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 company's response to Air Ministry Specification T.13/43[1] was the Type 166 which was based on the 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 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[a] were used to produce 110 aircraft which were delivered in 1945 and 1946.