Up the Bristol Fighter!

[Doc Yo]

 Reading Tom Cleaver's build review of the recent Wingnut Wings Bristol fighter made  me wonder.

http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/w1/tc/tmcf2b.htm

What if the concept had caught with the Germans* the way the Triplane had? The Brisfit seems to have
been one of the few two-seaters that could take its single-seat adversaries on equal terms. I'm certainly
no expert on the aircraft, or the period, but had two seaters become the norm, rather than the exception,
what would the air forces of the world looked like, ten or twenty years on?



* And everybody else, for that matter.

[pyro-manic]

Perhaps we'd have seen turret fighters (or at least, flexible armament) becoming the norm, at least until speeds became high enough that they didn't work any more.

[apophenia]

The Germans weren't really all that far behind with the CL-Klasse. (I mean the Idflieg's original CL of a 2-Sitzer escort fighter, not the later ground attack emphasis). The F.2A was operational by April 1917. The Halberstadt CL.II entered service in August 1917, the Hannover CL.II slightly later.

As for later developments, I guess the Berliner-Joyce P-16 and Hawker Demon give the flavour.

[NARSES2]

Not a 2 seater but in a similar vein would be the Bell Airacuda. The ultimate "air cruiser" built ? Or perhaps the SNCASE SE100 or Lockheed Chain Lightning. There were some really weird French multi place bomber destroyer designs but they wern't built. Example the Payen 321

[jcf]

The Consolidated P-30 (PB-2A) was the ultimate USAAC expression of the two-seat pursuit fighter concept, as opposed to the bomber-destroyer types. The aircraft was moderately successful, the rear gunner was dead weight. 



http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=2197

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/page3964/

[NARSES2]

Got a kit of that P-30 in the stash : LF ? Nice kit

[kitbasher]

I'm with the idea of more turret fighters appearing from the middle to the end of the 20 year period.  Mustn't overlook the Hawker Demon, which was a two-seater that bridged the gap between the Brisfit and the Defiant.

[Weaver]

Something I suggested for the Alt.Luftwaffe GB was an He-70 with a proper turret. Since my various Defiant plans would leave me with a spare turret without guns, it would have had a single 20mm MG FF. The Revellobox kit had interchangeable in-line and radial engines, so it would be quite easy to up-engine it with a Db.601 or something of that ilk.

[kitbasher]

Something I suggested for the Alt.Luftwaffe GB was an He-70 with a proper turret.

I'm planning one with a turret - the basis of a Supermarine Osprey torpedo bomber with probably a Sabre (I've one spare) or possibly a Hercules plus a revised fin and rudder.

[GTX]

I am also planning a turreted He-70, which is why I am excited to see the mention of a 1/48 He-70 being released.

Getting back to the Bristol Fighter and German Equivalents, what about the LVG C.VI as the basis - maybe with a more powerful engine:




Regards,

Greg

[Weaver]

Or a Hannover CL.IIIa. They were mostly used as gorund attack aircraft, but they were derived from the CL.II escort fighter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannover_CL.III

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannover_CL.II

The Roland C.II might also have been developed further:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LFG_Roland_C.II

I know this aircraft had it's fair share of problems, but I've always liked the way it looked:

[Weaver]

How about an up-engined Siebel Si.204 as a turret fighter?





http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/RVA72003E