To break it down further, 43 former RFC/RAF Fighters made it on to the UK register. In the period from 1920 to 1923, they were mostly via AirDisCo. Of these, a batch of 15 were sold to the Belgian Air Force, being delivered between October 1921 and July 1922. This was in addition to 2 Fighters that were delivered the Belgian Royal Flight in 1920 (G-EASU and G-EASV). G-EBIO was retained by AirDisCo as a demonstrator, and sold in 1931. When the F2B was finally withdrawn from RAF service in the early 1930s, more ended up on the UK civil register. Some interesting examples were G-ABXA, which was to be used as an air-to-air refueller for the aviatrix Mildred Bruce (aka the Hon Mrs Victor Bruce) in her unsuccessful attempts to set endurance records in a Saro Windover (she also owned F2B G-ACFP); G-ABYT, which was used by the Cinque Ports Flying Club at Lympne and came third in the 1933 Folkestone Aero Trophy Race; between 1933 and 1936 four were used by Commercial Airways at Loughton Air Park in Essex in their flying school (G-ACFK, G-ACFL, G-ACFN, G-ACFO); G-ADJR and G-AEPH were owned by Capt. Christopher Ogilvie, and sold to London Film productions in 1938, being used as airborne camera platforms. The latter was ‘rediscovered’ at Elstree in 1946, restored by the Bristol Aeroplane Company at Filton, flew again in 1951 and has been flying for the Shuttleworth Collection ever since. In addition to these 43, two ‘rebuilds’ have completed in recent years, both based on frames that were used in the construction of a farm building in Weston-on-the-Green and recovered in the mid-1960s: G-ACAA (using components from and taking the identity of the original G-ACAA, ex F4516) built by Skysport Engineering and flying in 1998, and G-AANM, built by the Historic Aircraft Collection, flying in 2006.

The Bristol Tourer, Coupe and Seeley were all purpose-built civil aircraft based on the F2B frame, and were either two-seaters or three-seaters, with or without a hood. about 9 had UK civil registrations, usually pre-delivery. Five Puma-powered Fighters were built in 1923, all for use as trainers for the Bristol Flying School at Filton (G-EAXA – a former Tourer, G-EBFR, G-EBFS, G-EBFT, G-EBFU). Three Jupiter-powered Fighters were built in 1923: One crashed after a couple of months (G-EBGF), one went to Sweden (G-EBHG), and another was retained (G-EBHH). This resulted in the dual-control Jupiter Trainer (aka Advanced Training Machine), of which 24 were built for the Bristol Flying School and the Beardmore Flying School at Renfrew.

So a quick tot-up makes 86 Bristol Fighter or Fighter-derivatives that have appeared on the UK civil register.

Andrew