Originally, George White of Bristol Aeroplanes wanted to build licensed copies of the Zodiac biplane designed by Gabriel Voisin, after one was bought by White to show at the 1910 London Aero Meet. On May 28, 1910, pilot Maurice Edmond was able to achieve a short flight, but on June 10, 1910, an accident that damaged its undercarriage had the frustrated crew give up on the Zodiac… even with five other such copies being built by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company at its headquarters at Filton.

 

White was advised to take a look at the Farman III plane, designed by Henri Farman. White was unable to grab the rights to build the Farman III biplane because George Holt Thomas—founder of the Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited (Airco) had a head start in doing the same thing with Farman.

 

 

Unable to grab the rights to the Farman Brother’s Farman III, White and the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company based the Bristol Boxkite on the Farman III biplane, but Challenger and his staff made significant achievements to have their plane be its own design. Farman, not surprisingly, sued the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company for patent infringement. However, White was able to show Farman that they had made significant alterations to Farman’s design to improve it… so Farman dropped the suit.

The Farman III set a record of 112 miles in 3 hrs 15 mins.

 

 

Gross weight: 1280 lb
Speed: 37 mph (60 kph).