Brothers David and Rick Bremner spent much of their childhood listening to their grandfather’s stories of his time flying for the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) in the First World War. Then in 1983, shortly after his death, they discovered three original parts from one of the aircraft their grandad had flown during WWI.
This discovery prompted them, along with their friend and fellow aviation enthusiast Theo Willford, to hatch an ambitious plan to accurately reproduce the Bristol Scout aircraft. Since then, the project has led the trio on years of research, scouring
the globe for original parts and investing 5,000 hours and a six-figure sum since they began building the plane in 2010.
Starting with just the joystick, rudder bar and magneto they had found in their grandad’s workshop, they have now neared completion of the plane, which will be the only flyable Bristol Scout Type C in the world. They hope to have the aircraft airborne this year, just in time for the centenary of its participation in WWI.
Not only is the Type C (No 1264) Bristol Scout personally significant to the brothers – Flight Sub Lieutenant ‘Bunnie’ Bremner flew the plane between January and July 1916 while serving with the RNAS during the Gallipoli campaign – but it is also an important part of aviation history.
“The Bristol Scout was a stepping-stone in the development of military aviation,” says David Bremner, who is an IMechE member and chairman of the British Microlight Aircraft Association. A precursor to the more widely known types of single-seat fighter aircraft, such as the Sopwith Camel in WWI and the Spitfire from WWII, the Bristol Scout was one of the fastest and most manoeuvrable planes for the first year of the war, he says. “It was fast enough, it was manoeuvrable enough and it had a good enough climb performance to make it practical to think about shooting down another aeroplane, having a fixed forward-shooting gun mounted on the front.”
An equal-span, single-bay biplane powered by a 80hp (60kW) rotary engine, the Bristol Scout has staggered parallel-chord wings with raked wing-tips and ailerons – an unusually modern addition for that time. The rectangular-section fuselage was made using a wire-braced wooden structure constructed from ash and spruce, with the forward section covered with aluminium sheeting and the rear section fabric-covered.
The plane was designed by aeronautical engineer Frank Barnwell, and the Bremners and Willford have been working closely to his original drawings, along with analysing photographs to ensure they are staying true to the exact aircraft, No 1264, that the Bremners’ grandad flew. This was a time-intensive task, says David, as each new Bristol Scout built was slightly different. Analysing photographs of the various models, they identified 1264’s unique features, which include a gun on the starboard side that would shoot directly through the propeller, and a forward oil tank.
Flight history: ‘Bunnie’ Bremner tipping the plane at take off in March 1916
The Bremner brothers and Willford have all built their own microlight planes in the past, so they have done most of the work on the Bristol Scout themselves. The process has involved some arduous tasks, from splicing 400 cable ends to hand-sewing and dope-coating all the flying surfaces. But David says it was not too problematic. “Compared with many later types, there were no serious challenges for a home-builder.
“The fuselage is made from a wooden frame with metal brackets at the corners, and wire bracing to hold it all together and keep it straight,” he says. There are two large metal frames at the front on which the engine is mounted, the lower wings are attached to the bottom of the N-shaped part, and the pilot sits behind them.
The wings are constructed using wooden spars running the length of the wing, with ribs made from plywood and metal brackets with wire bracing internally to keep it straight.
Most of the wood is spruce, says David, but the front part of the fuselage and parts of the undercarriage are made from ash to cope with the heavy loads imposed by the engine and wheels.
For making the more complex parts of the plane, they have sought specialist services. For example, the oil tank was made by Rick Bremner together with Hereford and Worcester-based vintage car specialist Ian Harris. Following the original drawings, Harris made the front and back of the oil tank by forming the flanges over a wooden template. The bottom flange is straight, but the top is curved by gently tapping the edges with a lightweight, curved, wooden bat. The ends of the tank are slightly dished by heating to stop them from ‘panting’ and then finished off in an English wheel.
One of the most time-consuming elements to this process, says David, was fastening the tank with hundreds of rivets, with each one having to be cut to exactly the right length, then peened over. While the tank will eventually be permanently hidden from view, it is a piece of engineering art, says David, with Harris even shunning a modern store-bought filler cap to instead find an authentic Rotherham No 3 filler cap used on the original plane.
The tank has since been mounted to the aircraft. However, for safety reasons, they decided to deviate from the original drawings and strap the channels to the tank incorporating shock-absorbing strips of rubber. "This should reduce or eliminate the risk of these leaks,” says David.
Harris and Rick have since moved on to the petrol tank, which is more complicated owing to its conical shape. It is also made of tinned steel, not brass, and has a couple of baffle plates fitted internally. However, David adds: “On the plus side, the petrol tank isn’t covered up with ply, so the craftsmanship will be permanently on display.”
Spark of inspiration: The original magneto that prompted the rebuild
One of the most troublesome tasks for the team has been finding authentic parts. This process has included tracking down from specialist suppliers a genuine WWI air-speed indicator, altimeter, engine tachometer, spirit level, watch and floor-mounted compass to make up the control panel. Perhaps no original part is more impressive than the rotary engine, sourced from New Zealand firm The Vintage Aviator Ltd (TVAL) – a company owned by film-maker and WWI aviation enthusiast Peter Jackson.
Made from 11 one-litre cylinders, the engine provides 80hp, rotating automatically to keep the cylinders cool. It rotates very slowly, explains David, with a maximum 1,100rpm, whereas a car engine would do around 2,500rpm.
“The benefit of having a slow engine is that you can turn an enormous propeller, which is intrinsically efficient,” he says. The reproduction wooden propeller, manufactured by Gloucestershire firm Hercules Propellers, measures in at a whopping 2.5m, and is another fine example of the quality engineering that has gone into this project.
With the plane weeks away from completion, the next challenge will be carrying out test flights. While David says that controlling the aircraft will be no problem, managing the engine will be tricky. “There is a lever that works like a carburettor. There is a slide valve that controls the air, and a needle valve that controls the petrol. However, the lever doesn’t control the mixture accurately enough to be able to throttle it down to an idle. So you then have another control that works an additional needle mixture valve. You have to juggle with both but you still can’t get the engine to run slower than 800rpm, which is not enough to land the aircraft,” he says.
To land it, the pilot must use a blip switch on top of the stick, to intermittently cut out the ignition and gradually slow the plane down. Luckily, the plan is for the first flight to be undertaken by seasoned pilot and TVAL employee Gene De Marco, who has notched up 13,000 hours on WWI aircraft. After this, the brothers hope to fly from the same airfields that their grandfather used, and over the Somme battlefield.
David says that he looks forward to the inaugural flights with bated breath. It will be not only a historically significant moment for aviation but the fulfilment of their long-held wish – to see the Bristol Scout once again take to British skies.