Filton AirfieldHere are some early photographs that a friend let me scan. They show the airfield before and during WWII. The first is very early, before any building on the East side of the road to Gloucester, and includes the hangers near Charlton village. The next two are a bit later, when the Bristol Flying School were there, and show the “new” administration building over the road. The final one, provided by another friend, is an air reconaissance photograph, possibly German, taken on 5 Dec 1944.
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I was only this week out with a friend of mine a Mr R Randell who was telling me of his time working on the BRABAZON airplane at FILTON AIRFIELD in the early 1940s,he went on to become M.D. at the Rolls Royce factory at Barnoldswick and lives in Skipton.Earlier he had worked on developing the supercharger fitted to The Spitfire alongside Mr Mitchell i understand.
You may be interested to learn that there won’t be a single one of these buildings left by the end of the year. Two new huge factory buildings are being built on the Gypsy Patch North site and all production will be moved into those and the old wartime East Works demolished. The West works has already gone and is now a Post Office regional sorting centre and Rodney Works was demolished last year.
I can’t fathom out the first picture – for reference where is the Gloucester road and Gypsy Patch lane.
Hi Martin. The A38 is running across the picture. We are looking East along Gypsy Patch and you can see the railway bridge in the distance. Coming towards us is the road to Charlton village which is not there any more, neither the road or the village. The road was reduced to a track in the first wave of development. The road is still visible in the second picture, I can see where it used to be from my office window. Later (1945) they built a fantastic bypass for Filton which went round behind the airfield and into Southmead but then the runway had to be extended (1946-48) and chopped it in half making it useless. The village was largely obliterated at the same time. The bit visible in the foreground of the picture is/was Hayes farm which can be located on the OS first series map. It is only recently that the bypass has been made useful again connecting to the Cribbs/Mall complex. Some of the Hayes Farm group of buildings is still there inside the airfield boundary and there were rumours that it was used as a 4 minute warning site. I have heard that some people were billeted there. Perhaps with the new housing being developed up towards the Patchway end it will be recovered and become a village again.
Can you please give me an update on the re-build of spitfire rm689 mk14. I live right next to the Hucknall aerodrome in Nottingham and grew up with that spitfire flying around our heads and hearing the lovely sound of the griffon engine.I was saddened when they moved it to east midlands airport and also Rolls Royce Bristol and then deeply saddened when it crashed and killed its pilot David Moore. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks
Hi Neil, all the information for the families day (this Saturday at Filton) is about the PR.XIX PS853/C flown by Phill O’Dell. There is a limited edition model on sale and a flypast (which I presume is the same one). This is the one obtained to replace the other so tragically lost. I can’t find any information about a rebuild of G-ALGT. There seems to be no more information about internally. Out on the web the latest I could find was http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/301510-spitfire-xivc-g-algt-rm689.html
I have been reading the page on filton B A C in the 40’s I am looking for anyone who can help in filling in gaps in my past. As a child I lived opposite the B A C in a wooden bungalow next to a farm
I believe the farmers name was Saunders, my father Richard Humphreys raised chickens that he advertised on the poles we had to get under to cross the farmers field to our bungalow.I believe a college has been built on the very spot. I have been trying for over 50 years to find any one who may have had photos of the farm and our bungalow in the mid to late 40’s I believe that in the early 50’s the BAC wanted to use the land and so my father had to give our home up and we moved to Rodney Crescent where I lived untill the age of 15.Through illness a lot of my memory has gone but I .desperatly want a reminder of my former home one thing I remember is a large type of crater where I was told as a child that it was where a barage balloon took off from (sorry not sure how it is spelt)
If any one can direct me to any person who would remember my fathers poultry farm I would be eternaly grateful
Rodney Crescent is right behind Filton College but that part of the college is what used to be the Rolls Royce Technical College (presumably formerly the Bristol Siddeley College not BAC). Anyway, you can’t have moved very far. Unfortunately that area is just off the edge of the photographs that I have but I expect that the Bristol Record Office has more.
Wonder if you can tell me where the original airfield was ‘at the top of Filton Hill.’ Would it have been where the present playing fields are? I know the move to the present site took place in 1915, but would like to know the original location.
Arthur Spencer.
You’ve taught me something there, Arthur, so I’m afraid I can’t help you. I would suspect the sports ground by the Police station but don’t know.
In response to #9, there was no airfield at Filton until the RFC developed one in 1915, the first development of the present airfield adjoining Hayes Farm, as shown in your first photograph. Until then, all ‘Bristol’ aircraft were assembled in the tramways sheds near Fairlawn Avenue, and were taken to the company’s flying schools at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain, or Brooklands at Weybridge for flight testing. Hope this helps, Chris.