Bristol TB.8

T.B.8
Role	Trainer
Manufacturer	Bristol Aeroplane Company
Designer	Henri Coandă
First flight	12 August 1913
Introduction	1913
Retired	1916
Primary users	Royal Naval Air Service Royal Flying Corps Romanian Air Force
Number built	54
Developed from	Bristol-Coanda Monoplanes

The Bristol T.B.8, or Bristol-Coanda T.B.8 was an early British biplane built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company and designed by the Romanian Henri Coandă. Fifty four Bristol T.B.8s were built, being mainly used as a trainer. A small number of Bristol T.B.8s were briefly used as bombers at the start of the World War I by the Royal Naval Air Service.

Romanian Henri Coandă, chief designer of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, developed the Bristol T.B.8 as a biplane conversion of his previously designed Bristol-Coanda Monoplane. The conversion was made to meet an order from the British Admiralty, with the Bristol T.B.8 first flying on 12 August 1913. This aircraft was tested with both wheeled undercarriage and floats.

The Bristol T.B.8 was a single-engined, two-seat biplane, with two-bay wings and a slender fuselage. It was powered by a variety of rotary engines, including the Gnome and Le Rhône engines with power ranging from 50 hp Gnomes to 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape. Early Bristol T.B.8s used wing warping, with later production aircraft being fitted with ailerons. Bristol T.B.8s were normally equipped with a distinctive four wheel undercarriage. The Bristol T.B.8 was produced by both the conversion of existing Coanda-Bristol Monoplanes and the manufacturing of new aircraft.

One Bristol T.B.8 was fitted with a prismatic Bombsight in the front cockpit and a cylindrical bomb carrier in the lower forward fuselage, capable of carrying twelve 10 lb (4.5 kg) bombs, which could be dropped singly or as a salvo as required. This aircraft was displayed at the Paris Salon de l'Aéronautique and evaluated by the French military before being purchased by the Royal Navy Air Service.

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