The Flaming Pencil - Britain's Supersonic Jet That Almost Melted Itself

Only Planes
Only Planes
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Publicado 2024-07-05
In the early 1960s, the Bristol 188 blazed through the tumultuous Cold War skies, a product of the intense race for technological dominance between East and West. The most expensive British research aircraft project at the time of its creation, this state-of-the-art steel marvel was built to push the boundaries of supersonic flight and conquer speeds beyond Mach 2.

Nicknamed the “Flaming Pencil,” its needle-like fuselage and swept-back wings epitomized the peak aerodynamics of the era, a futuristic testament to British innovation and engineering prowess.

However, creating an aircraft capable of traveling at such blistering speeds would pose serious challenges that would put Bristol’s design team to the test. Extremely high velocities meant extremely high temperatures, meaning that the structure and materials used would require careful consideration. The project was driven by the determined desire of the designers to overcome these obstacles and reach their goals.

While the Bristol 188’s career was short-lived, never seeing operational use, the critical insights into aerodynamic heating and material resilience yielded from the program influenced future breakthroughs in aviation, most notably paving the way for the iconic Concorde supersonic passenger jet which would revolutionize commercial air travel in ways never previously thought possible.
Todos los comentarios (21)
  • @cratecruncher4974
    Being involved in the aerospace industry in the '50-60's must have been exciting with all the research funding and huge tech breakthroughs.
  • @SabotsLibres
    Wouldn't it be nice if real people voiced these videos...
  • @phihz513
    Nice to see something on this rare aircraft, but a real human narrator would make it even better.
  • @woongah
    "Bristol had such pleasure while working with stainless steel that, later, its main contribution to the Concorde program was arguing that a slight reduction in top speed was a small price to pay to avoid using it". - Some book that I read many years ago.
  • @tedsmith6137
    5:30 "the wheels lodged in the empennage"? Really. Looks like they retracted into the fuselage.The empennage is a long way aft from there!
  • @user-jy8mo5fi5q
    This aircraft can now be seen at Cosford aerospace Museum, Staffordshire.
  • @rogerhudson9732
    When I was young my father, who was building Blue Steel missiles, got us tickets for the Farnborough shows from 1959 (I was 10) until 1962, I saw some fabulous planes when the UK was a force in aviation and rocketry.
  • @peterjones596
    As a Brit that's interested in aerospace, I've never heard of it! But further research will follow...
  • @chrispowers3846
    looks like a larger f 104 that had engine pods stuck on with larger wings
  • @davids82605
    I love how we see several times the decade-earlier french Trident research plane instead of the Bristol 188 (first time at 4:30), Trident that flew while the Bristol was only known as an idea in a contract. Shapes seem to look the same but exerted eyes immediatly see the many differences between the two.
  • @fredtedstedman
    British SR-71 . If you painted in matt black ( god forbid....) it would look state of the art !
  • @tedstriker754
    That plane looks a lot like that jet car they broke the sound barrier in on the salt flats. They named it the Thrust. It has a very similar layout to that jet car, but without the wings.
  • @JZsBFF
    By Jove. They made beautiful airplanes in those days. And all kinds of them. And let's face it, this one could fit into a Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds series instantly.
  • @Wannes_
    1963 and it's still not at M 2.0 The F-4 Phantom, Lightning and Mirage III all did that ... in 1958
  • @syzygy808
    Human narration please! 🙏🏽 You’ll make the cost back 10X in income from more subscribers with great topics like this. Guaranteed.
  • @dereksollows9783
    Thanks for this story. These bits and pieces of history should not be forgotten. That 1956 white paper of Duncan Sandies killed a lot of aviation progress and led some other countries down a rabbit hole to a dead end. That paper alone was the biggest single factor in Canada abandoning the CF-105 interceptor in favor of 'missiles' resulting in Bomarc missiles being deployed in Canada. Bomarcs in Canada were useless as the warheads were not installed. In their place were sandbags to maintain the missile's balance.
  • @billballbuster7186
    Very futuristic looking aircraft but was largely killed of with the move from interceptor jets to the Surface to Air Missile in the late 1950s. It never flew over Mach 2 in its final form, however the new English Electric Lightning interceptor had entered service and it was capable of Mach 2.23 or 1,500 mph, flying on more reliable Rolls Royce Avon engines (rejected for the 188 ?) The older Fairey Delta FD-2 also reached Mach 2, and with new "Concorde wings" it became the development aircraft for the Concorde airliner.
  • @EFTProf
    'As this was a TWIN ENGINED aircraft, why the were so many of the films shot showing a plane with and single REAR MOUNTED engine? This was impossible to be the "Pencil", as there was no escape for the jet as the rear tip of the plane was solid!! 🤔🤔🤨