Bulldog

Conceived as a private venture by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1926, the Bulldog was one of the best of the silver biplanes to fly with the Royal Air Force and the air forces of several other nations during the 1930s. Although less graceful in appearance than contemporary Hawker designs whose Rolls-Royce in-line engines gave them their streamlined shape, the radial-engined Bulldog lived up to its canine namesake as being in every inch a pugnacious and aggressive fighter. It was also a delight to fly once problems of structural strength and spin recovery had been tested and resolved, as many pilots testify in this definitive book.
Bulldog was principally the brainchild of four men, two on the engine side and two on the aerodynamic — Roy Fedden and `Bunny' Butler and Frank Barnwell and Leslie Frise respectively (nor can one forget test pilot Cyril Uwins) — and eventually served with ten out of the then-existing thirteen RAF fighter squadrons in the early 1930s, enthralling crowds at Hendon and elsewhere with its aerobatic abilities and being selected for export to seven other countries. Although fabric-covered, its high tensile steel skeleton gave it exceptional strength, and for its time it was fast, manoeuvrable and adequately armed, seeing operational service with the Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War and with the Finns during the Winter War with Russia.
In this book, David Luff gives a detailed account of the Bulldog's conception and design, describing its construction, the Jupiter and Mercury engines which powered it and the various modifications which went into different marks. He describes its squadron service both in the UK and abroad, its prowess in battle and, as an epilogue, the fate of the last surviving Bulldog which was used in the film about Douglas Bader, Reach For The Sky. Above all, the author makes the aircraft come alive by relating numerous stories about the many people associated with it, as designers or pilots, and includes many anecdotes from men who actually flew the Bulldog. The book is completed with detailed technical appendices, lists of squadron personnel and a complete list of Bulldog serial numbers which also gives the final fate of each aircraft.
With its numerous photographs and diagrams, this is unquestionably the most definitive book ever to be published on the Bristol Bulldog - one of the last of a classic breed.

by David Luff
Published by Airlife 1987 1st edition 188pp profusely illustrated, index, appendix, bibliography. 18x25 mint, d/j slightly rubbed at head of spine. Colour profiles to end papers.





Note:
"Long" descriptions, where shown, may have been taken from the book's dust jacket notes, and as such are relevant to the date of publication (e.g. any references to "new edition" "previously unpublished photographs" etc.) and not the present.

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