Bristol Scout F

The Bristol Scout E and F were British single seat biplane fighters built in 1916 to use newer and more powerful engines than the earlier Scouts. Frank Barnwell designed the Scout E around a proposed ten cylinder radial from Harry Ricardo and Frank Halford, but that engine never appeared, and the design became the Scout F when 200 hp Sunbeam Arab V8 engines replaced promised Hispano-Suiza units. It was a single bay biplane with staggered unequal span wings. Persistent vibration dogged the Arab, so it was used in only the first two Scout Fs, the first of which flew in March 1918. The third prototype tested the Cosmos Mercury radial, the start of Roy Fedden's association with Bristol. The Armistice ended hopes of production.