Jetrader - Spring 2018 - 59

flying within 18 months, using the swept
wings and podded-engine configurations
used for their B-47 bombers already in
test flight.

Too Big, Too Slow, Too Late
Through 1950 and 1951, the flight
testing of the Brabazon Mk I continued,
with the turbine-powered Mk II version
still unfinished but expected to fly in
about a year's time. However, BOAC was
no longer interested. Rather than order
a whole fleet, they were only willing to
consider ordering three Brabazon Mk II
aircraft, merely for purposes of national
prestige - provided Bristol would cover
any financial losses. With these three aircraft, BOAC believed they could provide
a daily service in each direction between
London and New York.
It was not to be; in March 1952, a time of
even more austerity, the British minister of
supply ordered Bristol to suspend all work
on the Brabazon Mk II "until conditions
become more favourable." Meanwhile, the
original Brabazon Mk I could be used for
more research and development.
The end officially came in July 1953
when newly appointed Minister Duncan
Sandys announced that the Brabazon
project was to be abandoned and the two
aircraft were to be "dismantled." By then
the prototype had logged about 380 flight
hours. In October they were broken up
and hauled away by a scrap metal dealer.

demonstrations and meeting all of its
design objectives, it never got past the
prototype phase. With the Korean War heating up, the Canadian government forced
the company to put the Jetliner aside so
more CF-100 jet fighters could be produced.
As most of us know, the de Havilland
Comet did go into production, with BOAC
taking a small initial batch of Comets.
These were put into regular commercial
service and occasionally carried the Royal
Family, but three serious, fatal crashes

almost ended the project. By the time redesigned Comets arrived, the world market for
jet airliners had been largely taken over by
the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8.
The huge hangar at Filton became a
Brabazon legacy, including being used for
the production of Britain's share of the
supersonic Concorde airliners, and it's still
in use today. You can see the hangar and a
Concorde nearby on static display outdoors,
on Google Earth or BingMaps at 51° 31.05 N,
2° 35.41 W.

Afterwords
Fortunately, the Brabazon was not
Bristol's only project. Running in parallel was the development of a slightly
more modest transport aircraft for BOAC.
Beginning in 1948, with its maiden flight
in 1952, this was the Bristol Britannia, a
medium, long-range airliner with four turboprop engines, capable of carrying 75 to
100 passengers. Between 1952 and 1960,
using space in the massive Brabazon hangar, 85 Britannias were manufactured, with
the later variants capable of flying nonstop from London to New York. In addition, another 72 Britannias were produced
under license by Canadair in Montreal,
designated CL-44 for civilian customers
and Yukon for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
As for the Avro Canada Jetliner,
despite making record-setting flight
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Jetrader * Spring 10/10/17
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Jetrader - Spring 2018

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