The Bristol 188, sometimes called the 'flaming pencil', was designed to
research structures for sustained supersonic flight, particularly in
support of the Avro 730 reconnaissance aircraft. This required the aircraft to
'soak' at Mach 2.6 for at least 30 minutes. To achieve the required strength
the structure was largely stainless steel, which required new techniques and
great expense to fabricate into an airframe.
Take-off speed was nearly 483km/h, but in all other respects the
188's speed was slower than desired, being able to achieve Mach 2.0 for only
a couple of minutes. The whole project cost a huge GBP20 million and failed to
achieve its objectives. It was wound down rather than develop the engines
further. Test pilot Godfrey
Auty was voted the 'man
most likely to eject in the
coming year' by his peers
but thankfully never had to.
The aircraft at Cosford has a photograph that states it was taken at Farnborough. In fact, this photograph was taken at Filton and the museum at Cosford with supplied with a photograph taken from the same location to demonstrate where the 188 was landing. The museum never replied or changed the caption on their photograph.
Looking like the result of an illicit affair between an F-104 (long, slender fuselage,stub wings and "T" tail), and an SR-71 (engines,with spike inlets, in external pods), the BAC 188 is another classic example of what might have been, with a bit more time, a bit fewer complications, and a bit more vision, the latter only possible if Duncan Sandys was to trip and fall in front of a runaway train!
If memory serves me right, the second a /c never flew and ended up on Salisbury Plain and used for target practice for tanks. My father Bob Atkinson was the Dowty rep on the T188 and I remember him saying what a nightmare the legs were to work on as was most of the a /c. I witnessed most of the flights from the Bristol Aeroplane Tech College in the 60s.
I remember it as a child flying right over our house. We were slap bang on the flight path to Filton Airfield. I swear sometimes if it flew any lower it would have hit our chimney pot ! One of the most beautiful aircraft I ever saw. Designed by men with thick glasses, neckties with very small knots, pipes and a slide rule
the aircraft was supposedly designed to investigate kinetic heating in supersonic flight. most of the world's supply of titanium was controlled by the USSR so stainless steel was chosen. first problem was that stainless could not be riveted so it had to be welded and a lot of research money and time went in how to weld stainless steel. By the time the aircraft (923 & 926) were built information from the US revealed that only the leading edges were susceptible to kinetic heating. The typical supersonic run lasted only a few minutes. As the 188 had no navigation instruments it would line up on the Hawker Hunter chase plane. The Type 188 sent most of the flight data to the ground control by a radio link - an innovation for the time. The problem with the 188 was not the engines per se but the air intake control system. The control system was designed and tested at Pyestock - only they tested the system at ground level temperature and pressure. As the aircraft approached target speeds the spill valves in the intake would oscillate and cause extreme vibrations of the aircraft. As mentioned by another correspondent the cockpit was capable of being refrigerated, eating into the weight budget, yet the aircraft only had the crudest navigation equipment in order to meet the weight budget.
I wonder if this was a Kelly Johnson rip-off of a British idea. It was said that kelly never like to design a plane from the ground up. He took parts of other planes and incorporated them into a newer design. Too bad they didn't have titanium.
The first flight was a near disater. The forward folding nose gear severed a hydraulic line just after take off. We could see oil vapour spraying out from the nose wheel bay. The pilot had to rely on the emergency nitrogen system for controls. The program was an engineer's dream with enormous cost overruns and delays.
I thought that maybe the Americans had used the engine kow how from the 188 for the Black Bird but after reading this and having read the Skunk Works I feel that Kelly Johnson and his team did it on their own
The fault of this aircraft was the engines. The Gyron Junior promised so much in all it's applications but delivered so little.It should be noted that the Blackburn NA39 (Buccaneer)only got into it's stride when it was decided to use the Spey in place of the Gyron Junior. De Havilland were one of the great aeroplane designers and aircraft manufacturers but when it came to advanced jet engines they had a lot to learn.
Reminds me somewhat of the land speed record car Thrust SST that Andy Green drove. Could there have been some kind of design rub off here I wonder as the car certainly worked.
Parts of the structure were sub contracted by Armstrong Whitworth and were welded using a technique called "puddle welding". As a seasoned welder myself I've never come across this process. Is it TIG welding?
Whilst in D.O., did some Instrumentation work on this a /c. I understand main reason for failed performance was lack of correct, promised, engines. A /c was very difficult to work on (ask the fitters!) but design was exemplary.
Kevin Morrow
The aircraft at Cosford has a photograph that states it was taken at Farnborough. In fact, this photograph was taken at Filton and the museum at Cosford with supplied with a photograph taken from the same location to demonstrate where the 188 was landing. The museum never replied or changed the caption on their photograph.
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