Bristol Braemar

The Bristol Braemar was a large British heavy bomber triplane designed at the end of the First World War for the Royal Air Force, of which only two prototypes were built. It was conceived after the Independent Air Force was established in October 1917, as a machine able to bomb Berlin if required, and it could stow up to six 250 lb bombs internally. The first design placed all four engines in a central engine room and drove the propellers through shafts, but that arrangement was dropped and both completed aircraft carried their engines in tandem pairs, with pusher and tractor propellers. Bristol and Colonial received a contract for three prototypes on 26 February 1918. The first aircraft flew on 13 August 1918 with four 230 hp Siddeley Puma engines; test pilots complained about the view from the cockpit and the controls, so the improved Mk.II was fitted with four 400 hp Liberty L-12 engines. The Braemar never entered RAF service. The third airframe was completed as the Pullman civil transport, and the central engine room idea resurfaced in the proposed steam-powered Tramp.