Bristol Brabazon

Britains white elephant the Bristol Brabazon, a remarkable achievement that was too expensive to operate to ever turn a profit. Collected in newsreels from the late 40's and early 50's

[@jegman4]

Great collection of footage from the news of the times. I was 13 years old when I saw this flying after it had left Filton on its maiden flight. I lived in Southmead next to Filton, and didn't realize that years later I would be working at Bristol Aeroplane Company as a Tool and Diemaker. Thanks for the memories my friend

[@KrillLiberator]

Wow, what a beautiful thing to see! Thanks Bomberguy. My granddad (who raised me from a youngster) was doing National Service as a Snowdrop at the time of Brab's maiden flight and told me he had perimeter guard duty at the far end of the runway; he got to watch the aircraft lift into the air and roar over his head. He was still astounded by the scale of her when telling me about it in the 80's. Lovely to share as he's not with us now. Corporal G P Carter (RAF Police), 1930 -1998. "fiat justitia"

[@Michaelxxx1936]

I watched the Brab go over, quite high up, within the Farnborough area, with my father during the summer of 1951. The newspapers were quite active reporting every move of this aircraft around this time. I remember how everyone felt very impressed with our achievement.

[@drjimmysnervetonic]

You Brits are absolute Masters at designing GORGEOUS Aircraft!!!! Well Done!!!

[@Perranporth]

A friend of mine says he remembers seeing one as a little boy with the distinctive noise they made. I'd never even heard of them before. Fascinating documentary!

[@thephilster57]

My mother used to say 'it blacked out the sky..' when it flew its trials around Filton as she watched the Brabazon from the back yard when hanging the washing... memories!

[@LinnetWoods]

Just showed my partner, Robbie, this footage including Farnborough 1950 Air Show at which he was present, aged 5, with his family. He remembers it well but was particularly amused to hear the presenter commenting that the people on the very first passenger flight were the country's most expendable - members of Parliament!

[@aylafrance]

What a fantastic piece of history. And yes I agree with the MP's being an expendable load. Filton - gosh I did a few days of high security training down there (I was the trainer). OH worked at Farnborough (again high security) for about a year and got used to planes taking off over his head. He was so close he was not allowed to use a mobile phone. Thanks for that - thanks very very much.

[@InflatablePlane]

What an incredible aircraft. It also proved to be a valuable lesson to Bristol (later BAC) Electronic throttle control, cabin pressurisation, powered flying controls, machined skin panels and early experiments with synthetic materials. Would eventually pave the way for Concorde. The Brabazon hangar eventually became the production facility for the Britannia and eventually Concorde.

[@bluenail90]

I watch these vids every year or so and still enjoy them, thanks BG.

[@ShiekUrBooty]

Regardless of company or nation, the early pioneers of passenger travel invested greatly into what we have today.

[@fordlandau]

thanks for that ..yes I think the fuselage was a miracle and way ahead of its time!

[@muppetchile]

That is just amazing!! Britain used to be such an amazing country , It is a shame what happened to it.

[@jjaus]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have only seen a couple of pictures of this aircraft. Loved it.

[@azto19]

my granfather worked on this aircraft and concord which was also built at filton in bristol. they have done some realy good work at that place its a shame that concord is not in service anymore.

[@colindominy]

Great historical footage + the accompanying commentary in the newsreels - very characteristic of those times. It's v. interesting to observe the aero-shape of these type of prop-driven passenger aircraft, built immediately after WW2. The Connie had a somewhat similar streamlined look. Hindsight is a wonderful commodity .. it's easy to see now how uneconomical the excess and largesse and over-expenditure was, that went into the design / production / supporting infrastructure of this craft.

[@terencehaydn]

Good Video,I saw this plane flying when I was a kid,it was very impressive,thanks for the video

[@tailendcharlie]

great stuff,I've read a lot about the brab,but that was the first film i've seen of it,what a monster...beautiful shape...

[@ragemanchoo82]

One of those really, really cool forgotten airplanes. At least the massive hangar could be used even after the project was dropped.

[@Hoogliette]

9:12 "we're sending up MPs - our most easily expendible load"

[@Guapito1973]

There is an fantastic clip on the BBC Bristol website, under the History section, which was shot air to air by BAC. Amazingly, it was found in the garden shed of the son of the man who shot it. It really is something. I'm surprised it's not up on here.

[@cavalier080854]

Thanks for the info about the hanger, the 5.25 million for hanger and runway should never have been included in costs as these can be used by anyone after. Especially the runway which has got to have made its money many times over.

[@XEpikurX]

Thank you very much for the nice clips!

[@katey1dog]

I am watching this while thinking of the revolutionary aircraft known as the Boeing 707. Still flying after almost 50 years. It's one of those designs that really doesn't need improvement. Merely a new avionics packageand efficient engines. The Bristol is beautiful as well, but for the props, she became an anachronism.

[@savouryduck]

You watch aviation videos from back then and realise they were much more prepared to take risks and try out radical design like flying wings and odd configurations than they are today. Its a pity that spirit is held back by accountants today. Always amazes me how fast they could build a prototype from the designs back then and have it flying.

[@GREEROPS]

Holy smoke! 12,000,000 Punds in 1950'ies money is a lot of cash. Good afternoon I am a politician and I am here to help you....! Still it had nice looking lines at it was a real treat to see her fly.. Thanks

[@Bloodgod40]

Amazing. The jumbo that never was. Nobody bought it... the blindness of people is incredible at times.

[@ajb07]

@engaurd - re advances let's not forget The Brabazon was the first aircraft with 100% powered flying controls, the first with electric engine controls, and the first with high-pressure hydraulics. The newly devised construction methods developed to save weight (including machining every part and panel to it's individual required strength saving several tons overall) were carried over into later aircraft - eg the Britannia had the best payload fraction of any aircraft when built.

[@seftonwallet]

Wonderful footage, thanks!

[@stealthracer]

Indeed the wheels are still there, as is the name from the fuselage - I'm the man who found it! About 15 years ago it was hidden behind several other things in the storeroom. It actually reads "BRABAZON 1" - this is not a MArk 1, it refers to the 1942 Brabazon committee, chaired by Lord Brabazon, which was formed to decide what new civil airliner designs would be needed after the war, and this one was first on the list.

[@Akki64]

Seeing how popular ocean cruises on luxury liners are with the well-heeled, can't help wondering if planes with such luxurious interiors like the "Brab", the Princess Flying-boat and the tragic Hindenburg airship could have found a niche doing "air cruises"? Just think how great it could be, flying low and slow over the Grand Canyon, the African Veldt or the coast of Norway. Did that once over Loch Ness on a beautiful autumn afternoon, most spectacular!

[@convair32]

!!!The Brabazon is the queen of the sky!!!

[@ovemunk]

Problem was that it was based on a philosophy that air travel was for the "select few". It was much larger than say a 767 but carried less than 100 passengers. In utmost luxury, admitted, but that kind of travel died out rapidly and instead mass transportation won the day. Besides, the Brab was hopelessly underpowered. It DID spawn some new tecniques though.

[@doublem111]

I would loved to of seen this fly years ago. My dad and grandad did as they worked on filton airfield at the time :).

[@SSCFPA]

During WW2 Britain, unlike the US, stopped building and developing transport planes, concentrating on military only. Post war, it was thought that competing directly with massed produced US piston airliners by much smaller less capitalised UK companies would be futile. Hence all the innovations, some really worked and sold, like the Viscount the 1st turboprop in service. The Comet 1 jetliner looked to do the same before the structure problems, Brabazon, the huge Princess flying boat Contd.

[@danf321]

Can anyone say "Spruce Goose"? It might have been successful if they waited a bit longer for more powerful jet engines. But, you've got to give credit to the brave souls who built and tried concepts like this plane.

[@musico81986]

Beautiful prop...its a shame it never flew as intended! Great vid...!

[@klesmer]

I would give a large part of my anatomey just to hear her run at full song. She was powered by 8 Bristol Centaurus sleeve valve radials,the most beutiful sound in the aviation world.

[@Gruntol5]

Pitcairn2: There does seem to have beem some duplicity on the part of the USA: "Later that year, the Air Ministry signed an agreement with the United States to exchange high-speed research and data. The Bell Aircraft company was given all of the drawings and research on the M.52, but the U.S. reneged on the agreement and no data was forthcoming in return." The USA were determined to get ahead of the UK, grabbing engineers from Germany & stiffing the UK Govt. Bankrupt UK couldn't compete.

[@andywarh0l]

Nice plane- pity we couldn't have beaten Boeing to it but the Comet probably sealed that. I like the comment about the "expendable politicians at the end- very funny!

[@bleadonken]

Sadly, no. One pair of main undercarriage wheels used to be on display in Bristol Industrial Museum on the harbourside. Haven't been there for years so don't know if they are still there. There is also a surviving fragment of fuselage carrying the "Bristol Brabazon" name. This may also be at the B.I.M. now - used to be at Old Warden in the 1970s

[@smurfswacker]

Wow!!! This was the sort of enormous postwar passenger planes pictured in magazine ads and popular science magazines in the 1940s. Perhaps it was naive of designers to try to make the dreams come true in the face of jet power and practical restraints, but oh! What dreams!

[@ajb07]

@fordlandau It's still there - after the Brabazon project was scrapped it became one of the largest aircraft assembly halls in Europe (including the Bristol Britannia), a service hangar for BOAC Lockheed Super Constelations whilst the London Heathrow HQ was being built, and later home to the production line for the British-built Concordes. We would often hear the siren warning folk that the doors (largest in the world when built) were being opened - added after a worker was sadly crushed.

[@BasicModelling]

It was broken up in 1953 for scrap, a crying shame.. :(

[@granskare]

amazing that Britain seems to stop production of aircraft but for the Harrier and the regional range Shorts plane.

[@Mittelbaum]

The gearing coupling each pair of engines to contra-rotating props absorbed so much power that the poor old Brab. could hardly fly. Iin some defense of the designers, remember that they originally envisaged using four massive turboprop engines, which would have given it a very much more realistic performance. However, for reasons I cannot remember, the turboprops were not ready in tme and the coupled Centauruses ( Centauri? ) were a quick fix to get it off the ground and assess the handling.

[@Doomsday2060]

Mmmm modern things in the 50's... EXCITING! especially at the time.

[@McLarenMercedes]

I arrived a decade or two too early. Of course had it arrived later it would have been equipped with jet engines. Post WW2 there weren't nearly enough airlines interested in luxury passenger airliners. Heck even the Concorde was far from a commercial success and remained in service only for the wealthy businessmen that could afford to travel on one. Such a huge aircraft and only 100 passengers? It was doomed.

[@gbournelis]

amazing history video !!

[@Troy_Tempest]

Nice clip mate, never seen this before.

[@fordlandau]

great ideas...look at the size of the interior..vast space and huge seats

[@tony00165]

I didn't know that the Brabazon had reverse pitch props until the pilot mentioned it in this clip...The British 'Beverley' had them as well and used to win short landing competitions mainly against the Yanks...the RAF would then reverse the aircraft into a parking spec on the airfield just as you would a car....Brilliant and hysterically funny..My brother was a Para and said the looks on the American's faces were wonderful to see'

[@zakris]

I love the sound, to bad it never enter service..

[@505197]

It's intresting how the wings and engines were integrated and aerodynamic looking compared to most radial engine arraingments. It's a very nice looking plane and counter rotating props is a nice touch also. The end of the piston engine was sort of a sad era, jets replaced them so quickly and made some obsolete before their time.

[@CaptBubble]

Boeing and HS had agreement to share technology and design of rear engined planes. British aerodynamicists were ahead of Boeing who were keen to catch up. As agreed, Boeing spent 3 months at HS, but when HS tried to arrange their visit to Boeing, they were told flatly that Boeing had learned all they needed and no longer required help from HS. With various changes (incl more raked fin) the 727 was a fairly close copy of the Trident, so UK did not "miss the boat"...we conned it out of them!

[@ajb07]

@nakedleader - you're correct - it was the second prototype that was to be based on the Bristol Coupled Proteus turboprop engines - eight paired turboprops driving 4-bladed airscrews through a common gearbox which would increase cruising speed from 260 to 330 mph and reduce trans-atlantic crossing time from 14 to 12 hours. I think they had the gear train from one of these engines impressively stuffed and mounted in a glass case in the Rolls Royce apprentice college at Filton? I may be wrong...

[@fairclought7]

some of the last spitfires in 1944 -45 with the griffon engine had counter rotating props but they were rare

[@AGrandt]

It might have been a commercial White Elephant, however any failure still yields useful information, so just because _this_ plane might have been a failure, the technologies and knowledge developed probably made it into other planes, saving development cost on those.

[@gliderpilot79]

That was 100 passengers in luxury though, with all sorts of anenities, bars, bed, a cinema, and all sorts

[@mrmakemakkara]

very very very nice videos TOV TODA

[@lovemorembigi]

It needed extra-long runways and infrastructure to operate - so there was no commercial market for it. The Constellation and StratoCruiser could operate from established airfields.

[@Brera011]

Watching several video's about giant aircraft and failures in history, I came to this conclusion. Never miss a step when you're trying to go from big to biggest. Some missed the simple step to just bigger and failed! Saunders Roe with their gigantic flying boats, Howard Hughes with his Spruce Goose and Bristol with the Brabazon. There are always three steps, fast, faster, fastest, small, smaller and smallest and so on. NEVER MISS A STEP!

[@HuasoPodrido]

Christ what a beast! must have been a real handful! I wonder what the stall speed was?

[@tony00165]

CaptBubble...You're right..Boeing renaged on the deal...we had the 'All flying elevator' years before they used it on the Bell X project to keep control over Mach 1..The British Air Ministry cancelled it all just before we were ready to fly at 1500 miles an hour with NO explanation given???...Aircraft design is a learning curve..there are no 'Flops'..lessons are learned from every single design..lets all think back to the Wright brothers and work forward 107 years !!!

[@saftevand]

Actually, the demise of this plane was due to the fact that it was ahead of its' time - like the Convair Model 37. But it sure was beautiful...

[@thephilster57]

@moglove109 If you are a Briston native... it's "go Bristle!" The Brabazon was bigger than the 747!!

[@cavalier080854]

MP's, our most easily expendable load! Ha, Ha, so true.

[@Snowfox2020]

... with a wing span of 70 meters - that would put it between the 747-400 and the A380-800 of today. Incidentally the cost of development (including ground infrastructure...) in today's money would be around £264 million compared to approx. £8 billion for the A380 to the same stage (single flying aircraft) - makes you wonder at how much was done for so little back then!

[@TimGetCrysis]

Amazing!

[@usmctanks1]

perhaps the fact that GB gave the NENE engine to the Soviet Union, and they used it in the Mig 15 might be one (of many) reasons that we did NOT share a lot of Aircraft details with Britian in the late 40's early 50's. As GB leadership was rife with soviet agents, sympathisers etc... what do you think?

[@yaknbo]

I appreciate you saying "some" Americans. Thank you. Now that I have said that, it doesn't necessarily mean I am an anti- American American.

[@michduncg]

Awesome as they were, the £22m spent on the Brabazon and the Princess should have been spent on aircraft like the Vickers V1000. This was a 100 seater turbofan airliner with transatlantic range, much bigger than the Comet and more practical and faster than the Brab. The V1000 could have been in service by the late 50s, and got a slice of the big jet market grabbed by the US. Cancelled due to Treasury cuts when 80% complete, just a small portion of that £22m could have saved the V1000

[@jordyboy321]

beautiful....classic british engineering

[@rossmum]

You can say what you like about the practicality of the design, but nobody builds beautiful aircraft like the Brits do. Spitfire, Mosquito, Brabazon, Vulcan...

[@MrMoorkey]

Damn straight. I'd go around saying things like 'WOODY!' and 'AWFULLY SPIFFING, WHAT?'

[@connect4glyn]

what a good video ,thanks for putting it no youtube , shame about the silly comments though

[@Mccabone]

Beautiful looking plane... but like the Lockheed Constellation... they became obsolete to Jet transportation!

[@JBofBrisbane]

@tony00165 - according to books I have read, the Boeing prototype was only about fifteen percent complete when the project was axed. The Boeing prototype relied heavily on government money, and at the time the US Govt were spending big on putting men on the moon and fighting a hopeless war in Vietnam. Guess which funding program lucked out. But then, the fuel crises would have scuttled it like they did with Concorde.

[@fordlandau]

the Brabazon was a plane specified by a committee of politicians and public servants with the foresight of yesterdays old newspaper..they felt that the plane had to able to serve Britain's stiil quite vast colonies and Dominions...there the runways were short and primitive..and so the plane had a massive wingspan only now bettered by the A380..thus it could take off at about 80 knots..using about 10 feet of runway..sadly they forgot runways were improving fast and the plane was really SLOW

[@stylophobia]

It might have turned a profit had they condescended to let a few oiks on board along with Algernon and Daphne...but seeing what happened to the Comet 1, they should probably have forked out more for the metal covering the thing....

[@Mittelbaum]

The Gloster E28/39 was NOT a jet fighter prototype. It was a demonstration vehicle for Whittle's first practical engine, the W.1. And before you rattle on about the UK "inventing the jet engine",that is a gross over-simplification of what really happened. In any case, Whittle's radial-flow compressor engines were a technological dead end, quickly replaced by axial-flow compressor engines first built and flown in Germany but independently developed at the RAE and by Metropolitan Vickers.

[@geeflyboy]

US didn't build commercial planes during WWII. Existing pre WWII transports DC3, DC4 where put into service. The Brits where first on some things but suffered from too early too little (or too big). An advantage US had was post war military spending, eg, B-47, intercontinental swept wing jet bomber. Wing technology was used by B707. That was a technological advantage. Also the US was better at sizing planes for the market. TRIVIA: B707, 727, 737 and 757 all share same fuselage diameter.

[@tbcass]

What is interesting is what was considered "giant" then is only a mid sized plane today. The wings were large it's true but the fusalege was only big enough to cary 100 passangers. Kind of small really.

[@Gruntol5]

If you go Google, select Images, enter John Derry. The first 2 images are Derry. Doesn't look like him in the Brabazon video. P.S. John Derry' daughter, Jo, married a friend of mine.

[@iflick7235]

The Comet was about to be introduced, that would fail. Boeing was waiting in the wings with the 707.

[@Akki64]

Great nostalgia! My uncle worked on the "Brab" and said what pride there was among the workforce in those days. Now it's all "political correctness", bloody Brussels and don't offend the ethnic minorities. Dear God! what have we come to?

[@Hennersbass]

Looks to of been inspired by the B-29. Lovely plane.

[@geeflyboy]

US didn't build transports during WWII. Existing transports, DC3, DC4 (flying before WWII) were put into military service. All planes from 1940-45 where military. The Brits where first on some things but too early too little (or too big). One big advantage the US had was post war military spending in developing military Turbojets, especially the swept wing B-47, tactical intercontinental jet bomber. B-47 technology was put into the B707, namely wing technology. That was an advantage.

[@dnebdal]

@ovemunk As I've understood it, it was good training for the Britannia (and a bunch of the money spent on this went to infrastructure that they could reuse). Still a bit optimistic, though - to put it mildly.

[@albertoarcudi8431]

Mi ricorda le eliche controrotanti del Macchi MC72.. del 1934!

[@Mittelbaum]

Not a prototype, but the design studies and wind tunnel tests for the Miles M52 - including the idea of a flying tail - were passed to the American govt. by UK civil servants, who then demanded that all tooling and jigs be physically destroyed. Strange decision,that. I've always wondered what was REALLY behind it. Something smells.

[@tony00165]

@ianupton And its certificate of airworthiness was written in latin.

[@Mittelbaum]

"Britain knows how to build 'em" Ironical.

[@fredfungalspore]

The Bristol Brabazon was a hugh Slug .

[@foketesz]

watch from 8 17 how different the approach is from what we see today. Nose down all the way, and up just in time to stop the descent at the last instant before touchdown. More like they do in small civilian airplanes.

[@raykhuller]

as engines developed, the brab could have carried more passengers but...remember...the later boeing 707 was a 104 to 124 passenger airliner, so what's the fuss ? ray k

[@65bristolboy]

sad to say its all gone now. there building houses on the old site.

[@jfprieur]

Unfortunately the accountants have taken over so don't expect to see the same leap in the next 50 years. If anything, we are going backwards, no more Concorde, moon missions, etc.

[@geeflyboy]

You can see the likeness the ill fated Comet, Brits first passenger jet. The Bristol Brabazon also has the flawed square window that cause fatigue cracking in the Comet, so it's good it failed. No doubt it would have also suffered in-flight breakups as the Comet did. 100 SEATS? Ha ha! That was ALWAYS the problem with the Brits, never built planes that made money. They were always too small. This HUGE plane is the size of today's Boeing 747, 230 FOOT WING SPAN carried only 100-120 passengers.

[@lasalleman]

Sad loss. Britain was alwyas a day late and a dollar short in the civil air business.

[@fordlandau]

the Hangar is highly impressive in its own right..look at the amazing concertina doors across the front...what happened to this hangar?