04/15/2021. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The loss of the Bristol 133 single-seater fighter on the eve of its departure to Martlesham was a severe disappointment to the Company and underlined the danger of risking so much on a single prototype. Consequently when the Company received a contract for the supply of a prototype eight-gun fighter to Specification F.5/34, it was decided to make details for a second prototype at the same time. The new Bristol 146 was the same size as the Bristol 133 and embodied all the lessons learned from it.
The fuselage was a monocoque throughout, including the engine mounting, and was designed as a 'developable surface', having the maximum area of single curvature. The cockpit was enclosed by a one-piece sliding hood and was protected by a strong crash-pylon. The wing had a wide straight center section and outer sections with moderate dihedral, the whole being tapered in plan from root to tip. Each outer wing contained a battery of four Browning rifle-caliber guns firing outboard of the airscrew, with integral belt-boxes.
The intended engine was a fully supercharged Bristol Perseus sleeve-valve radial of 835 hp in a long-chord cowling with front exhaust collector ring, but was not available in time for the prototype and a 840 hp Bristol Mercury IX nine-cylinder air-cooled radial was substituted. The landing gear was fully retractable, the main oleo-legs folding inboard and the tail unit backwards. The fin and rudder were of generous area and the tail plane was tapered and set low so as to assist spin recovery.
Although it fully met the contract requirements, the prototype received only a low priority during manufacture, partly because of the emphasis on the Blenheim, but more because the F.5/34 specification was so soon outdated by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, and the Hurricane and Spitfire fighters designed round it. Nevertheless it was completed, after various delays, in 1937, an order for the second prototype (c/n 7842), having been cancelled earlier.
It was flown first by Chief Test Pilot Cyril F. Uwins on February 11, 1938, gave no trouble during its makers' trials and went to the A&AEE at Martlesham Heath in April. It completed its contract trials satisfactorily, along with the other F.5/34 contenders:
