"Flying Guinea-pig Takes Air: Land Plane

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23042, 5 September 1949, Page 5

"Flying Guinea-pig Takes Air: Land Plane

(N.Z.P.A.—Reuter— Copyright.) (10.45 a.m.) LONDON, Sspt. 4. The Brabazon I, the world’s largest civil land plane, took off from Filton, near Bristol, today and made a 27-minute maiden flight over Gloucestershire and Bristol.

A tremendous cheer came from thousands of spectators surrounding the airfield as the plane, looking like a dirigible with wings, rose into the air, and later when it touched down on its tenwheeled tricycle undercarriage.

Experts from 11 countries watched the chief test pilot, Mr. Pegg, take the 'plane into the air. People two miles away heard the plane’s engines as it gathered speed for the take-off. The Brabazon. after landing,. stopped within 1000 yards. The Bristol Aviation Company said the Brabazon I is being used as a ‘'flying guinea-pig” for developing giant aircraft.

Sir Miles Thomas, chairman of the British Airways Corporation, said that with the Brabazon and Comet both making successful initial flights this summer—one a potential trans-world queen of the air and the other the world's fastest inter-continental airliner —the British aircraft industry could take pride of place second to Sir Miles Thomas said that 8.0.A.C. would continue to co-operate with the Bristol company in . developing the commercial potentialities of the Brabazon although it would be many years before fare-paying passengers could travel on such a plane. There was still much development work to be done. Britain’s 130-ton aircraft Brabazon which will never be put into service, underwent engine and taxi-ing trials at Filton Bristol, Yesterday, this starting the longest and costliest trials in the history of British aviation. The' total cost so far, including a special hangar and li-mile long runway, is £12,000.000. After the engines were warmed up, the Brabazon made four taxi-ing runs in the last of which it reached a land speed of 75 miles an hour. It then returned to the hangar where exhaustive test checks of every part of its equipment and every instrument will be made. , . , The plane has 1000 instruments and every phase of its tests were photographed so that the lessons learnt may be applied to future Brabazons. The plane is designed to fly at 250 miles hourly at 25,000 ft. It was officially announced that the tests were entirely satisfactory.