Bristol Brabazon
| Bristol Brabazon | |
|---|---|
 The only prototype of the Bristol Brabazon |
|
| Type: | Prototype of a long-haul airliner |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
September 4, 1949 |
| Commissioning: |
Flight tests canceled in 1953 |
| Production time: |
Was never mass-produced |
| Number of pieces: |
1 |
The Bristol Type 167 Brabazon was an eight-engine airliner developed in Great Britain after World War II . It was named after Baron Brabazon and had its first flight in 1949. With it, the Bristol Airplane Company wanted to revolutionize civil aviation over the North Atlantic. However, only one Brabazon ever took off; it never came to series production.
history
The planning work on the Bristol Brabazon began with a recommendation by a committee ( Brabazon-Komitee ) of the British Ministry of Transport, chaired by Lord Brabazon, in 1943: The end of World War II was slowly beginning to emerge, so questions about the role of Britain in the international arena Air traffic after the end of the war. Particular attention was paid to North Atlantic traffic. At the same time, smaller types of aircraft were developed for short-haul transport.
Since the Bristol Aircraft Company ( Bristol Airplane Company ) had already planned (but never built) a heavy long-range bomber at the beginning of the war , they already had initial experience in the construction of large aircraft and were awarded the contract by the Brabazon Committee to develop a transport machine that 90 to 100 people should be carried across the North Atlantic without stopping. The development of the large aircraft was not without its difficulties; When assembling the sections of the fuselage , an otherwise unheard of millimeter work was required, and the choice and arrangement of the engines for such a large and heavy aircraft also turned out to be less straightforward than initially thought.
Finally, on September 4, 1949, the first Brabazon took off from the Bristol-Werke test site for its maiden flight and was exhibited four days later at the Farnborough Air Show . Their appearance was tantamount to a sensation, but despite the initial interest of the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) , which at the time handled the entire transatlantic traffic in Great Britain, there was ultimately no order for the Brabazon and therefore no series production .
On its maiden flight in 1949, the Brabazon was one of the largest aircraft ever: it was 53.95 m long and its wings had a wingspan of 70.10 m. Her broad torso was equipped with 100 comfortable seats. The Brabazon was the first aircraft of its time whose primary control surfaces were operated completely hydraulically.
It was driven by four counter-rotating coaxial propeller pairs, each driven by two air-cooled double radial engines of the in-house type Bristol Centaurus 20 , each with 1,976 kW (2,535 PS) power via long-distance waves . The total of eight engines were not housed in the usual engine pods, but sunk inside the wings. The difficulties with the pairs of engines installed at an angle to each other, which were each coupled via a common transmission, could ultimately never be completely resolved. This technology could not be brought under control in practically all such attempts (see Heinkel He 177 or Saunders-Roe Saro Princess ).
The most likely causes for the failure of the Brabazon are:
- Too weak engines: Airplanes of this size can only be operated economically with turboprops or jet engines . A turboprop version of the Brabazon was planned, but never implemented.
- Inefficient use of the interior: In order to offer the passengers maximum comfort for the long flight, they were given plenty of space (especially for their feet). However, this led to a relatively low transport capacity with high operating costs. In addition, a capacity of 100 passengers was not needed at all in the early 1950s.
- Due to outdated regulations in Great Britain, the Brabazon had to be designed for a landing distance of only 600 meters, which in turn required a large span. The construction of the wings reached the limits of what was technically feasible at the time and made the aircraft more expensive to purchase.
Instead of the Brabazon, the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation , the Lockheed L-1649 A Starliner , the Douglas DC-6 and the Douglas DC-7 Seven Seas (all from the USA ) became the dominant aircraft in North Atlantic traffic. In 1952, Bristol presented its quadruple turboprop, 90 to 126 seat Britannia , which went into series production but ultimately also became a commercial failure.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| Passengers | 100 |
| length | 53.95 m |
| span | 70.10 m |
| height | 15.24 m |
| Empty mass | 65,816 kg |
| Takeoff mass | 131,542 kg |
| drive | eight double radial engines Bristol Centaurus 20 , each with 1,976 kW (2,535 PS) |
| Top speed | 483 km / h |
| Cruising speed | 402 km / h |
| Range | 8,851 km |
| Cruising altitude | 7,620 m |
See also
literature
- Barry Jones: Database - Bristol Brabazon. Airplane Monthly, September 2009, pp. 55-73.
Web links
- Bristol Brabazon on UnrealAircraft.com (English)