Editing Bristol Aeroplane Company (section)

===The Bristol Boxkite===
[[File:Bristol Boxkite Centenary Flight at Centenary of Military Aviation 2014 (2).jpg|thumb|A Bristol Boxkite Replica at [[RAAF Museum]]]]
[[File:Bristol Boxkite Centenary Flight at Centenary of Military Aviation 2014 (1).jpg|thumb|Bristol Boxkite Centenary Flight at [[RAAF Museum]] Point Cook, 2014]]
{{Main|Bristol Boxkite}}

The company's initial manufacturing venture was to be a licensed and improved version of an aircraft manufactured in France by société [[Zodiac Aerospace|Zodiac]], a biplane designed by [[Gabriel Voisin]].<ref name = "bae heri"/> This aircraft had been exhibited at the Paris Aero Salon in 1909 and Sir George had been impressed by the quality of its construction. Accordingly, a single example was purchased and shipped to England to be shown at the Aero Show at [[Olympia, London|Olympia]] in March 1910, and construction of five more begun at the company's Filton works. It was then transported to Brooklands for flight trials, where it immediately became apparent that the type had an unsatisfactory [[aerofoil|wing-section]] and lacked sufficient power; even though Bristol fitted the aircraft with a new set of wings, it only achieved a single brief hop on 28 May 1910, after which work on the type was abandoned. Since the machine had been sold with a 'guarantee to fly', Sir George succeeded in getting 15,000 francs compensation from Zodiac.<ref>Barnes 1988, p. 14.</ref><ref name = "bae heri"/>

After this failure, the company decided to embark upon designing its own aircraft to serve as a successor.<ref name = "bae heri"/> Drawings were prepared by George Challenger for an aircraft based on a successful design by [[Henri Farman]] whose dimensions had been published in the aeronautical press. These drawings were produced in little over a week, and Sir George promptly authorised the construction of twenty examples.<ref name = "bae heri"/> The first aircraft to be completed was taken to Larkhill for flight trials, where it performed its [[maiden flight|first flight]] on 20 July 1910, piloted by Maurice Edmonds. The aircraft proved entirely satisfactory during flight tests.<ref>Barnes 1988, p. 48.</ref>

The first batch equipped the two training schools, as well as serving as demonstration machines; the aircraft, which gained the nickname of the [[Bristol Boxkite|Boxkite]], went on to become a commercial success, a total of 76 being constructed. Many served in the company's flying schools and examples were sold to the [[War Office]] as well as a number of foreign governments.<ref name = "bae heri"/>