Filton Airfield - General Thread

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Airbus wings made in Filton begin their long trip from Bristol to Spain ... by sea

The first wings for an Airbus plane built at Filton and to be transported by sea were loaded on a giant ship at Avonmouth this week.

There were fears that the closure of Filton Airfield would lead to the loss of work at the giant Airbus factory in South Gloucestershire.

The firm was one of the biggest users of the airfield until it closed in December of last year. Under the old system wings built at the giant factory were loaded onto Beluga aircraft at Filton and then flown to assembly plants in North Wales, Germany, the south of France and Seville.[/textarea]

Full report at: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Airbus-w ... z2Ky07tM00

So Filton carries on assembling aircraft parts even though it now has no runway.

 

[Seasider]

BAe Brough has been doing that for years!

 

[pug]

BAe Brough has been doing that for years!

They were even building the full aircraft at Brough, only to shift them to Warton on the back of a lorry for flight test. I believe the partial reopening of the runway a couple of years ago was a sweetner before releasing plans to build on the airfield and running the factory down.

BAe Systems will be making alot out of developments on these sites, are local authorities really under so much pressure to grant planning permission for these housing developments? I'd say they rub salt in the wounds of employees made redundant, that local councils are prepared to grant planning permission for these developments yet 'doing all they can' to keep these jobs local..

 

[TheLocalYokel]

One door closes and another opens - this time that of the Bristol Port Company.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It seems that Filton's runway hasn't closed after all.

The story put around that the last aircraft ever to use it did so on 21 December last year seems to be premature.

No less a body than the CAA tells us that 16 passengers flew between Filton and Hawarden in January this year. It's all there in the Domestic Airport stats list for January 2013.

521 also flew between Bristol Lulsgate (BRS) and Hawarden last month as well (BAA corporate shuttle).

I wonder if another 16 persuaded a captain to sneak into Filton, perhaps in the early hours, to pick them up from FZO (or is that code no more too?) for old times' sake.

Or of course it may be just be another entry in the CAA stats list that defies belief, something I've mentioned a number of times in past months when it comes to the stats.

I prefer the other theory though: a nocturnal uplift in the dead of night with perhaps accomplices pushing the aircraft down what's left of the runway and into the air so it doesn't wake the slumbering nearby nimbys is far more likely than the CAA getting its figures wrong...............isn't it?

 

[superking]

they shipped a few wings out of bristol port a few weeks back.seen the ship with airbus a380 wings written on the side.is this going to be a regular shipment? normal shipments are made from mostyn.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

they shipped a few wings out of bristol port a few weeks back.seen the ship with airbus a380 wings written on the side.is this going to be a regular shipment? normal shipments are made from mostyn.

Apparently it will be a regular occurrence. I posted a link to the local paper report on this on the previous page of this thread.

Air Livery

user001 has started a thread in the Manchester Airport section of Forums4Airports on Air Livery's work at MAN.

The company had a major facility at Filton until July 2009 before moving to MAN and the below link shows the aircraft worked on during the last six months of the Filton facility. The bottom of the linked page leads to pages showing activity in the preceding years.

It shows the immense variety of aircraft and airlines that used Air Livery at Filton.

http://www.filton.flyer.co.uk/moves/airliv.htm

 

[User0001]

Certainly some variety at Air Livery, variety that seems to be mirrored since their move up north.

Thanks for the link, its a great little read.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Rolls Royce pledges £1m in support of Concorde museum


A permanent home for Concorde in Bristol has moved another step closer after the company which built the supersonic airliner's engines pledged £1 million to the project.

Rolls-Royce has become the latest firm to back plans for a museum to house the iconic plane in Filton.

The company, which employs 4,000 people at its jet engine factory in Patchway, has agreed to make the donation towards the £13 million overall cost of the project.

As well as pledging money, Rolls-Royce will also provide a number of historic aero engines to go on public display through the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust, as well as technical help in the development of the exhibition.

Both Airbus and BAE Systems have already said they will back the scheme with donations worth just under £4 million in total.

And the group behind the project will find out by the end of the month whether a bid for £4.5 million of lottery funding has been successful.[/textarea]

Full report at: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Rolls-Ro ... z2RwLeCPJs

It's encouraging news. The money is slowly coming together for the museum.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Concorde wins £4.4m funding for new museum

The money from the Heritage Lottery Fund represents a giant step to achieving a permanent home for both Concorde and the Bristol Aero Museum.

The trustees of the fund are absolutely right in recognising Bristol's unique position in this country's aviation history.

And their contribution, together with those from Rolls-Royce, Airbus, BAE and GKN, means the scheme to convert two of the old hangars on the edge of Filton airfield into a Bristol aircraft museum will be realised.

The fund is almost two thirds of the way towards its target.

Surely now the remaining £5 million can be raised through donations and bequests.[/textarea]
Full report at: http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Vital-step ... story.html

At last, after nearly a decade, it looks as though this project might actually happen, though there are still hurdles to be overcome. If all goes well the projected opening date is 2016.

 

[superking]

was watching stobarts on the tv tonight. they showed stobarts dismantelled the fire traing plane and transport it to southend airport. southend airport has bought the fire training plane. it looked like it was in january time this year.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Gridlock-w ... story.html

A sad end to an airfield that has played such a prominent part in the country's life for over a century, both in war and peace.

There is a decent overhead picture of the airfield embedded within the linked newspaper article.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Very sad indeed. Has there been any updates locally on the future of Concorde? I shall miss seeing it's tail poking up when travelling back up the M5.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Very sad indeed. Has there been any updates locally on the future of Concorde? I shall miss seeing it's tail poking up when travelling back up the M5.

Ah, G-BOAF! The last Concorde built at Filton and the last ever Concorde to fly -so far!
It was always thought that if any Concorde did get back into the air it would be AF but it's been allowed to whither away in the cold and wet for over a decade, although some remedial work has been carried out in the past year or so to try to stop further deterioration.

The Bristol Aero Collection people are still committed firmly to a museum at Filton with AF as the centrepiece and the momentum continues with high profile backers such as Rolls Royce, Airbus and BAE Systems. Several million pounds have been pledged by these backers and others and a lottery grant application is ongoing.

It's all at this web site.

http://www.bristolaero.com/centre.htm

 

[User0001]

Apparently the one at BGI is in the best condition corrosion wise, however the one at MAN was the last one to be fully 'powered up' (albeit unauthorised and breaching the insurance conditions). In terms of the BA Concorde's, these are the only 2 identified as remotely flyable.

The ones at LHR, Filton and New York are amongst the worse ones, particularly the New York one where the sea air must be playing havoc with a static aircraft. The LHR Concorde is currently 'ballasted' with old in flight magazines and once had (might still have) a rat infestation. The one that went down the Thames on the barge can never fly again due to the way the wings were removed for Transport.

It really is a shame to see such icons effectively 'rusting away' around the world.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The ones at LHR, Filton and New York are amongst the worse ones,

Indeed.

I should have said, "At the time the last Concordes flew It was thought that if any Concorde did get back into the air it would be AF"

Since then AF has been neglected and, as you say, would now be one of the least likely to fly again. In truth I can't see any of them ever flying again.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Despite the closure of the Filton runway and housing slowly taking over part of the site there is still a huge aviation presence with many thousands of employees working for the likes of BAE, Rolls Royce, Airbus and GKN.

It now looks as though the long awaited museum for Concorde G-BOAF and the Bristol Aero Collection may actually be up and running by the spring of 2017.

[textarea]Could Concorde museum take off at last? Artist's illustrations have been released

She last took to the skies 11 years ago on her famous return home to Bristol. Ever since, the people of the city have been calling for Concorde to be given the museum the iconic aircraft deserves.

Now that ambition is finally within sight after a planning application was submitted to house Concorde 216 in a covered visitor attraction on Filton Airfield.

The team behind the project say the required funding is now starting to fall into place and work on the museum and education centre could begin early next year, with a view to it opening to the public in the spring of 2017.[/textarea]

Full report at http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/undefined- ... story.html

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]FILTON KEYNES: Plans to transform airfield near Bristol into new neighbourhood unveiled

The vision to transform Filton Airfield into homes, schools, shops and businesses over the next 20 years can be revealed in detail for the first time.

Land owner BAE Systems has submitted an outline planning application for the site to South Gloucestershire Council.

If it is approved, work could start in 2016 or 2017, with the first people moving in that year. But the scheme may not be finished for up to 20 years.[/textarea]

Full article with pictures at http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/AIRFIELD-T ... story.html

Filton is outside the Bristol boundary but is part of a very large 'town' of about 200,000 residents in the unitary authority of South Gloucestershire that stretches around north and east Bristol, but you can't see the 'join' when passing from Bristol to S Glos - it seems like the same city so this would have a profound effect on transport and other facilities in the northern area of the city itself as well as in the Filton neighbourhood.

The plan is for nearly 2,700 new homes, two primary schools, a secondary school that will be a sports centre as well, a community centre, bowling green,skate and play parks. In addition there will be a hotel, a health centre, optician, care home,a pub, a supermarket and other shops. A new railway station, a Metrobus link and road improvements will all feature too.

Just up the road and also in the Greater Bristol conurbation is Bradley Stoke a new town built in the late 80s which was built with a lack of facilities. It was coined Sadly Broke in the recession of the early 1990s when negative equity there was rife amongst home owners. This time the planners will have to get it right.

Nonetheless it's a sad thought for aviation aficionados given that Filton was the site of one of the very early aircraft manufacturers - it celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010 - and has given the world such aircraft as the Bristol Fighter of WW 1, the Beaufighter and Blenheim of WW 2, the ill thought out Brabazon, the Britannia (a wonderful aircraft but jet transports were then taking over long haul) and Concorde.

The area is still a huge aviation facility with a number of major companies (Airbus, BAE, GKN, Rolls Royce) and many smaller ones employing thousands, and Filton remains heavily involved with the design and manufacture of some facets of the Airbus output.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Take-off at last for Bristol's £16m Concorde museum at former Filton airfield

A museum, visitor centre and home for the last Concorde to fly is expected to open in two and half years after the project was awarded a grant of £4.7 million by the National Lottery.

The funding is the final piece in a £16 million jigsaw and it means that a museum and heritage centre celebrating Bristol's aviation past is now almost certain to go ahead.

Fittingly the visitor centre will be built on the former airfield at Filton – the birthplace of the aviation industry and the site where much of the research and development work on the supersonic plane was carried out in the 1960s.[/textarea]

Full article at http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Concorde-m ... story.html

Excellent news and the result of years of hard work by a group of dedicated people.

It's hoped the centre will be open by late spring 2017 with 120,000 visitors a year anticipated.

G-BOAF was the last UK Concorde to be built and the last ever Concorde to fly (sadly it seems for ever).

 

[Aviador]

To think G-BOAF is sat in a museum now. I remember seeing the aircraft at LBA doing pleasure flights. Those were the days.