An elephant of the skies
QUESTION What became of the huge Bristol Brabazon plane?
The Bristol Brabazon was an ill-fated attempt to build a super-large transatlantic passenger aircraft. A working prototype was produced, but it was an under-powered white elephant.
In 1943, an Air Ministry committee chaired by Lord Brabazon of Tara recommended types of aircraft that would be best suited for production by the Civil Aviation Authority after the war. One recommendation was for a luxury airliner to fly between London and New York and wave the flag for post-war Britain.
The government awarded the project to Bristol, which had manufactured Blenheims, Beauforts and Beaufighters during the war.
At its Filton headquarters, the project was overseen by chief engineer Leslie Frise and chief designer Archibald Russell. Manufacturing blueprints were ready by April 1945, but much had to be done before the monster could take to the air.
The runway at Filton had to be extended from 2,000 ft to 8,175 ft. In its path lay the village of Charlton, which was demolished and the residents rehoused.
A flurry of technical advances enabled the building of the 177 ft-long Brabazon with a 230 ft wingspan. engineers had to strip excess metal from the design without sacrificing structural strength.
eight coupled contra-rotating propellers were driven by eight paired Bristol Centaurus engines. It featured electric engine controls, high-pressure hydraulics and the then novel cabin pressurisation.
Despite its giant size, the Brabazon was designed to carry only 100 passengers and a dozen crew in spacious, doubledeck surroundings, including sleeper berths and a stateroom.
Bristol Brabazon G-AGPW flew for the first time on September 4, 1949, with chief test pilot Arthur J. ‘Bill’ Pegg and co-pilot Walter Gibb at the controls. An eightman test crew was also aboard.
More than 10,000 people witnessed the launch. Schools emptied, locals went to every vantage point and Bristol workers and their families crowded into enclosures on the airfield.
The Brabazon was demonstrated at the 1950 Farnborough Airshow, heathrow
Airport and the 1951 Paris Air Show. Gibb commented: ‘It was very comfortable. It flew very well. You didn’t whip it around like a Tiger Moth or Spitfire, but as long as you treated it like a double- decker bus, you had no trouble at all.’
By 1952, infrastructure, testing and development had cost £6 million (equivalent to £200 million today) and another £2 million was needed to complete the faster Mk II. however, no airline showed any interest in the aircraft.
The project was cancelled and the two airframes broken up and sold for scrap. Much of the infrastructure and technology was invested in the Bristol Britannia, one of the most economical aircraft of its day and the workhorse of many airlines.
Eric Miles, Frome, Somerset.
QUESTION Apart from fine wine, what gets better with age?
NOT all fine wine gets better with age. Many a bottle from a shipwreck or old cellar will disappoint because it has ‘gone over’. Whisky improves in the barrel, but stops once bottled.
Meat and game are hung to improve flavour and texture, a process of controlled decay.
In the 19th century, Mr Lea and Mr Perrin tried to reproduce a Roman-style fish sauce, but it was inedible. The bottles were rediscovered two years later in a basement: time had worked its magic and Worcester sauce was created.
Cooking and baking are time-controlled ways of improving food, though one person’s rare steak may be considered practically raw by someone else.
In the biological world, improvements with age are built in. Our species starts as a totally dependent baby communicating with cries. With time, education and experience, we become a knowledgeable, articulate adult.
An oak tree might spend 200 years growing to a mature tree, then another 200 and the same again decaying and dying. Coral polyps built up into the Great Barrier Reef over thousands of years.
Changes can be on a geological time scale. The Grand Canyon and himalayas took millions of years to form. The Scottish mountains are older, but are rounded stumps due to erosion.
The antique trade values patina because surfaces achieved through age are hard to recreate and show authenticity. You might like polished bronze, but removing the patina reduces the value.
The whole of evolution might be said to be continual improvement leading ultimately to humanity.
Considering our effect on the planet, some may debate whether that has been for the better. Phil Alexander, Farnborough, Hants.
QUESTION
Is it possible for a U.S. state to secede?
A TROuBLING sign of political polarisation in the u.S. is the high level of support for state secession. however, this would be impossible without redrafting the Constitution.
Historians point to the post-Civil War legal judgment of April 15, 1869, in the case of Texas v White.
In a majority decision, the Supreme Court declared that the u.S. was ‘an indestructible union, composed of indestructible states’.
Professor Cass Sunstein has asserted: ‘No serious scholar or politician argues that a right to secede exists under American constitutional law.’
Professor Akhil Amar emphasises Article VI Supremacy Clause, which subordinates state sovereignty.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia agreed in 2006: ‘ If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede. hence, in the pledge of allegiance, one nation, indivisible.’
Gia Francis, Norwich, Norfolk. IS THERE a question to which you want to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question here? Write to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY; or email charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection is published, but we’re unable to enter into individual correspondence.