The Bristol Scout was a single-seat rotary-engined biplane. It was used by the RNAS and the RFC as a "scout", or fast reconnaissance type. It was one of the first single-seaters to be used as a fighter aircraft. All later-built fighters continued to be called "scouts" in British usage into the early 1920s. Bristol Scout C aircraft number 1611, flown by Captain Lanoe Hawker with No. 6 Squadron RFC downed two German aircraft and forced off a third on 25 July 1915 over Passchendaele and Zillebeke and was awarded the first-ever Victoria Cross for the actions of a British single-seat military scout/fighter pilot in aerial combat against an enemy's heavier-than-air aircraft.