The good old days.
Seventy three years ago this week, there was a real feeling of optimism in the aviation industry – which was at its zenith. The British aviation industry employed more people than the NHS does today, there were new aircraft at all stages of the development cycle. One of those was the Bristol Brabazon, considered in some respects to be the first “wide body” airliner, to give some context the Brabazon fuselage had a diameter which was nearly six feet more than that of a Boeing 747 and was over a foot wider than that of an Airbus A380.
Big as it was, the Brabazon was planned to carry no more than 100 passengers – with the flagship companies of the day in some cases planning a layout accommodating less than 40 people. This would give each passenger the equivalent of a small room of space, using modern spacing methods – it would have carried around 300 passengers, at the time it was to have become the new queen of the skies – replacing the Imperial flying boats.
On August the 28th 1951 the Brabazon arrived at Prestwick, it was to have made a number of flights – but due to adverse weather made only one on Wednesday the 29th carrying The Seretary of State for Scotland.
At that same time the British aviation industry was engaged in the production or development of over 60 different types of civilian, military and research fixed wing airfrom the Auster to the Wyvern.
But there are spotters who are regulars at Prestwick who were there on the day the Brabazon was there, still talking about it – ah nostalgia for the good old days.
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