Bristol 188

I was over at RAF Cosford Museum today having a mooch round. Apart from the Vulcan which I love the one that really caught my attention was the Bristol 188.

en.wikipedia.org...

I wasn’t familiar with this plane and I’ll be honest I was quite taken with it. Below is my pic I thought I’d share.

imageshack.us...

What really puzzled me was at the rear of the craft just before the tail section were 2 diffusers that appeared to be capable of being concealed within the fuselage or extended out as shown below.

imageshack.us...

Any ideas what they are for - obviously intended to affect airflow but can’t think why.

Bob

She's a beaut.


Pretty sure those are just odd airbrakes.

a reply to: DrBobH

They look like air brakes or maybe to add yaw to the tail under certain conditions.

a reply to: RadioRobert

Good shout - a bit of googling led to this

glostransporthistory.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk...

Dive breaks? Not something I’ve heard of before - is that just another term for air brakes.

Either way it was a helluva plane for its time - even if it ultimately didn’t work

a reply to: DrBobH

Those appear to be airbrakes, from a semi-layman's perspective.

originally posted by: DrBobH
a reply to: RadioRobert

Good shout - a bit of googling led to this

glostransporthistory.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk...

Dive breaks? Not something I’ve heard of before - is that just another term for air brakes.

Either way it was a helluva plane for its time - even if it ultimately didn’t work

I think it's being misused here. The 188 was a research plane for high altitude/speed. "Dive brakes" perform the same function for an aircraft (to reduce speed in a dive), but is typically reserved for a dive bomber or attack aircraft who would use them in that role. On this aircraft it's just an "airbrake." Creates drag. Lowers speed (or allows more power-on at a given speed).

a reply to: RadioRobert

Brill - thanks for the explanation

My fave is the TSR 2.....and the lighting in the vertical climb in the Cold War exhibit...!! a reply to: DrBobH

I'm pretty sure Waynos will be along any minute now with a definitive answer. Obscure British aircraft is his thing.

originally posted by: thebozeian
I'm pretty sure Waynos will be along any minute now with a definitive answer. Obscure British aircraft is his thing.

Yeah its his forte for sure. Plus good pictures.

I have seen this one before but based on my limited understanding it was a bit of a disaster in and of itself but it seeded other research

a reply to: FredT

It's essentially the opposite of area-ruled. So transonic performance suffered. Difficult to go too fast when you spend most of your fuel accelerating through .8-1.5M. Wide use of heavy stainless (heat) probably didn't help much. This was before titanium was being machined, really.


Got the thin-straight wing going for it.

Plus Stainless is brittle as well vs Titanium.But a lot easier to work.

Love the 188, also love that it's max recorded speed was coincidentally mach 1.88!

Great article here - 188 technical tour

Quote from above "Another feature of the 188's design that we have not come across elsewhere is these weird speed brakes poking out of the sides of the rear fuselage. The perforated box type speed brakes are powered in pairs by a hydraulic actuator driving through bell-cranks and linkage rods, and are designed to be deployed at high speed, hence the peculiar shape. The 'swing-out' perforated box turned out to be the best configuration for handling the high deflections and rates required to decelerate from speed, since the hinge moments (product of air loads and their distance from the pivot point about which they act) induced in an ordinary plate-type speed brake surface would just blow them back in."

Vintage British design ingenuity at it's best.

Cheers
Robbie

They built some pretty neat cars back in the day too.
en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: FredT
What I find impressive is that it was a test bed for technologies to build a Mach 3 reconnaissance aircraft almost 10 years before the SR-71 broke cover. And if it wasn't for a narrow minded Government review that led to a funding cut it would have been available before the Blackbird. Interestingly if you look at it head on or frontal 3/4 views the 188 bears a strong resemblance to the SR-71. Granted it has a single tail and lacks the fore body chines, but its engine placement and layout reminds you of the J-58 powered beast. Yet another example of the UK being ahead of its time scientifically and engineering wise, only to be let down by moronic bureaucrats and politicians. Here's hoping that the just announced 6th Gen effort finally breaks the curse.

originally posted by: thebozeian
a reply to: FredT
What I find impressive is that it was a test bed for technologies to build a Mach 3 reconnaissance aircraft almost 10 years before the SR-71 broke cover. And if it wasn't for a narrow minded Government review that led to a funding cut it would have been available before the Blackbird. Interestingly if you look at it head on or frontal 3/4 views the 188 bears a strong resemblance to the SR-71. Granted it has a single tail and lacks the fore body chines, but its engine placement and layout reminds you of the J-58 powered beast. Yet another example of the UK being ahead of its time scientifically and engineering wise, only to be let down by moronic bureaucrats and politicians. Here's hoping that the just announced 6th Gen effort finally breaks the curse.

The current batch of politicians (Of all parties) are equally as bad if not worse unfortunately. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if they dropped that 6th gen project.

originally posted by: thebozeian
a reply to: FredT
Yet another example of the UK being ahead of its time scientifically and engineering wise, only to be let down by moronic bureaucrats and politicians. Here's hoping that the just announced 6th Gen effort finally breaks the curse.

Although you can tell a politician's lying - because his lips are moving - we need to give them a bit of slack here.

Back in the 50s the UK was basically bankrupt. Two wars didn't help. And even though the US rebuilt the aggressors we were still paying back war loans until the 90s.

So given the choice of the NHS, schools; or breaking the sound barrier, I think, sadly, the right priorities were made.