Researching Bristol Brabazon
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As a young sprog of ten or eleven, I remember our class in Edinburgh being taken out of lessons to watch the Brabazon fly over Edinburgh in 1950/51. I believe that the aircraft made a trip round the UK.
Also featured in a second "The World's Worst Aircraft" by Bill Yenne, published by Bison Books of London in 1990, which contains a superb double page photo of 'AGPW on the apron.
Also featured in a second "The World's Worst Aircraft" by Bill Yenne, published by Bison Books of London in 1990, which contains a superb double page photo of 'AGPW on the apron.
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Thanks again. I'll try to find both 'World's Worst Aircraft' books.
Regarding surviving bits of the Brabazon, so far I have found evidence of a surviving oleo strut, a wheel, and a piece of aircraft skin saying 'Bristol Brabazon'.
Regarding surviving bits of the Brabazon, so far I have found evidence of a surviving oleo strut, a wheel, and a piece of aircraft skin saying 'Bristol Brabazon'.
The Scottish National Museum of Flight at East Fortune has a Brabazon nosegear assembly, complete with wheels, which can be 'retracted' electrically at the touch of a button.
This extract from the Gloucester Citizen of 22 May 2003 may be of interest.
“A Gloucester school which was constructed partly from the aluminium fuselage sections of the ill-fated Bristol Brabazon airliner can be demolished – despite protests from conservationists. City councillors have agreed that Grange Infants School at Tuffley should be redeveloped with 40 houses for sale and rent, and the money used to build a new infant’s section at the nearby Grange Junior School. The school was built in the early 1950s to serve the rapidly expanding suburb at a time when building materials were difficult to obtain. The architects used the fuselage sections from the redundant eight-engined airliner to form the framework of the building. At a meeting of the City Council’s planning committee, Adam Wilkinson of “Save Britain’s Heritage” said the school was “a charming example of the rapid rebuilding of Britain after the Second World War, much loved by those who were taught there and lived nearby.
The Bristol Aeroplane Company was transformed from a maker of small twin engined types ( Beaufort, Beaufighter, Brigand etc ) by the arrival of the Brabazon in the late 1940s. This was an eight piston engined behemoth designed to take 100 passengers across the Atlantic in luxurious conditions similar to those found on pre – 1937 Zeppelin airships. It is something of a forgotten aircraft now but was twenty years ahead of its time in terms of scale. Each wing was as wide as a Lancaster bomber, and if you ever get the chance to visit the Bristol Aeroplane Collection at Kemble there is a beautiful 1/72 model of one dwarfing a same scale Bristol Fighter biplane. What let down the “Brab” – like the contemporary “Spruce Goose” and “Sea Princess” was the relative lack of power; something that the Boeing 747 and Lockheed Starlifter had in spades thanks to turbofan engines. A second Brabazon airframe was under construction with turboprop engines when the whole project was cancelled in 1953. But it was likely to have been too weak to cope with jet stream gusts at high altitudes. These were poorly understood at the time and may well have contributed to the famous “STENDEC” incident when a British South American Airways Lancastrian disappeared – only for parts of it to re emerge from a glacier fifty years later on.
On a more positive note though, the Brabazon scheme turned Bristol ( later a part of the British Aircraft Corporation) into the sort of firm which could handle the Britannia and Concorde – courtesy of the big “Brabazon” hangar and lengthened runway at Filton: even though the village of Charlton had to be sacrificed for this to be built! Indeed, the Brabazon project also strengthened fellow Gloucestershire companies such as Dowty landing gear and fuel systems and Smiths Instruments that had already flourished thanks to the Gloster Aircraft Company and its pioneering work on jet fighters.
By the same token Bristol and South Gloucestershire gained a huge pool of skilled workers and their families that might have gone elsewhere – even abroad – if Brabazon, Britannia and Concorde had never been built. It is worth remembering that J.K. Rowling’s father Peter worked his way up from apprentice to management at Rolls Royce at Patchway. No Olympus 593, No Harry Potter!
“A Gloucester school which was constructed partly from the aluminium fuselage sections of the ill-fated Bristol Brabazon airliner can be demolished – despite protests from conservationists. City councillors have agreed that Grange Infants School at Tuffley should be redeveloped with 40 houses for sale and rent, and the money used to build a new infant’s section at the nearby Grange Junior School. The school was built in the early 1950s to serve the rapidly expanding suburb at a time when building materials were difficult to obtain. The architects used the fuselage sections from the redundant eight-engined airliner to form the framework of the building. At a meeting of the City Council’s planning committee, Adam Wilkinson of “Save Britain’s Heritage” said the school was “a charming example of the rapid rebuilding of Britain after the Second World War, much loved by those who were taught there and lived nearby.
The Bristol Aeroplane Company was transformed from a maker of small twin engined types ( Beaufort, Beaufighter, Brigand etc ) by the arrival of the Brabazon in the late 1940s. This was an eight piston engined behemoth designed to take 100 passengers across the Atlantic in luxurious conditions similar to those found on pre – 1937 Zeppelin airships. It is something of a forgotten aircraft now but was twenty years ahead of its time in terms of scale. Each wing was as wide as a Lancaster bomber, and if you ever get the chance to visit the Bristol Aeroplane Collection at Kemble there is a beautiful 1/72 model of one dwarfing a same scale Bristol Fighter biplane. What let down the “Brab” – like the contemporary “Spruce Goose” and “Sea Princess” was the relative lack of power; something that the Boeing 747 and Lockheed Starlifter had in spades thanks to turbofan engines. A second Brabazon airframe was under construction with turboprop engines when the whole project was cancelled in 1953. But it was likely to have been too weak to cope with jet stream gusts at high altitudes. These were poorly understood at the time and may well have contributed to the famous “STENDEC” incident when a British South American Airways Lancastrian disappeared – only for parts of it to re emerge from a glacier fifty years later on.
On a more positive note though, the Brabazon scheme turned Bristol ( later a part of the British Aircraft Corporation) into the sort of firm which could handle the Britannia and Concorde – courtesy of the big “Brabazon” hangar and lengthened runway at Filton: even though the village of Charlton had to be sacrificed for this to be built! Indeed, the Brabazon project also strengthened fellow Gloucestershire companies such as Dowty landing gear and fuel systems and Smiths Instruments that had already flourished thanks to the Gloster Aircraft Company and its pioneering work on jet fighters.
By the same token Bristol and South Gloucestershire gained a huge pool of skilled workers and their families that might have gone elsewhere – even abroad – if Brabazon, Britannia and Concorde had never been built. It is worth remembering that J.K. Rowling’s father Peter worked his way up from apprentice to management at Rolls Royce at Patchway. No Olympus 593, No Harry Potter!
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Does anyone know whether any members of Brabazon test pilot Bill Pegg's family are still around? A friend of mine is trying to confirm a family story that Bill was a cousin of his late wife's.
Tim - Have you written your article on the Brabazon yet?
Tim - Have you written your article on the Brabazon yet?
Saw it nearly every day!!!!
I think it Died in 1953!!!!
I lived on the Bristol side of Bath, the "Brab" would turn over the outskirts of Bath to line up for Filton, 12 miles out.
Saw it most times it flew.
Finale came in September 1953, Colerne Airshow.
It had been Cancelled by then but it put in a fairwell appearence.
As a gesture to all the "Locals" in the area who might have been involved in its development
It Did , if I remember rightly, two low Flybyes and a final "Touch and Go"
Open to correction but I think this was its last flight before oblivion.
(This was my second Airshow, first was Colerne 1952)
On a personal note I do have tucked away in Storage a copy of the 1950
Souvenir Programme of the official Brabazon Launch.
It was given to me years ago when I was a lad, its a bit scruffy, but it is 49 Years old
It has a nice reprint of the Painting of the Brabazon by "Terence Cuneo"
of train painting fame.
As an aside, I would love to know where the original Painting is.
His Trademark was to hide a small Mouse in his paintings, not too sure if this applied in his Brabazon Painting.
To view it on the webb, look under "Aviation Heritage", it is a reprint from the Souvenir Programme
Or, try under "Terence Cuneo"" painter, again I am sure it willl be there somewhere.
Hope all this may be of interest.
OPF
I lived on the Bristol side of Bath, the "Brab" would turn over the outskirts of Bath to line up for Filton, 12 miles out.
Saw it most times it flew.
Finale came in September 1953, Colerne Airshow.
It had been Cancelled by then but it put in a fairwell appearence.
As a gesture to all the "Locals" in the area who might have been involved in its development
It Did , if I remember rightly, two low Flybyes and a final "Touch and Go"
Open to correction but I think this was its last flight before oblivion.
(This was my second Airshow, first was Colerne 1952)
On a personal note I do have tucked away in Storage a copy of the 1950
Souvenir Programme of the official Brabazon Launch.
It was given to me years ago when I was a lad, its a bit scruffy, but it is 49 Years old
It has a nice reprint of the Painting of the Brabazon by "Terence Cuneo"
of train painting fame.
As an aside, I would love to know where the original Painting is.
His Trademark was to hide a small Mouse in his paintings, not too sure if this applied in his Brabazon Painting.
To view it on the webb, look under "Aviation Heritage", it is a reprint from the Souvenir Programme
Or, try under "Terence Cuneo"" painter, again I am sure it willl be there somewhere.
Hope all this may be of interest.
OPF
Last edited by Old Photo.Fanatic; 5th Jul 2009 at 22:31. Reason: Correcting a Name!!!
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RJM - Sadly there cannot be many survivors of the flight test crew around now. I was six years old when I saw the first flight and nine or ten when I was fortunate enough to climb aboard before she was scrapped. I made an attempt at a book and was privileged to interview Walter Gibb, Fred Pollicut, Bill Chapman and others. My book did not get into print, the ms is at RRHT. There were over a thousand photos at Filton/Patchway, all on glass plates. The illustrations in Aeroplane are excellent, actual engineering drawings. Another gentleman did write a book around the same time, he was much closer to the project. I'll try to find his name and the book title. All the best with your researches. 
