 As an aid to development, the Bristol Type 188 aircraft was built to test the compound-delta wing shape, and later, the effects of prolonged supersonic flight on metal.Up to 10 prototypes of the aircraft were proposed, necessitated in part by a decision made part-way through the development process to give the aircraft a bombing capability.The initial version of the aircraft had been intended strictly for the aerial reconnaissance role, for which it would have employed its "Red Drover" sideways-looking radar to find targets for attack by the V bomber force that would follow.