Foundation The
British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Ltd was founded in February 1910 by
Sir George White, chairman of the
Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company, along with his son Stanley and his brother Samuel, to commercially exploit the fast-growing aviation sector. Sir George met with the American aviation pioneer
Wilbur Wright in France in 1909 by chance, during which he became aware of aviation's business potential. Unlike many aviation companies of the era, which were started by enthusiasts with little financial backing, British and Colonial was well funded from its outset. The first batch equipped the two training schools, as well as serving as demonstration machines; the aircraft, which gained the nickname of the
Boxkite, went on to become a commercial success, a total of 76 being constructed. Many served in the company's flying schools and examples were sold to the
War Office as well as a number of foreign governments. Official War Office policy was to purchase only aircraft designed by the
Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), and Bristol had already built a number of their
B.E.2 two-seater reconnaissance aircraft. However, pressure from the pilots of the RFC and
Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) led to orders being placed for a new aircraft manufactured by Bristol, known as the
Scout. Barnwell was succeeded as Bristol's Chief Designer by
Leslie Frise. By the time war broke out in 1939, the Bristol works at Filton were the largest single aircraft manufacturing unit in the world, with a floor area of nearly 25
hectares (2,691,000 square feet).
Second World War During the
Second World War, Bristol's most important aircraft was the
Beaufighter heavy two-seat multirole aircraft, a long-range fighter,
night fighter,
ground attack aircraft and
torpedo bomber. In 1960, the founder's grandson, Sir George S.M. White, (3rd Baronet), was instrumental in preventing the car division being lost during the wider company's merger with BAC. Pre-fabricated buildings, marine craft and plastic and composite materials were also amongst the company's early post-war activities; these side-ventures were independently sold off. Bristol was involved in the post-war renaissance of British civilian aircraft, which was largely inspired by the
Brabazon Committee report of 1943–5. Bristol was also involved in
helicopter development, with the
Belvedere and
Sycamore going into quantity production. Another post-war activity was
missile development, culminating in the production of the
Bloodhound anti-aircraft missile. Upon introduction, the Bloodhound was the RAF's only long range transportable surface-to-air missile. None of these designs were built.
Merger into BAC In 1959, Bristol was forced by Government policy to merge its aircraft interests with
English Electric,
Hunting Aircraft, and
Vickers-Armstrongs to form the
British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Bristol formed a holding company which held a 20 per cent share of BAC, while English Electric and Vickers held 40 per cent each. In 1966, the Bristol holding company which held 20 per cent of BAC and 50 per cent of Bristol Siddeley engines was acquired by
Rolls-Royce. Bristol also had the following holdings and subsidiary companies at this time:- Bristol Aerojet (50 per cent) – Bristol Aeroplane Co Australia – Bristol DE Mexico SA (78 per cent) – Motores Bristol De Cuba SA – Bristol Aeroplane Co of Canada – Bristol Aero Industries Ltd – Bristol Aeroplane Co USA – Spartan Air Services Ltd (46.5 per cent) – Bristol Aeroplane Co New Zealand – Bristol Aircraft Services Ltd – Bristol Aeroplane Plastics Ltd – SECA (30 per cent) – Short Bros & Harland (15.25 per cent) – SVENSK-ENGELSK Aero Service AB – TABSA (25 per cent) – Westland Aircraft Ltd (10 per cent).
The Bristol Aeroplane Company of Canada The Canadian Bristol group of companies was the largest of the overseas subsidiaries. The group undertook aircraft handling and servicing at
Dorval Airport, Montreal.
Vancouver Airport was the base for Bristol Aero Engines (Western), Ltd., one of the Canadian company's four operating subsidiaries. Work at Vancouver included the overhaul of Pratt and Whitney and Wright engines for the
R.C.A.F. and commercial operators. Bristol Aircraft (Western), Ltd (Stevenson Field, Winnipeg) was formerly MacDonald Brothers Aircraft, and was the largest of the subsidiaries and the group's only airframe plant. Bristol de Mexico, S.A. de CV. (Central Airport, Mexico City), overhauled piston engines for South American operators. Bristol de Mexico S.A. obtained a license to manufacture
Alfred Herbert Ltd machine tools in 1963 and commenced assembling their centre lathes in 1963. They also commenced building their own design of small engine lathes for the Mexican Government to be installed in training schools throughout Mexico. Malcolm Roebuck was hired from Alfred Herbert Ltd along with William Walford Webb Woodward to supervise this project.
Nationalisation In 1977, BAC was nationalised, along with
Scottish Aviation and
Hawker Siddeley, to form
British Aerospace (BAe), which later became part of the now-privatised
BAE Systems. The Canadian unit was acquired by
Rolls-Royce Holdings and sold in 1997 to current owner
Magellan Aerospace. ==Archives==