Brooklands was the birthplace of British motorsport and aviation and the site of many engineering and technological achievements throughout eight decades of the 20th century.

Brooklands-based aircraft companies such as Bleriot, Hawker, Sopwith, Martinsyde, and Vickers were key players in the early years of aviation and were crucial to its early development. The 'Daily Mail Round Britain Air Race' of 1911 started and finished at Brooklands, and both the event and the location later influenced the theme of the classic 1965 Twentieth Century Fox British film comedy Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.

Vickers purchased the site in 1946 for £330,000, which allowed them to produce civilian aircraft. The most notable of these was the Vickers Viscount, of which 444 were built between Brooklands and Bournemouth. In 1959, the Vanguard was test flown from Brooklands. In 1962, the test flight for the prototype VC10 also took place at Brooklands, and subsequently all 53 production VC10s were flown out as well before being completed and test flown at Wisley.

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The BAC 1-11 was developed from a Hunting Aircraft Ltd design and was one of Britain’s best-selling airliners. The first prototype flight was from Hurn in August 1963 and the initial customer was British United Airways

The type was then developed through several variants, including some licence-built in Romania, and attracted worldwide sales. The largest version was the Series 500, which carried 119 passengers and cruised at 541 mph at 21,000 ft.

Donated by British Aerospace Airbus Ltd, G-ASYD made its final (5,004th) landing at Brooklands on 14th July 1994.

This exhibit was retained by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) throughout its 29-year flying career. During this time it was used as a development and test aircraft for 1-11 variants and testing technical equipment.

Brooklands Museum Collection

The Vanguard was a private venture airliner built to a British European Airways (BEA) specification for high-density medium range routes. Powered by new Rolls-Royce Tyne turboprop engines, the prototype was first flown by Jock Bryce and Brian Trubshaw from Brooklands on 20/1/59. Twenty Vanguards were sold to BEA and 23 to Trans Canada Airlines - a total of 44 built at Brooklands from 1959-63. Passenger operations ended in Indonesia in 1987. Some of the nine 'Merchantman' freighter conversions for BEA in the early 1970s still flew with Hunting Cargo Airlines Ltd (previously Air Bridge Carriers) in the 1990s.

G-APEP ('EP) first flew from Brooklands on 29/11/61. Named 'Superb', it joined BEA at Heathrow on 13/12/61.

After nine years carrying passengers, ‘EP was converted into a Merchantman by BEA in 1969-70. It re-entered service on 23/2/70 and joined the new British Airways Cargo division on 1/4/74.

Brooklands Museum Collection

The Vickers Viscount, the world's first turboprop airliner, was one of the few commercially successful aircraft programmes of post-war Britain.

The first flight of the prototype was made at Wisley on 16/7/48 and in 1953 the first production aircraft, which were powered by four 1,890hp Rolls-Royce Dart RDa.7 Mk520 engines, entered regular service with British European Airways (BEA). Viscount production ceased in the early 1960s after 444 had been made.

G-APIM ('IM), was one of the last Viscounts built at Brooklands. First flown from Brooklands on 4/6/58, it was delivered to BEA named 'Robert Boyle' on 23/6/58, serving with this airline until 1969. Briefly with Cambrian Airways in 1971-72, then British Airways from 1973-82, ‘IM joined British Air Ferries (BAF) at Southend in 1982.

Brooklands Museum Collection