BACK TO THE FUTURE OF AVIATION
Filton’s past revisited and the future explored, as exciting plans take shape
Fifty years ago, a group of politicians, designers and engineers transformed the world with a machine that flew passengers in comfort at the speed of a rifle bullet. My father, Jeff, was one of them. At 23, he joined the team responsible for the systems, panels, wiring and racking that supported all of Concorde’s electrical control systems – from the nose cone to the tail light. With us for the afternoon, it’s his first time back here in more than 40 years.
In the shadow of the Brabazon Hangar, we take a stroll outside former offices that are now empty, overgrown and boarded up and find what’s left of No.8 Drawing Office, where Dad worked alongside an array of talented engineers.
‘There were hundreds of drawing boards in long rows alongside chests full of drawings, all in a fog of cigarette smoke.
‘Confidence in Concorde grew as the orders came in – there was no US competition and we were out in front. What could go wrong?’ He says it was a team bristling with ambition and more than a few characters.
‘One colleague lived in Birmingham but would sleep in the car park four nights a week in his Isetta bubble car. Another – nicknamed ‘Half-a-thou-sid’ could eyeball-measure metalwork to an accuracy of half a thousandth of an inch. He used to turn up in his Rover P1 with the roof cut off, wearing goggles and a leather flying hat.’
Dad would regularly wander across to the Brabazon Hangar to liaise with the technicians busy assembling the aircraft. Inside this vast space, we chat with Charlotte Hanna, one of those behind the YTL Arena project. There are plans afoot to turn the central section of the hangar into a 16,000-seat arena, which is music to my own ears and just about everyone else in the south-west of England.
Growing up nearby, we had to travel to Cardiff or Birmingham for major gigs and sporting events. ‘We all know it’s what Bristol has always wanted and needed,’ agrees an excited Charlotte, who also explains how much of the old runway is to become a thriving new housing and leisure development centred around Filton’s aerospace heritage.
If plans are approved, this iconic 70-yearold building – once the engine room of the city’s world-beating innovations – will be transformed into an internationally renowned venue alongside one of the world’s best aircraft museums, housing what was – and still is – the world’s safest, fastest and best-looking passenger aircraft in history.
‘Filton was the engine room of Bristol’s proud industry’