Buzzard

The Martinsyde Buzzard was a British single‑engine fighter‑bomber that entered service in the latter half of World War I. Designed by the Martinsyde Aircraft Company of Woking, the aircraft first flew in early 1918 and was introduced to the Royal Flying Corps in September of that year. Powered by a 200 hp Hispano‑Suiza 8B V‑8 engine, the Buzzard featured a sleek, all‑wooden monocoque fuselage, a cantilever wing of equal span and a clean aerodynamic profile that gave it a top speed of about 180 mph, impressive for the era. Its armament consisted of two synchronized Vickers machine guns and the capacity to carry a modest bomb load under the wings. Although only a few dozen were completed before the armistice, the Buzzard demonstrated the potential of high‑performance, lightweight fighters and influenced post‑war designs such as the Martinsyde De Havilland fighter series. The aircraft’s reputation for agility and speed earned it a place in aviation history as one of the last great biplanes of the First World War, marking a transition toward the more powerful monoplanes that would dominate the 1920s. Its legacy lives on in the appreciation of early British aeronautical engineering.

Martinsyde

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Design & Classification