Bristol Buckmaster

Type 166 Buckmaster
Role	Advanced trainer aircraft
Manufacturer	Bristol Aeroplane Company
First flight	27 October 1944
Introduction	1945
Primary user	Royal Air Force
Produced	1945-1946
Number built	112
Developed from	Bristol Buckingham

The Bristol Buckmaster was an advanced British training aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force during the 1950s.

Design and development

A Buckmaster T.1 at RAF Boscombe Down, 1945.

By 1945, there was a serious gap in performance between the so-called advanced trainers in use – such as the Avro Anson, Airspeed Oxford, dual-control Bristol Blenheim and Lockheed Hudson – and the combat aircraft which the pilots would be expected to fly on graduation.

The Bristol response to Air Ministry Specification T.13/43 was to make further use of the Buckingham wing, with another new fuselage, in an aircraft developed as the Type 166. The trainee and instructor were seated side-by-side with a wireless operator seated behind.

The Buckmaster was a propeller-driven, twin-engine mid-wing aircraft. The retractable undercarriage was of conventional (tailwheel) configuration. The radial engines were equipped with four-blade propellers.

Operational history

A total of 65 Buckingham bombers were unfinished on the production line and ended up re-built as the Buckmaster, to add the production series. All were intended to serve as a trainer for the similar Brigand. Considered the "highest performance trainer in the RAF," the Buckmaster continued to serve as a trainer until its eventual retirement in the mid-1950s.

Operators

United Kingdom

• Royal Air Force

Specifications

Data from Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II

General characteristics

• Crew: 3 (student pilot, instructor pilot, radio operator)
• Length: 46 ft 5 in (14.2 m)
• Wingspan: 71 ft 10 in (21.9 m)
• Height: 17 ft 6 in (5.3 m)
• Wing area: 708 ft² (65.8 m²)
• Empty weight: 24,042 lb (10,900 kg)
• Loaded weight: 33,700 lb (15,280 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × Bristol Centaurus VII 18-cylinder radial engines, 2,585 hp (1,880 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 352 mph (306 kn, 566 km/h) at 12,000 ft (3,700 m)
• Cruise speed: 325 mph (282 kn, 530 km/h) at 18,000 ft (5,500 m)
• Range: 2,000 mi (1,700 nmi, 3,200 km)
• Service ceiling: 30,000 ft (9,000 m)
• Rate of climb: 2,245 ft/min (11.3 m/s)
• Wing loading: 47.6 lb/ft² (232 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.153 hp/lb (252 W/kg)

See also

• Bristol Buckingham
• Avro Anson
• Airspeed Oxford
• Bristol Blenheim
• Lockheed Hudson
• List of aircraft of World War II
• List of aircraft of the RAF

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Bridgeman, Leonard. "The Bristol 166 Buckmaster." Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. London: Studio, 1946. ISBN 1-85170-493-0.
• Mondey, David. The Hamlyn Concise Guide to British AIrcraft of World War II. London: Aerospace Publishing Ltd., 1982 (reprint 1994). ISBN 1-85152-668-4.
• Winchester, Jim. The World's Worst Aircraft: From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters. London: Amber Books Ltd., 2005. ISBN 1-904687-34-2.