Brockworth

         


          BROCKWORTH: Civil company and military aerodrome

          

Note: Picture by Austin J Brown c/o The Aviation Picture Library
 

Military users: WW1:  Royal Air Force

90 Sqdn    1918 to 1919:

Aircraft Acceptance Park and Mobilisation Station
 

Operated by: WW1: Gloucestershire Aircraft Co. Ltd
 

Manufacturing: Gloster Aircraft Co
 

Location: 3nm SE of Gloucester

Period of operation: 1915 to 1920 initially? Soon after opened again until ?
 

Site area: WW1: 140 acres    1006x549    grass

Notes: On a 1930 Ordnance Survey Aviation Map BROCKWORTH is shown as being the only aerodrome in the County.




THE MIKE CHARLTON GALLERY

This gallery of pictures, from postcards, have been very kindly sent to me by Mike Charlton who has an amazing collection of British aviation postcards. See - www.aviationpostcard.co.uk

The fourth picture is rather interesting, as it shows a huge new factory under construction. Presumably this is just before WW2 when the UK aviation industry were gearing up for the rapid expansion in demand?

  A SINGULAR VISIT

BROCKWORTH was the intended 85th venue for Sir Alan Cobham’s 1929 UK Municipal Aerodrome Campaign. This tour started in May and ended in October with one hundred and seven venues planned to be visited. Mostly in England, two were in South Wales and eight in Scotland. As far as I can make out, BROCKWORTH was one of the few venues on this Tour when an established aerodrome was used.

In the end, after a couple of crashes and other setbacks, BROCKWORTH became his 89th venue, and it appears he stayed for two days, the 26th and 27th September. He did eventually manage to visit 96 venues, which was of course a quite magnificent achievment. 

Quite why BROCKWORTH was chosen as a venue remains a mystery. Did Cobham imagine that Gloster would agree to open up their aerodrome for private use - let alone a regional airport? Probably not as after arriving he criticised it as being too far from Gloucester and Cheltenham. Not helped I suspect by arriving with a very badly botched landing which must have hurt his pride. Do remember that Cobham was then probably the most famous and accomplished British pilot!

The aircraft Cobham mostly used for this Tour was the ten-seater de Havilland DH61 'Giant Moth' G-AAEV named 'Youth of Britain'. The punishing schedule he set himself seems astonishing today. Also highly recommended reading are his memoirs in 'A Time To Fly'.



A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY

Note: The second item, the advert, was published in the Gloucester Citizen on the 25th September 1929. It also states the event was arranged with permission of the Bristol Aircraft Company. As far as I am aware the Bristol Comany had no connection with the Gloster Aircraft Company?

Note: This fifth item was published in the Gloucester Citizen on the 26th September 1929. The seventh item, the newspaper article, was published in the Cheltenham Chronicle on the 28th September 1929. 














 

Note:  The ninth item, a picture, was published in the Gloucester Citizen on the 26th September 1929. The last item, the area view, was from my Google Earth © derived database.

FLYING CIRCUS VENUE

Venue (6th May) for British Hospitals Air Pageant 1933 Tour of the UK.


Runways: I cannot admit to doing much research, but the details seem rather hard to come by. Can anybody help here?

NOTES:  Before moving to BROCKWORTH the Gloster Company was known as 'The Gloucestershire Aircraft Company' and had a large factory, Sunningend Works, in Cheltenham. They were still advertsing themselves as such in 1926. When they decided to produce metal aircraft, the move to BROCKWORTH was made. I have found an aerial picture of the Sunningend Works and it clearly did not have an airfield. Presumably finished aircraft were taken by road to STAVERTON for final assembly and flight testing.

It appears the change of name, to 'Gloster' was made because foreigners found 'Gloucestershire' very difficult to pronounce.

This picture was scanned from The Story Of Aircraft by David Charles, published in 1974. It isn't stated where this picture was taken, but I'd guess it was at BROCKWORTH? 






 

Test flying done in the 1930s for Gloster and (apparently) early jet test flying with the Gloster E28/39 in the early 1940s during WW2, this being the first British jet powered aircraft. It now seems (according to some sources) that the first flight and subsequent flight testing of the Gloster E28/39 was carried out at RAF CRANWELL (LINCOLNSHIRE) as BROCKWORTH was unsuitable. Other accounts say the E28/39 first flew from CRANFIELD (BEDFORDSHIRE). 

Note:  This fabulous picture was kindly sent by Mr Paul Harris in May 2020. He is fairly certain it was taken by Russell Adams who was the Gloster company photographer, and also his Commanding Officer when he was an Air Cadet.





 

This Javelin would have been, almost certainly, making the short seven mile ferry flight from the factory to MORETON VALENCE where it would be prepared for RAF service. No doubt the pilot was showing off a bit by retracting the undercarriage, which presumably would very soon have to be lowered again.
 

 

 
 

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Terry Clark

This comment was written on: 2018-01-06 06:08:48
 
The first British jet powered aircraft, the Gloster E28/39 (sometimes called 'Pioneer') was built here and initial test runs were carried out here too. It actually did one or two 'hops' on or about 28 Apr 1941 but these have never been claimed as the 'first flight' which took place on 15 May at Cranwell. The hard runway of about 1,000yds was laid in 1942 and records say the second E28/39 'joined the test programme' on 1 Mar 1943, so it MAY have done its first flight at Brockworth. Whether the later Meteors were flwon from Brockworth I don't know. As for propellor driven aircraft, some 2750 Hurricanes were built at Brockworth, production finishing in 1942, followed by 3,330 Typhoons. After Meteor production, the Javelin fighter was built here but test flying took place at nearby Moreton Valence.

 
Reply from Dick Flute:
Hi Terry, Many thanks for this interesting info. I believe I am correct in thinking that all Meteor flying was done from MORETON VALLANCE. Best regards, Dick
 

 
 

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Kathy Sandles

This comment was written on: 2018-04-07 08:56:26
 
Is it possible to get a copy of the photos of Brockworth or should I contact Mike Charlton direct?

 
Reply from Dick Flute:
Hi Kathy, If, as I imagine, you want the picture(s) for private use you can scan them directly from the web site. However, if you would like an actual postcard you will need to contact Mike Charlton. I'm sure he would be delighted - if he still has them. Best regards, Dick
 

 
 

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Clive Norton

This comment was written on: 2019-03-07 12:58:34
 
Does anyone know who laid the 1942 runway at Brockworth. My father worked for a civil engineering company AE Farr and he remembers seeing an aircraft with no propeller flying overhead, However he was building runways/buildings within a 60 mile radius so it could have been an over fly.

 
Reply from Dick Flute:
Hi Clive, If it was 1942, the aircraft your father saw would have been the Gloster/Whittle E.28/39. The first British jet. It was probably going into, or out of, Moreton Vallance, as the runway(s)at Brockworth were too short. Best regards, Dick
 

 
 

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Clive Norton

This comment was written on: 2019-03-11 19:08:43
 
Thanks for this info Dick, much appreciated. Clive

 
 

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Michael T Holder

This comment was written on: 2020-05-21 15:08:46
 
From the Gloucestershire Echo - Saturday 21 September 1929 - last chance for people to win a coupon entitling them to fly at Sir Alan Cobhams visit to Brockworth on 26/27 Sep 1929.
 

We'd love to hear from you, so please scroll down to leave a comment!

 

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