Brabazon.
Hope this doesn´t upset some people .... !!
I watched the Brabazon take off on its maiden flight with many others watching from the adjacent golf course.
I was 15, & a member of 2152 Squadron ATC, the local unit.
About 2 years later, after an ATC Flying Scholarship at Whitchurch Airport, I had joined 12 RAFVR Flying School at Filton airfield. (I then joined the RAF & eventually civil aviation).
One day at 12RFS I was lucky enough to get into conversation with Brabazon Chief Test Pilot Bill Pegg who was visiting/dining ? there. We talked about flying the Brabazon.
He said, (Quote):-
" It is a noisy, vibrating underpowered heap that only does about 190 knots - as opposed to the 350 (??) it was designed to do. We have been told to fly it over as many towns in the UK as possible in the following months - to show the public where their money went. ... Then we can conveniently scrap it !!"
Yes, I know the engines fitted weren't the ones that it was supposed to have originally - but that is another discussion.