| To celebrate the first 'hops' by A V Roe in his Avroplane, Brooklands held a special event at the museum and in conjunction with Mercedes Benz World.
All the museum buildings were open for examination, though the 'Wellington Hangar' had been cleared of some of the airframes so that their engines could be given a run. It was good to see the excellent progress being made on the Hawker Hurricane that was rescued in terrible condition from Russia. The airframe now seems substantially complete, whilst the engine is being refurbished to ground-running status by Rolls-Royce Heritage. There is still a shortage of a propellor to complete what will be a magnificent restoration. The Vickers Viking airliner had been taken out of the hangar and was sitting alongside Concorde G-BBDG which was a delight to see on this gloriously sunny day. Immediately oustide the doors of the hangar are two of the most recent additions to the collection. These are the fuselage of VC-10 G-ARVM, which came from Cosford and which will eventually become an education centre, and the mock-up of a fuselage of an Avro Lancaster. This was built for use in the BBC drama 'Night Flight'. There were two series of ground runs of some of the museum's aircraft. As if to show that the replicas of the oldest aircraft lived up to the traits of their illustrious forebears (and in spite of the fact that they had run faultlessly the previous night), the Demoiselle refused to start in the morning and the Bleriot refused all efforts to start up. However by the end of the afternoon, the public had witnessed the running of the tiny little Demoiselle, the Sopwith Camel and Kronefeld Drone. We were also treated to the wonderful sight of a frame mounted Rolls-Royce Merlin 32 and a trailer mounted Alvis Leonides both being run up amidst clouds of smoke. At this point though, that vintage motor racing showman, Chris Williams brought up his Bentley which is powered by a Napier Lion engine. This car never runs with silencers but merely has open pipes which are about 6" diameter and only about 12" long! The sound is certainly an assault on the senses. Belching smoke and massive flames on the overrun, the crowd were delighted with this display of power. However, this was not the end of the engine runs. Last on the list was the wonderful Vickers Vanguard (or more correctly Merchantman as this was the cargo version of the airliner). Most, including me, thought that they would just be powering up one of the Tyne turboprops. We were proved wrong! In the morning there was a minor problem with No.2 but the other three were started up to great applause. It was in the afternoon that the hairs were standing up on the back of the neck. The problem had been rectified and we were treated to the sight and sound of all four engines running on full song. Having not heard this wonderful music in what must be more than 25 years, to witness this at such close quarters (no more than 25ft away) made for a very emotional occasion. During the two runs a total of 60 gallons was burnt off, but apparently there are still another 200 gallons in the tanks so more runs are promised. During the break between the two series of runs, we moved to the 'Avroshed' where Prince Michael of Kent cut the ribbon to commemorate the refurbishment of the replica of A V Roe's first aircraft. It was the machine that was sat outside that many wanted to see. This is a running replica of the Avroplane and the engine was started in public for the first time at this event. This beautifully built machine, which was created by a team led by 23-year old Steve Green, has been named the Avroeplane due to the fact that some modern materials have been used. It was planned that on the following day, it would take to the air on the actual centenary of the day that A V Roe made his first 'hop'. At the end of the afternoon, everyone moved to a viewing area overlooking the Mercedes Benz World test track. We were treated to the sight of a few aero-engined cars being put throught their paces. Obviously these included the famous Brooklands owned Napier Railton and also Chris Williams in his Bentley Napier, smoking the tyres as often as possible. In addition there was a Berliet powered by a Curtiss V8 engine and a wonderfully 'original' GN with a JAP motor. The field was completed by several Bentleys and to the delight of many of the children a lovely Ferrari sports car. The day ended with a generally Brooklands themed air display. These included Sopwith Pup and Triplane from the Great War Display Team, Historic Aircraft Collection's Hawker Nimrod II and Peter Vacher's totally authentic Hawker Hurricane I. To relive the days of the barnstorming '20s Team Guinot displayed one of their Boeing Stearmans with Danielle Hughes on the wing. Representing the engine side of Brooklands there was Andrew Dixon's Percival Pembroke. This is powered by two of the Alvis Leonides engines that we saw running earlier in the day. There was one item though which held the crowd in awe. This was the North American P-51D Mustang 'Jumpin' Jacques' owned and flown by Peter Teichman. This was a truly stunning display which brought a huge round of applause and a good few cheers from the spellbound watchers. All in all a great celebration of a momentous event in British Aviation. |
Around the Clubhouse - Bentley UW7644 |
Around the Clubhouse - Bentleys |
Around the Clubhouse - Berliet |
Around the Clubhouse - Berliet |
Around the Clubhouse - Berliet |
Around the Clubhouse - Berliet |
Around the Clubhouse - Berliet |
Around the Clubhouse - Chris Williams' Napier Bentley |
Around the Clubhouse - Ferrari |
Around the Clubhouse - Ferrari |
Avro Centenary - A V Roe's original workbench |
Avro Centenary - Avroeplane recreation G-ROEI |
Avro Centenary - Avroeplane recreation G-ROEI |
Avro Centenary - Avroeplane recreation G-ROEI |
Avro Centenary - Avroeplane recreation G-ROEI - Steve Green & Team |
Avro Centenary - Avroplane replica |
Avro Centenary - Avroplane replica - Prince Michael of Kent |
Avro Exhibition - Avro Triplane replica under construction |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Bleriot XI replica G-LOTI/2 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Demoiselle replica BAPC256 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Demoiselle replica BAPC256 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Demoiselle replica BAPC256 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Kronefeld Drone G-AEKV |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Kronefeld Drone G-AEKV |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Kronefeld Drone G-AEKV |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Sopwith Camel replica B7270 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Sopwith Camel replica B7270 - 1 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Sopwith Camel replica B7270 - 2 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Sopwith Camel replica B7270 - 3 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Sopwith Camel replica B7270 - 3a |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Sopwith Camel replica B7270 - 4 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Sopwith Camel replica B7270 - 5 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - head-on 1 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - head-on 2 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - head-on 3 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - head-on 4 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - head-on 5 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - head-on 6 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 01 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 02 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 03 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 04 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 05 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 06 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 07 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 08 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 09 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 10 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 11 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 12 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 13 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 14 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 15 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 16 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 17 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 18 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - left 19 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - right 1 |
Engine Runs - Aircraft - Vickers Vanguard G-APEP - right 2 |
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