Bristol Buckmaster

{{Short description|Twin-engine British training aircraft, 1944}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}} {{Use British English|date=December 2016}}  {{Infobox aircraft |name= Type 166 Buckmaster |image= Bristol Buckmaster T.1 at Boscombe Down c1945.jpg |caption= |type= [[Trainer aircraft|Advanced trainer aircraft]] |manufacturer= [[Bristol Aeroplane Company]] |national_origin=United Kingdom |designer= |first_flight= 27 October 1944 |introduction= 1945 |retired= |status= |produced= 1945–1946 |number_built= 112 |primary_user= [[Royal Air Force]] |more_users= |unit cost= |developed_from= [[Bristol Buckingham]] |variants= }} The '''Bristol Buckmaster''' was an advanced British [[training aircraft]] operated by the [[Royal Air Force]] during the 1950s.

==Design and development== 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 Aeroplane Company|Bristol]] company's response to [[Air Ministry Specification]] [[List of Air Ministry Specifications#1940-1949|T.13/43]]<ref name="Mondey 1994, p. 70">Mondey 1994, p. 70.</ref> was the Type 166 which was based on the [[Bristol Buckingham|Buckingham]] with a new wider front [[fuselage]] to allow side-by-side seating for an instructor and trainee and room for a radio operator. All armament and armour and military equipment was also removed.

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

Two partly completed Buckinghams were converted as prototypes, the first flying on the 27 October 1944. Unused sets of Buckingham components{{efn|Buckingham orders were cut at the end of the war}} were used to produce 110 aircraft which were delivered in 1945 and 1946.

==Operational history== All production aircraft were intended to serve as trainers for the similar [[Bristol Brigand|Brigand]].<ref name="Mondey 1994, p. 70"/><ref name="Winchester2005p94">Winchester 2005, p. 94.</ref> It was considered to be the highest performance trainer used by the RAF when introduced. Blind flying instruction and instrument training could be undertaken, the normal crew complement being pilot, instructor and air signaller. The last Training Command Buckmasters served with the No. 238 [[Operational conversion unit|OCU]] at [[RAF Colerne|Colerne]] into the mid-fifties; the transfer of one or two to [[Filton Aerodrome|Filton]] for experimental work<ref name="Mondey 1994, p. 70" /> marked its retirement in the mid-1950s.<ref name="Winchester2005p95">Winchester 2005, p. 95.</ref>

==Operators== ;{{UK}} * [[Royal Air Force]]

==Specifications== {{Aircraft specs |ref=Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II<ref name='janes'>Bridgeman 1946, pp. 113–113.</ref> |prime units?=imp  |genhide=

|max speed kmh= |max speed mph=352 |max speed kts= |max speed note=at {{convert|12000|ft|m|abbr=on}} |cruise speed kmh= |cruise speed mph=325 |cruise speed note=at {{convert|18000|ft|m|abbr=on}} (weak mixture) |never exceed speed kmh= |never exceed speed mph= |never exceed speed kts= |range km= |range miles=2000 |range note=<ref>Barnes 1964, p. 321.</ref> |combat range km= |combat range miles= |combat range nmi= |endurance= |ceiling m= |ceiling ft=30000 |g limits= |roll rate= |climb rate ms= |climb rate ftmin=2245 |lift to drag= |wing loading kg/m2= |wing loading lb/sqft= |wing loading note= |more performance=  |armament= |guns= |bombs= |rockets= |missiles= |hardpoints= |hardpoint capacity= |hardpoint rockets= |hardpoint missiles= |hardpoint bombs= |hardpoint other=

|avionics= }}

==See also== {{Aircontent |related= * [[Bristol Buckingham]] |similar aircraft= |lists= * [[List of aircraft of World War II]] * [[List of aircraft of the Royal Air Force]] }}

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Commons category|Bristol Buckmaster}} ;Notes {{Reflist}} ;Bibliography {{refbegin}} * Barnes, C. H. ''Bristol Aircraft since 1910''. London: Putnam, 1964. * 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}}. {{refend}}

[[Category:Bristol Aeroplane Company aircraft|Buckmaster]] [[Category:1940s British military trainer aircraft]] [[Category:Mid-wing aircraft]] [[Category:Aircraft first flown in 1944]] [[Category:Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft]]