off their original work and updated it to account for their newer and substantially more powerful Bristol Centaurus engines. The Bristol design team, led by L. G. Frise and Archibald Russell, worked with several key performance parameters; these included a range of 5,000 mi (8,000 km), 225 ft (69 m) wingspan, eight engines buried in the wings driving four pusher propeller installations, and enough fuel for transatlantic range. The Convair B-36 was in many ways the American equivalent of this projected "100 ton bomber". In addition to Bristol, many of the leading British manufacturers had provided several preliminary studies in response to the Air Ministry's operational requirement; however, in expectation of long development times, and the difficulties associated with balancing the aircraft's range, load and defensive armament, the Ministry never proceeded to take up any of the British manufacturer's designs. Instead, it was decided to continue development of the existing Avro Lancaster, which led to the production of the improved Avro Lincoln. In 1942, the Brabazon Report was published and Bristol chose to respond, submitting a slightly modified version of their bomber to fill the needs for the Type I requirement. Bristol's earlier work had shown the sort of performance that the Brabazon Committee had been looking for, and thus the Committee authorised the firm to proceed with preliminary work towards designing such an aircraft that year, with the proviso that work on wartime aircraft should not be disrupted by the project. Bristol was soon issued with a contract to produce a pair of prototype aircraft. Bristol 167 In November 1944, following on from further work on the design, a final concept for the Type 167 was published. As it stood in the final concept, the design featured a large 177 ft (54 m) fuselage which was paired with a sizable wing. This wing, which had a 230 ft (70.1 m) wingspan, possessed an enormous internal volume, which was used to house the fuel for the transatlantic flights envisioned for the type. It was powered by eight Bristol Centaurus 18-cylinder radial engines; these were the most powerful British-built piston engines available at the time, each being capable of generating 2,650 hp. These engines which were installed in a unique arrangement of setting each engine in pairs in the wing; instead of using a common crankshaft, the paired engines each had their driveshafts angled towards an enormous central gearbox. They drove