BAE SYSTEMS, Brough, Oldest Site?

[bb70842]

Hello, I'm new to the forum and I've got what I believe is quite a challenging question. I work at BAE SYSTEMS and I'm based at the Brough site, in East Yorkshire, England. We believe the Brough site is the oldest Aircraft Manufacturing Site in the World but we need to be able to substantiate this claim, and are not sure how to do so.

The facts are that Robert Blackburn located at Brough in 1916, and this was only 13 years after the Wright Brothers got off the ground.

Can anyone out there point us in the right direction please?

Regards,

James Dackombe

[hairyclameater]

Though not a historian and not near to anything aviation related at the moment, wasnt the Royal Aircraft Factory set up at Farnborough in 1911 or near dammit??

Dunno if Santos Dumont or Bleriot etc had anything set up prior to that abroad

[Dr Illitout]

I'd go with Farnborough too as Cody at least assembeled his aircraft on the site.
By the way the only reason Brough is still there is that BAe hasn't got around to turning it into a retail park YET!!!!!

[bb70842]

Thanks for your help. I need to clarify though, when I said oldest Manufacturing Site, I also meant that the site still has to be manufacturing A/C. Hence what I should have said is Longest Running Manufacturing Facility in the World.
This rules Farnborough out.

Re the retail park, I'm sure it won't be too long, but theres a few more A/C that need building at the moment! Maybe we can do both at the same time. I rather fancy having bowling lanes and a Frankie & Bennys on our doorstep for the weekly treat!