Friday, November 17, 2017

London - Brooklands

London - Brooklands 2019 > .
Brooklands early compilation > .
Brooklands story > .
Brooklands fate, 1939 > .
1938 map > .
Re-Engineering Brooklands - Andy >> .

Brooklands was a 2.75-mile (4.43 km) motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, which also became Britain's largest aircraft manufacturing centre by 1918, producing military aircraft such as the Wellington and civil airliners like the Viscount and VC-10.

Brooklands closed to motor racing during WW1, was requisitioned by the War Office and continued its pre-war role as a flying training centre although it was now under military control. Brooklands soon became a major location for the construction, testing and supply of military aeroplanes.

Brooklands Aviation Ltd was formed in 1931 - with Percy Bradley, Duncan Davis, Fred Sigrist and Ted Jones as Directors - to operate the aerodrome, and commissioned British airport architect Graham Dawbarn to design the Art Deco Brooklands Aero Clubhouse, which opened in May 1932. The company also operated the resident Brooklands School of Flying which was registered as a limited company in 1931 with Duncan Davis and Ted Jones as Directors, as well as those at Lympne, Shoreham and Sywell Aerodromes in the later 1930s. The original pre-WW1 Brooklands Aero Club was re-formed by the BARC in May 1930 with Percy Bradley as Manager and the Brooklands Flying Club was established by Brooklands Aviation in early 1933.

During WW2, Brooklands Aviation became a contractor to the Civilian Repair Organisation, repairing various types of damaged aircraft, particularly Vickers Wellingtons. After ending its RAF flying training in 1946, the company diversified and built plywood and GRP cabin cruiser boats designed by Alan Eckford, until 1974.[19]

The first flight of the Hawker Hurricane, later a fighter aircraft in the Battle of Britain, occurred at Brooklands on 6 November 1935.
The circuit hosted its last race in August 1939 and today part of it forms the Brooklands Museum, a major aviation and motoring museum, as well as a venue for vintage car, motorcycle and other transport-related events.

Racing stopped when WW2 started in September, 1939. The site was turned over to war-time production of military aircraft. Enemy bombs damaged the track and a new access road to the Hawker factory was cut through from Oyster Lane. Temporary dispersal hangars covered other sections.

In WW2, the site was again used for military aircraft production, in particular the Vickers Wellington, Vickers Warwick and Hawker Hurricane and was extensively camouflaged. Trees were also planted in some sections of the concrete track to help conceal the Hawker and Vickers aircraft factories there. Despite these efforts, the Vickers factory was successfully bombed by the Luftwaffe and extensively damaged on 4 September 1940 with nearly 90 aircraft workers killed and at least 419 injured. Five unidentified victims were buried in unmarked graves in Burvale Cemetery, Hersham, on 9 September although one of these was later confirmed to be 36 year old William E Hunt. Vickers factory worker Eric S Powell who also died on 4 September 1940 aged 26 and is now believed to be one of the remaining four unidentified casualties buried at Burvale.

The Hawker factory premises were also bombed and damaged two days later but with no loss of life or serious disruption to Hurricane production. On 21 September 1940, Lt John MacMillan Stevenson Patton of the Royal Canadian Engineers risked his life when he and five others manhandled an unexploded German bomb away from the Hawker aircraft factory at Brooklands and rolled it into an existing bomb crater where it later exploded harmlessly - his bravery was subsequently recognised by the award of the George Cross. The crucial role of Brooklands in the Battle of Britain of 1940 is further explained in displays at Brooklands Museum.

After the bombing of Brooklands in September 1940, the Vickers-Armstrongs Design Department (including Rex Pierson, Barnes Wallis and several hundred others) was dispersed to a secret location at the nearby Burhill Golf Course, just East of St George's Hill in Hersham and the Experimental Department led by George Edwards was relocated to temporary premises at Foxwarren in Redhill Road, Cobham. These two facilities played a crucial part in the successful development of the 'Upkeep' mine - better known today as the 'bouncing bomb' conceived by Barnes Wallis and deployed to such devastating effect by the 'Dambuster' Avro Lancasters of 617 Squadron, RAF, led by Guy Gibson against Germany's Ruhr Valley reservoirs on the night of 16–17 May 1943.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklands .

https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/explore/our-history/buildings-and-landmarks/race-track .
https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/day-luftwaffe-bombed-vickers-4849006 .

Sywell Aerodrome (IATA: ORM, ICAO: EGBK) is the local aerodrome serving the town of Northampton, Wellingborough, Kettering and Rushden, as well as wider Northamptonshire. The aerodrome is located 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) northeast of Northampton and was originally opened in 1928 on the edge of Sywell village.

The 1930s Art Deco hotel has bar and restaurant facilities. 

Brooklands Aviation won a War Department contract for pilot training for the Royal Air Force. and opened No. 6 Elementary Flying Training School at Sywell (near Northampton) on 10 June 1935, training pilots with a fleet of 20 de Havilland Tiger Moths, and in 1937 the RAF Volunteer Reserve School was set up at Sywell with a further 16 training aircraft. 

During the WW2 the aerodrome, as RAF Sywell, was used as a training facility (Tiger Moths) and later an important centre for the repair of Wellington bombers; extensive sheds from this time still remain on the site. Among World War II pilots who underwent training at Sywell were Pierre Clostermann and Paddy Finucane, who soloed here. Many aerial shots for the film Battle of Britain were taken over the airport and nearby area.

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