Brooklands Museum
Encyclopedia
Brooklands Museum is an independent charitable trust
, established in 1987, whose aim is to conserve, protect and interpret the unique heritage of the Brooklands
site. It is located south of Weybridge
, Surrey
and was first opened regularly in 1991 on 30 acres (121,405.8 m²) of the original 1907 motor-racing circuit. It includes a variety of listed buildings such as the Edwardian former Brooklands Automobile Racing Club Clubhouse, the Members' Banking (the steepest section of the racing circuit) and the 1-in-4 Test Hill, which celebrated its centenary in March 2009. The latter two features are important parts of the Brooklands Scheduled Ancient Monument which was extended in 2002, the entire Brooklands site having been designated a Conservation Area by Surrey County Council
in 1989. The Brooklands Trust Members
, formed in 2008 after the Friends of Brooklands Museum and Brooklands Club amalgamated, is the official supporters' group for the Museum.
The museum is open daily and displays a wide range of Brooklands-related motoring and aviation exhibits ranging from giant racing cars, such as the 24-litre Napier-Railton, motorcycles and bicycles to a unique collection of Hawker
and Vickers
/British Aircraft Corporation
-built aircraft including Concorde
(G-BBDG). Certain other museum exhibits (e.g. flyable Bleriot XI
and Sopwith Camel
replicas) are maintained in 'live' condition and perform regular engine running demonstrations at museum events during the year. An exhibition about Grand Prix motor racing
which features a Formula One
simulator can also be seen. A major new visitor attraction, 'The Concorde Experience', opened in August 2006 , centenary celebrations occurred in 2007 and a full-size modern working replica of Alliott Verdon Roe
's 1908 'Avroplane' was completed and unveiled on 7 June 2008. The Museum also owns and, until late 2009, operated an airworthy Vickers Vimy
replica which was built in America in 1994 to re-enact the design's three record-breaking long distance flights of 1919-20. Having helped commemorate the 90th anniversaries of the world's first Transatlantic flight and the first flight from England to Australia, the aeroplane was finally retired and flown into Brooklands on 15 November 2009. Less than a week later it was on display with a supporting exhibition in the Museum's main hangar. The Museum's latest aircraft exhibit is the fuselage of Supermarine Swift
F.4 prototype, WK198, which held the World Absolute Air Speed Record when flown by the late test pilot Mike Lithgow
in Libya on 26th September 1953. This historic exhibit arrived from the RAF Millom Museum (sadly closed in 2010) in Cumbria and arrived at Brooklands on 3rd February 2011.
The Museum celebrated the centenary of the opening of the Brooklands Circuit in 2007, 100 years of aviation at Brooklands in 2008 and the Test Hill's centenary in 2009. Centred on a largely restored Hawker Hurricane, a new exhibition about Brooklands in the Battle of Britain was completed on 15 September 2010; this explains how the major aircraft factories there made Brooklands a prime target for Luftwaffe bombers in 1940 and lists the names of almost 90 people killed when Vickers was badly bombed on 4 September and also the names of Luftwaffe aircrew casualties that day. A new exhibition about the Vickers Wellington
is centred on the Loch Ness Wellington, 'R' for 'Robert' and was officially opened by Robin Holmes, Penelope Keith
, Norman Parker and Ken Wallis
on 15th June 2011 - the 75th anniversary of the first flight of the type's forerunner, prototype Vickers B.9/32. The London bus museum
(formerly the Cobham Bus Museum from 1972-2011) reopened in new premises at Brooklands Museum on 1 August 2011 and has a significant collection of London buses dating back to the 19th century.
was the birthplace of British motorsport and aviation and the site of many engineering and technological achievements throughout eight decades of the 20th century. The racing circuit was constructed by local landowner Hugh Locke-King in 1907 and was the first purpose-built racing circuit in the world where many records were set. Many aviation firsts are also associated with Brooklands which soon became one of Britain's first aerodromes, attracted many aviation pioneers before World War I
, and was also a leading aircraft design and manufacturing centre in the 20th century producing a remarkable total of some 18,600 new aircraft of nearly 260 types between 1908 and 1987 (see McSwein, D R).
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 this 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
' (based at the fictitious but remarkably similar 'Brookfield'). Flying training was an important function of the aerodrome both before World War One and between the wars. Visitors can see many displays and exhibits portraying the contribution made by Brooklands to the British aircraft industry in both world wars, and also in the post-war years with Vickers and later the British Aircraft Corporation
and British Aerospace
.
Charitable trust
A charitable trust is an irrevocable trust established for charitable purposes, and is a more specific term than "charitable organization".-United States:...
, established in 1987, whose aim is to conserve, protect and interpret the unique heritage of the Brooklands
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...
site. It is located south of Weybridge
Weybridge
Weybridge is a town in the Elmbridge district of Surrey in South East England. It is bounded to the north by the River Thames at the mouth of the River Wey, from which it gets its name...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
and was first opened regularly in 1991 on 30 acres (121,405.8 m²) of the original 1907 motor-racing circuit. It includes a variety of listed buildings such as the Edwardian former Brooklands Automobile Racing Club Clubhouse, the Members' Banking (the steepest section of the racing circuit) and the 1-in-4 Test Hill, which celebrated its centenary in March 2009. The latter two features are important parts of the Brooklands Scheduled Ancient Monument which was extended in 2002, the entire Brooklands site having been designated a Conservation Area by Surrey County Council
Surrey County Council
Surrey County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 80 elected councillors.The council is controlled by the Conservative party.The leader of the council is David Hodge....
in 1989. The Brooklands Trust Members
Brooklands Trust Members
Brooklands Trust Members are the official support group for Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey, England. It is governed by a charitable trust. The BTM's main aims are to financially support and promote Brooklands Museum...
, formed in 2008 after the Friends of Brooklands Museum and Brooklands Club amalgamated, is the official supporters' group for the Museum.
The museum is open daily and displays a wide range of Brooklands-related motoring and aviation exhibits ranging from giant racing cars, such as the 24-litre Napier-Railton, motorcycles and bicycles to a unique collection of Hawker
Hawker Aircraft
Hawker Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer responsible for some of the most famous products in British aviation history.-History:...
and Vickers
Vickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...
/British Aircraft Corporation
British Aircraft Corporation
The British Aircraft Corporation was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs , the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 1960. Bristol, English Electric and Vickers became "parents" of BAC with...
-built aircraft including Concorde
Concorde
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
(G-BBDG). Certain other museum exhibits (e.g. flyable Bleriot XI
Blériot XI
The Blériot XI is the aircraft in which, on 25 July 1909, Louis Blériot made the first flight across the English Channel made in a heavier-than-air aircraft . This achievement is one of the most famous accomplishments of the early years of aviation, and not only won Blériot a lasting place in...
and Sopwith Camel
Sopwith Camel
The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult...
replicas) are maintained in 'live' condition and perform regular engine running demonstrations at museum events during the year. An exhibition about Grand Prix motor racing
Grand Prix motor racing
Grand Prix motor racing has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as far back as 1894. It quickly evolved from a simple road race from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and driver...
which features a Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
simulator can also be seen. A major new visitor attraction, 'The Concorde Experience', opened in August 2006 , centenary celebrations occurred in 2007 and a full-size modern working replica of Alliott Verdon Roe
Alliott Verdon Roe
Sir Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe OBE, FRAeS was a pioneer English pilot and aircraft manufacturer, and founder in 1910 of the Avro company...
's 1908 'Avroplane' was completed and unveiled on 7 June 2008. The Museum also owns and, until late 2009, operated an airworthy Vickers Vimy
Vickers Vimy
The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft of the First World War and post-First World War era. It achieved success as both a military and civil aircraft, setting several notable records in long-distance flights in the interwar period, the most celebrated of which was the first non-stop...
replica which was built in America in 1994 to re-enact the design's three record-breaking long distance flights of 1919-20. Having helped commemorate the 90th anniversaries of the world's first Transatlantic flight and the first flight from England to Australia, the aeroplane was finally retired and flown into Brooklands on 15 November 2009. Less than a week later it was on display with a supporting exhibition in the Museum's main hangar. The Museum's latest aircraft exhibit is the fuselage of Supermarine Swift
Supermarine Swift
The Supermarine Swift was a British single-seat jet fighter of the Royal Air Force , built by Supermarine during the 1950s. After a protracted development period, the Swift entered service as an interceptor, but, due to a spate of accidents, its service life was short...
F.4 prototype, WK198, which held the World Absolute Air Speed Record when flown by the late test pilot Mike Lithgow
Mike Lithgow
Michael John "Mike" Lithgow, OBE was a British aviator and chief test pilot for Vickers Supermarine. He became the holder of the World Absolute Air Speed Record in 1953 flying a Supermarine Swift but died when the prototype BAC One-Eleven airliner crashed in 1963.- Second World War :Joined Fleet...
in Libya on 26th September 1953. This historic exhibit arrived from the RAF Millom Museum (sadly closed in 2010) in Cumbria and arrived at Brooklands on 3rd February 2011.
The Museum celebrated the centenary of the opening of the Brooklands Circuit in 2007, 100 years of aviation at Brooklands in 2008 and the Test Hill's centenary in 2009. Centred on a largely restored Hawker Hurricane, a new exhibition about Brooklands in the Battle of Britain was completed on 15 September 2010; this explains how the major aircraft factories there made Brooklands a prime target for Luftwaffe bombers in 1940 and lists the names of almost 90 people killed when Vickers was badly bombed on 4 September and also the names of Luftwaffe aircrew casualties that day. A new exhibition about the Vickers Wellington
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R. K. Pierson. It was widely used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, before being displaced as a...
is centred on the Loch Ness Wellington, 'R' for 'Robert' and was officially opened by Robin Holmes, Penelope Keith
Penelope Keith
Penelope Anne Constance Keith, CBE, DL is an English actress.Having started her television career in the 1950s, Penelope Keith became a household name in the United Kingdom in the 1970s when she played Margo Leadbetter in the sitcom The Good Life...
, Norman Parker and Ken Wallis
Ken Wallis
Wing Commander Kenneth Horatio Wallis MBE, DEng , CEng, FRAeS, FSETP, PhD , RAF , is one of the leading exponents of autogyros. He has held 34 records relating to them.-Early life:...
on 15th June 2011 - the 75th anniversary of the first flight of the type's forerunner, prototype Vickers B.9/32. The London bus museum
London Bus Museum
The London Bus Museum is a museum operated by the London Bus Preservation Trust.Based at Cobham, Surrey from its opening in 1972, the museum was relocated to Brooklands Museum during the spring and summer of 2011. The new site opened on 1 August 2011...
(formerly the Cobham Bus Museum from 1972-2011) reopened in new premises at Brooklands Museum on 1 August 2011 and has a significant collection of London buses dating back to the 19th century.
History of Brooklands
BrooklandsBrooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...
was the birthplace of British motorsport and aviation and the site of many engineering and technological achievements throughout eight decades of the 20th century. The racing circuit was constructed by local landowner Hugh Locke-King in 1907 and was the first purpose-built racing circuit in the world where many records were set. Many aviation firsts are also associated with Brooklands which soon became one of Britain's first aerodromes, attracted many aviation pioneers before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and was also a leading aircraft design and manufacturing centre in the 20th century producing a remarkable total of some 18,600 new aircraft of nearly 260 types between 1908 and 1987 (see McSwein, D R).
Brooklands-based aircraft companies such as Bleriot
Blériot Aéronautique
Blériot Aéronautique was a French aircraft manufacturer founded by Louis Blériot. It also made a few cyclecars from 1921 to 1922.After Louis Blériot became famous for being the first to fly over the English Channel in 1909, he established an aircraft manufacturing company. This company really took...
, Hawker
Hawker Aircraft
Hawker Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer responsible for some of the most famous products in British aviation history.-History:...
, Sopwith, Martinsyde
Martinsyde
Martinsyde was a British aircraft and motorcycle manufacturer between 1908 and 1922, when they were forced into liquidation by a factory fire.-History:...
and Vickers
Vickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...
were key players in the early years of aviation and were crucial to its early development. The 'Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
Round Britain Air Race' of 1911 started and finished at Brooklands and both this 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
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes is a 1965 British comedy film starring Stuart Whitman and directed and co-written by Ken Annakin...
' (based at the fictitious but remarkably similar 'Brookfield'). Flying training was an important function of the aerodrome both before World War One and between the wars. Visitors can see many displays and exhibits portraying the contribution made by Brooklands to the British aircraft industry in both world wars, and also in the post-war years with Vickers and later the British Aircraft Corporation
British Aircraft Corporation
The British Aircraft Corporation was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs , the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 1960. Bristol, English Electric and Vickers became "parents" of BAC with...
and British Aerospace
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...
.