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Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 5:11 am
by Politically Incorrect
Is there such a plane as a "Bulldog"?
My mom's doctor was telling her he owned a "British Bulldog"
I have never heard of one but googleing I get what is expected many sites pretaining to , dogs, DUH! LOL!
I did find a photo of a Bristol Bulldog a bi-plane could this be what he is talking about??? He did say it was used in WWII.

I'll know what it is come Saturday, we invited him to bring it to our D-day memorial to be part of the festivities. But would like to read up a little on it.

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 5:32 am
by Craig.
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/587356/M
yup there is it is an aac trainer i believe

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 6:19 am
by Hagar
Hi Fret. The Bristol Bulldog was a pre-WWII biplane fighter. I don't believe there are any airworthy examples in the world. The Beagle (later Scottish Aviation) Bulldog was a military trainer development of the Beagle Pup. This Bulldog was designed, built & first flown at Shoreham before Beagle Aircraft folded.
Beagle developed the two/three-seat B.125 Bulldog military primary trainer from the B.121 Pup and flew the first (Series 1, G-AXEH, c/n 001) of two prototypes on 19 May 1969. A few weeks later the Royal Swedish AF ordered 58 examples to be delivered from August 1970. However, on 27 February 1970 Beagle went into voluntary liquidation and the Bulldog production contracts were taken over by Scottish Aviation.

Purchased in large numbers by the RAF and military establishments worldwide, the Bulldog has seen continuous service in a training role for over twenty years.

Until the late 1980s, only a single Bulldog was in private hands and as such the marque was rarely seen outside RAF circles.

It was the standard RAF primary trainer (replacing the DH Chipmunk) until recently when many were sold off to private buyers.
http://www.beaglepupandbulldogclub.org/aircraft.html

I took this shot at the Shoreham RAFA show last year.
Image

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 10:35 am
by ozzy72
I think Doug is probably right on this one Fret. The RAF got rid of their Bulldogs, awful plane.
However in the left of his photo you can see a totally fantastic de Havilland Chipmunk, a proper plane for real men!
Guess what I learn to fly on ;D

Ozzy ;)

Ps. Here is a link to the Bulldog IIA at RAF Hendon (the RAF museum, and well worth a visit if you are in London ;)) http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/hendon/coll ... raft_id=98

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 10:54 am
by Hagar
I think Doug is probably right on this one Fret. The RAF got rid of their Bulldogs, awful plane.

I believe the Bulldog was nice to fly & popular with pilots. Pee Wee Judge used to throw it around a treat. ;D

It also seems popular with private owners since the RAF replaced it with the Slingsby Firefly. I've seen quite a few recently. The main problem was with the maintenance. Some years ago I used to overhaul the nose legs & main oleo struts. These were badly designed & a continual cause of trouble. Although they were modified several times the problem was never completely resolved to my knowledge.

Just a few years before I retired I was personally responsible for the hose layout on the fully aerobatic lubrication system. This was a retrofit based on the unit fitted to the Pitts Special but the installation had to be completely redesigned. My company supplied an initial order of 125 sets of these hoses with repeat orders at various intervals. I assume this was the number of Bulldogs in service at the time. Before then the Bulldog was never "fully aerobatic".

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 11:03 am
by ozzy72
the Bulldog was never "fully aerobatic"

Exactly, a load of rubbish ;D

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 11:09 am
by Hagar
It was fine after the retrofit. The RAF Chipmunk was not fully aerobatic & only capable of simple positive G manoeuvres. It doesn't have an inverted fuel or lubrication system. :P

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 11:16 am
by ozzy72
Yes Doug, but it was a tail-dragger, and you could occassionally get away with negative Gs (but not for long unfortunately).
Alas its one weakness was its not loving inverted flight much :(
Still a lovely plane and better than the Bulldog :)

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 11:23 am
by Hagar
Much as I love the dear old Chipmunk I can't comment. I've never flown in a Pup or a Bulldog, let alone taken the controls. Ultimate High, the outfit that gave me my experience in the Extra, now have 2 Bulldogs. They offer training to PPL standard + an advanced aerobatics & formation flying course in the Bulldog. I seriously considered taking advantage of it before going the whole hog on the Extra.

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:19 pm
by ozzy72
I think you made the right choice with the Extra, the photos of that grin on your face speak volumes ;)

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:43 pm
by Hagar
I think you made the right choice with the Extra, the photos of that grin on your face speak volumes ;)

Ah no Mark. Sorry, I didn't explain it too well. I meant do it now, properly. It would mean starting again & getting my PPL first. My old licences expired years ago & my logbook disappeared without trace.

I've since decided against it. Flying is too regulated nowadays & I'm getting too old for that stuff. I prefer my memories.

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:50 pm
by ozzy72
Doug once the C-3 is done I'll bring her over (if I can get permission from father-in-law ;D) and we'll go for a buzz, but it'll cost you a lunch and a pint of Scrumpy Jack (or possibly two) ;)

Mark

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 5:02 pm
by Politically Incorrect
Thanks guys I knew I could count on you!!
My mom just told me this afternoon that he said it was either a "British Bulldog" or "Scottish"
That is why I couldn't find any photos at Airliners, I was typing bulldog, British Bulldog never tried Scottish :-[
Anyway I appreciate the help.
I like the Bristol Bulldog in the link Ozzy posted, for some reason as of late I'm growing fond of Bi-planes and that one in the link is SWEET!
Thanks again!
Jeff

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 7:19 pm
by Felix/FFDS
I like the Bristol Bulldog in the link Ozzy posted, for some reason as of late I'm growing fond of Bi-planes and that one in the link is SWEET!
Thanks again!
Jeff


Repeat over and over ...

Gauntlet, Gladiator, Bulldog, Nimrod, Fury, Flycatcher, F4B4, P-6E, F11C

Re: Bulldog?

PostPosted: Sat Jun 05, 2004 4:51 am
by Politically Incorrect
Just to let you guys know I talked to the Doctor last evening and it is in fact a Scotish Aviation Bulldog that he owns, so with lack of any useful information Hagar hit the nail on the head!
I'm looking forward to seeing this plane in person and will take photos to post.
I forgot to ask him if it had a second seat, might be able to hit him up for a ride :) After all I already have paid him $40K in medical expenses LOL!!! I'll let you know :)