Overview
The Bristol Scout was a single-seat rotary-engined biplane originally designed as a racing aircraft. Like similar fast, light aircraft of the period it was used by the RNAS and the RFC as a "scout", or fast reconnaissance type. It was one of the first single-seaters to be used as a fighter aircraft, although it was not possible to fit it with an effective forward-firing armament until the first British-designed gun synchronizers became available later in 1916, by which time the Scout was obsolescent. Single-seat fighters continued to be called "scouts" in British usage into the early 1920s.
Specifications
Figures are compiled from public sources and may be approximate; they can vary by variant and configuration.
Photos
Photo 1: unknown, photo shot before February 1917. Detail of twin Lewis guns fitted to RNAS Scout D s/n 8992. / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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