Filton Airfield - General Thread

[TheLocalYokel]

I'm sure that it has been discussed many times before but it would be interesting to see what it would now look like had a different path been chosen.

I guess it's not healthy to dwell on what could have been.

You're right. There are many what might have beens in life.

Filton though ticks most of the boxes, or did. It's near the M4/M5 interchange; it'e very close to the main Bristol-South Wales railway line; a branch line from Filton to Avonmouth runs through the site, currently freight-only but earmarked to be part of the future Metro West; it's/was a much bigger site than Lulsgate with better weather; a longer runway than Lulsgate (600 metres longer); lower elevation.

Against that it's cheek by jowl with thousands of houses and some sort of accommodation would have been needed to integrate a busy works aerodrome (which it was once) into an airport. In the mid 1990s BAE, the owners, tried to set up a city airport at Filton but after a public enquiry the relevant government minister (Selwyn Gummer from memory) rejected the application. Unsurprisingly, the owners of Lulsgate were amongst the objectors to the idea.

 

[Ray Finkle]

After being wrapped in a protective film whilst the inside of the hangar was painted it has now been peeled back from Concorde ahead of centre's opening. In the article it is suggested that they hope to open in August.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-39645895

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Should be good when it opens. I think that most of the funding is now in place. It's taken a long time.

G-BOAF was left in the open air at Filton for many years and inevitably her condition deteriorated. I believe that she's been given a lot of tlc in the past couple of years to get her back into decent shape.

I saw her final flight in November 2003 from a high hill (Dundry) that overlooks Bristol from the south. Visibility was good and it was easy to follow the aircraft as she came in from behind us, having overflown BRS, before swooping low over the Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension Bridge. After that she turned to the right (to the east) and flew eastwards over the city probably to near the Wiltshire border. A final 180 turn was executed and hull 216 (the Cardiff-Newport-BRS National Express coach service is numbered route 216 in BF's honour) commenced her final ever approach (although at the time it was confidently predicted that BF would be the Concorde to fly again if any did) into Filton. I followed her in through my 20:1 optical video camera lens before she disappeared behind buildings just prior to landing at Filton.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

With the release of previously classified documents it's revealed that the American government put pressure on Britain to stop building a supersonic civilian jet transport. No surprise really given all the obstacles that America placed in the way of Concorde when BA and AF attempted to begin to fly the aircraft to the USA.

Protectionism really, as the USA gave up on their own version having encountered technical difficulties they found insurmountable.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/how-cia-tried-talk-britain-223250

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Red Arrows

Will be doing a flyover at Filton on Wednesday this coming week (16th) as part of Aerospace Bristol's celebration of Concorde's legacy and history. The linked article makes no mention of a display so it seems they will be doing a flypast or flypasts.

Aerospace Bristol will be opening the long-awaited local aviation and aerospace museum on the site later this year.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/red-arrows-flying-over-bristol-312102

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Local press article giving a 'sneak preview' of the Aerospace Bristol Museum, where Concorde G-BOAF will be the centrepiece, when the museum that is due to open soon was the venue for the launch of Bristol Fashion Week 2017.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/weve-been-bristols-new-concorde-548513

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Aerospace Bristol Museum

Local radio said today that the museum at Filton will open to the public in two weeks time with Concorde 216 (G-BOAF) the centrepiece.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/plans-approved-more-2500-homes-656163

The local authority has approve plans for the construction on 2,500 houses on the Filton Aerodrome site. There has already been considerable development on and around the site and this initiative will add another township to the North Bristol fringe.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-...y/inside-19m-concorde-museum-aerospace-634504

The Bristol Aero Collection museum at Filton opened this week with Concorde 216, G-BOAF the centrepiece. The linked article contains a number of pictures of the interior of the museum.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/m5-close-allow-giant-bristol-990451

One of the few remaining Bristol Type 170 Freighters has just arrived at Royal Portbury Docks on a ship from New Zealand. It will be taken by road to the Aerospace Bristol Museum on the Filton Airfield site where it will be restored and eventually put on display.

There are some good pictures in the linked report.

 

[rollo]

Nice article good to see an old bird returning home not sure about the giant bit though.

I vaguely remember seeing the odd one at Elmdon in the 1960s maybe Silver City but not certain, it's good to see people looking after our aviation heritage.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Nice article good to see an old bird returning home not sure about the giant bit though.

That's the Trinity Mirror-owned Bristol Post for you. My main reason for reading the digital version each day is to discover how low their factual reporting and syntax can reach.

The other day they had the bmi regional E145 that came to rest on the grass after landing at BRS finishing up 'in a nearby field'.

 

[flymetothemoon]

Nice article good to see an old bird returning home not sure about the giant bit though.

I vaguely remember seeing the odd one at Elmdon in the 1960s maybe Silver City but not certain, it's good to see people looking after our aviation heritage.

I used to go and see one at Coventry on Sunday afternoon in the early 70's till they replaced it with a Carvair, British United Air Ferries I believe

 

[rollo]

Aer Lingus used to operate regular carvairs into Bhx around the same time, strange looking beasts.

Were off topic now?

 

[Deleted member 8862]

Proper aeroplanes....

 

[Silvercity]

Nice article good to see an old bird returning home not sure about the giant bit though.

I vaguely remember seeing the odd one at Elmdon in the 1960s maybe Silver City but not certain, it's good to see people looking after our aviation heritage.

Silver City were a big concern at Lydd years ago with cross channel servics

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Lot of talk recently in BRS threads about the inadequate runway length and how Filton would have been so much better and not just because of the runway.

I passed through the area this afternoon and it's really sad to see that the runway (2,600 metres of it and a staggering 91 metres wide) has disappeared although the outline is still clearly visible. The area though is taking on a new lease of life. The huge Airbus wing integration centre is well on its way to completion. It's the size of two football pitches and will be used amongst other things for structural testing of wings. The old airfield site is still a hive of aviation and aerospace activity and the surrounding area is turning into a small town with over 2,500 homes in the mix - many already built - and 24 acres set aside for industrial and office use, much of it on the opposite side of the A38 (ironically the same road that passes BRS further to the south). Some industrial units have already been built with others under construction.

https://www.hydrock.com/projects/airbus-wing-integration-centre/
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/business/biggest-concrete-pour-uk-takes-940769

Bristol's controversial arena project, presently halted for the city mayor to take stock of the rising costs, might well find it self re-located to the Filton site. A Malaysian development company now owns the entire site and is angling to have the arena built at the old Brabazon hangar. This is the only part of the Filton site that lies within the Bristol boundary. The attraction to the city council is that most of the cost would be found by the this development company. The original proposed arena site next to Temple Meads station, upon which many millions of pounds have already been spent including a multi-million pound bridge across the Cut onto the site, could be used instead to build a major conference centre. This would not be such a drain on the local tax payers' purse as an arena - allegedly!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-brand-new-brabazon-neighbourhood-1280431

Bristol to get brand new ‘Brabazon’ neighbourhood with 2,675 homes

Lots of homes, offices and distribution premises already either built or being built on and around the former airfield site. This seems to be another development to be superimposed on what is there or previously planned.

Traffic congestion already severe at times will be monumental what with the many thousands of aerospace workers, the new towns springing up all around the area and new roads already in place adding more conduits to the nearby Cribbs Causeway regional shopping centre. The site is also an option for a 16,000 capacity arena if the proposed arena near Temple Meads in the middle of the city fails to materialise.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/business/melrose-succeeds-81billion-hostile-takeover-1401526

One of the several aerospace companies on the Filton site is GKN with 1,600 employees at Filton and another 300 at nearby Avonmouth.

Today Melrose, a turnaround company specialist, has succeeded in its hostile bid to acquire GKN for £8.1 billion. This has led to serious concerns that job losses will entail as Melrose attempts to turn GKN into a vehicle that it can sell on at a handsome profit in the future. Much of GKN's work is long-term which does not fit with Melrose's undoubted short-termism although Melrose has denied that its ownership will be bad for GKN (which they obviously would say).

Airbus, GKN's largest customer, previously said it could not give any new business to the firm if the the Melrose takeover went ahead. The government says it has achieved an undertaking that Melrose will not sell off the aerospace division for at least five years to try to allay job loss and national security fears. Hovever, many local people emember the broken promises of the US company Kraft when they purchased the Cadbury (former Frys) chocolate factory site at Keynsham on the edge of Bristol. Kraft pledged to keep open the Keynsham site then promptly did the opposite as soon as they had gained control of it.

Such was Kraft's mean spiritedness that they even refused to allow developers of a later housing estate on the site to name roads after the chocolate products that had been such a feature of life in Keynsham for nearly a century.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/so-low-you-could-see-1533802

The area around Filton was reduced to abject panic yesterday afternoon when a A321LR Neo flew overhead as part of a test flight. People thought it was going to crash and one claimed to be able to see the pilot ("nice looking young man, fair hair and a handlebar moustache, with a look of blind terror on his face").

Some residents believe they should have received ample warning of the terrifying incident. I would have thought so too; a personal visit from the chairman of Airbus would have been the minimum the company should have offered to calm down the terrified residents.

To think these people are living in the vicinity of one of the country's major aeroplane companies, one that has been there in its various guises since 1910. What would they have thought when several Vulcan bombers, armed with nuclear weapons, were parked on the apron at a moment's readiness in October 1962 at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis when World War 3 seemed about to kick off?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Aerospace Bristol

The museum on the Filton airfield site that houses the Bristol Aero Collection and Concorde G-BOAF (the last British Concorde to be built and the last Concorde to fly) amongst other things greeted its 150,000th visitor this week. The museum opened ten months ago and 150,000 visitors were projected for the first 12 months so it is ahead of target.

That's very good news - I shall have to make time to go there. It's only across the other side of the city from where I live.