The Bristol Bulldog was designed by Frank Barnwell and manufactured by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was one of the most widely used fighters of the RAF during the first half of the 1930s. Undoubtedly one of Barnwell's stand-out successes, it was described by the author C H Barnes in his book Bristol Aircraft Since 1910 as "one of the finest aerobatic biplanes ever produced".

Famously, Douglas Bader, the fighter ace of World War II, lost both his legs after attempting daredevil aerobatics in a Bristol Bulldog.