a Boxkite replica in flight]