Filton Airport or Filton Aerodrome was a private airport in Filton and Patchway, within

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming ...

, north of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

, England.

Description

The airfield was bounded by the

A38 road The A38, parts of which are known as Devon Expressway, Bristol Road and Gloucester Road, is a major A-class trunk road in England. The road runs from Bodmin in Cornwall to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. It is long, making it the longest two-d ...

to the east, and the former London to Avonmouth railway line to the south. To the north it was bounded by the Filton Bypass. A major road now crosses this bypass, running across former airfield land and linking Filton and Patchway to Cribbs Causeway. The housing development of Charlton Hayes is being built on the section of the airfield that is in the town of Patchway. The airfield had a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Ordinary Licence (number P741) allowing flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee. Several private jets had the airfield as their home. Filton's runway was wider than most, at 91 m (300 ft), and had a considerable length of 2,467 m (8,094 ft), having been extended for the maiden flight of the

Bristol Brabazon The Bristol Type 167 Brabazon was a large British piston-engined propeller-driven airliner designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company to fly transatlantic routes between the UK and the United States. The type was named ''Brabazon'' after the ...

airliner in 1949. Its size was beneficial in the late 1960s and early 1970s for development and manufacture of the supersonic

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

. Filton had a succession of owners. Following a review of its commercial viability, the last owners, BAE Systems Aviation Services Limited, decided to close the airfield for business effective 31 December 2012. BAE left the site, selling parts of the industrial buildings and land to

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

, who have expanded their presence there. , Airbus is the main company left on the site. Airbus has built new offices and refurbished one of the original, listed 'Aircraft Works' buildings, Pegasus House, as well as restoring the historic Filton House. Planning permission was granted for Airbus to build a new Engine Development Centre, and in 2016 for a new Wing Building and Wing Development Centre. The regional West of England

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

letter sorting depot was built on part of the airfield site before it closed. , the only flights originating at Filton were from an area given to National Police Air Service for its helicopter and for an Air Ambulance helicopter operated by the

Great Western Air Ambulance Charity The Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC) is a charity air ambulance service in South West England. It operates for the relief of sickness and injury, with a specialist paramedic in critical care and a critical care doctor, providing re ...

, with both services then moving to a new base in nearby Almondsbury in October 2018.

History

The manufacture of aeroplanes started in 1910, when Sir George White, the owner of

Bristol Tramways Bristol Tramways operated in the city of Bristol, England from 1875, when the Bristol Tramways Company was formed by Sir George White, until 1941 when a Luftwaffe bomb destroyed the main power supply cables. History The first trams in Brist ...

, established the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company in the maintenance sheds of Bristol Tramways. A small 'flying ground' was set up opposite Fairlawn Avenue in 1911, at the top of Filton Hill.

First World War

The company grew rapidly during the First World War, building thousands of Bristol Fighters and other aircraft. In 1915, as the Aircraft Works expanded over the original flying area, the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

established Filton Airfield in fields at the bottom of Filton Hill. Access was via the hamlet of Charlton. The hamlet was taken over by the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

, with people being re-housed and most of the houses demolished, though some survived up until the airfield was closed and the land readied for the Charlton Hayes housing estate. The First World War buildings on the military base were wooden huts, but eventually more permanent structures were erected, including Barnwell Hall. During the war, RFC Filton was mainly used as an aircraft acceptance facility. A flying school was located beside the airfield runway, and the site eventually became part of the Engine Division of the

Bristol Aeroplane Company The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable a ...

Inter-war years

Aerial travel for Business or Pleasure - Thos Cook & Son - 1919 - pp 16+ (map)

Aero-engine production started close to Filton Airfield, with the acquisition of Cosmos Engineering in 1920. In the same year, the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company became the Bristol Aeroplane Company, often abbreviated to BAC. From 1929 the No. 501 (City of Bristol) Squadron RAF was based at RAF Filton. The squadron was equipped with

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...

s by 1939 and formed part of the British forces sent to France.

Second World War

Before the Second World War, there were only grass runways at Filton. The re-armament programme from 1935 to the outbreak of war saw further expansion of the Bristol Aeroplane Company. East Works on Gypsy Patch Lane and Rodney Works along Gloucester Road North were established for the production of aeroengines. Before the war, there was a belief that German bombers had insufficient range to reach Filton; however, the invasion of France by the Nazis in 1940 changed the situation. As war approached, anti-aircraft guns were set up in a field pasture up on Filton Hill, adjacent to Filton Golf Club, to defend the aircraft factories. On 25 September 1940, German aircraft, based in France, raided Filton, causing extensive damage to the aircraft factories, as well as causing a heavy loss of life when several air-raid shelters were hit. Following the heavy German raid in 1940, a squadron of

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Gri ...

s were based at Filton. Before

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

, US-manufactured aircraft were assembled at Filton Aerodrome, from assemblies imported via Avonmouth docks. Filton became a major port-of-entry for US casualties after the D-Day landings in June 1944. Most of the casualties were taken to Frenchay Hospital. Aircraft produced at Filton during the war included the

Blenheim Blenheim ( ) is the English name of Blindheim, a village in Bavaria, Germany, which was the site of the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. Almost all places and other things called Blenheim are named directly or indirectly in honour of the battle. Places ...

Beaufort Beaufort may refer to: People and titles * Beaufort (surname) * House of Beaufort, English nobility * Duke of Beaufort (England), a title in the peerage of England * Duke of Beaufort (France), a title in the French nobility Places Polar regions * ...

Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort ...

and

Brigand Brigandage is the life and practice of highway robbery and plunder. It is practiced by a brigand, a person who usually lives in a gang and lives by pillage and robbery. Oxford English Dictionary second edition, 1989. "Brigand.2" first recorded u ...

. Filton Aerodrome was upgraded to a concrete runway during 1941/42. Both a First World War and a Second World War aircraft hangar survived into the 21st century. These have been legally protected and are being refurbished for use by

Aerospace Bristol Aerospace Bristol is an aerospace museum at Filton, to the north of Bristol, England, U.K. The project is run by the Bristol Aero Collection Trust and houses a varied collection of exhibits, including Concorde ''Alpha Foxtrot'', the final Con ...

, a new aviation heritage museum that will house the Bristol Aero Collection, alongside a new hangar for

216.

Post war

After the Second World War, the concrete runway at Filton Aerodrome was extended westwards by John Laing & Son to enable the huge

airliner to take off safely. This extension required demolition of the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Charlton; it also severed the pre-war Filton bypass. The three-bay Brabazon Hangar was built in the late 1940s under the direction of T. P. O'Sullivan. The hangar doors and the railway level crossing for the aircraft were the largest in the world at the time. After a worker was crushed and killed while taking a sleep in one of the folds of the hangar doors, a siren was installed to warn employees when the doors were being operated. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, BAC branched out into the development and production of pre-fabricated buildings, plastics, helicopters, guided weapons, luxury cars, gas turbines and ramjet motors. The

Bristol Britannia The Bristol Type 175 Britannia is a retired British medium-to-long-range airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952 to fly across the Commonwealth. During development two prototypes were lost and the turboprop engines proved ...

(Whispering Giant) airliner and Bristol Freighter were produced. In 1948, 501 Squadron was equipped with De Havilland Vampire jets. These were a common sight in the skies around Filton in the early to mid-1950s. 501 was disbanded on 3 February 1957. As a protest, one of the pilots flew his aircraft under the

Clifton Suspension Bridge The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, linking Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Since opening in 1864, it has been a toll bridge, the income from which provid ...

, but he crashed into a hillside on the Leigh Woods side of the Avon Gorge, near Sea Mills, Bristol, and was killed. During the late 1940s and early 1950, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) flew their Lockheed Constellations and Boeing Stratocruisers into Filton to be serviced in the newly completed Brabazon Hangar, then the largest hangar in the world. Maintenance flights to Filton ceased when suitable hangars were completed at London

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

. In 1954, BAC opened a technical college for apprentices and trainees at the bottom of Filton Hill. This was eventually absorbed by Filton Technical College, that had opened on the opposite side of Filton Avenue in 1961. In 1958, the aero engine interests of the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Armstrong Siddeley were amalgamated to form Bristol Siddeley Engines. Rolls-Royce purchased Bristol Siddeley Engines in 1966. On 4 February 1971, Rolls-Royce were declared bankrupt due to the burden of development of the RB211 engine for the

Lockheed L-1011 Tristar The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, also known as the L-1011 (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") and TriStar, is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter comm ...

jetliner. Due to the importance of Rolls-Royce engine division to the Royal Air Force, the Government nationalised the company. Frederick Corfield the then local MP, was then Minister for Aviation, and presumably had influence over what was an unusual decision for a Conservative administration. In 1960, the

British Aircraft Corporation The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 19 ...

took over the aircraft interests of the Bristol Aeroplane Company. In 1960 an RAF Vulcan bomber, approaching from the west, landed at Filton in heavy rain. The pilot braked, but started to aquaplane. He decided to abort the landing. Although he managed to take-off and eventually land successfully elsewhere, the jet blast from the aircraft's four Bristol Siddeley

Olympus Olympus or Olympos ( grc, Ὄλυμπος, link=no) may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Le ...

201 engines severely damaged a filling station at the eastern end of the runway, sent cars spinning on the A38 trunk road and wrecked the boundary fence steel railings. Eyewitnesses claimed that the aircraft barely cleared the engine test beds next to the Bristol to

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

railway embankment. Subsequently, the filling station was moved further north, to a safer location. In the early 1960s a new Filton bypass was constructed, roughly parallel to the old one, and this later became part of the

M5 motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

. The 1960s and 1970s saw the development and production of Concorde at Filton and a further extension of the Filton runway. The first flight of the Concorde 002 prototype took place on 9 April 1969 at Filton Aerodrome. All other British-built Concordes also used the main Filton runway for their first flights. Because of jet blast, gates and traffic lights were installed to close off the

when Concorde took off. A few

Lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average ...

fighters were produced during this period. VulcanB2atFilton1960s

The length of the runway and its closed-to-passengers status made it an ideal dispersion site for the nation's airborne nuclear deterrent during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

. During the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

in February 1962, Vulcan Bombers were stationed at the airfield, on short-notice stand-by. On 3 December 1962, Bristol Siddeley Engines were using Vulcan XA894 as a flying test bed for the

22R, which was designed to power the ill-fated BAC TSR-2 bomber. On that particular day, the aircraft was positioned at Filton on an apron near the former RAF station, with the 22R discharging its exhaust into a de-tuner. The power was increased to maximum reheat. An LP turbine disc was ejected from the engine, rupturing two fuel tanks and starting a fire. A brand new fire truck positioned in front of the aircraft was quickly enveloped in flames. The fire took hold so quickly that there was little the fire crew could do. Both the aircraft and fire truck were destroyed. The test engineers managed to exit the aircraft so there were no significant casualties. After the disbanding of 501 squadron, Bristol Siddeley Engine apprentices and British Aircraft Corporation apprentices used Barnwell Hall, the former RAF Officers Mess, for accommodation. The Bristol University Air Squadron continued to use some of the RAF facilities. Nowadays, many of the RAF buildings are derelict and Barnwell Hall has been demolished. For many years a surplus Concorde, G-BBDG, was housed in one of the hangars and cannibalised for spares by

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...

; following the decommissioning of Concorde, it was moved to the

Brooklands Museum Brooklands Museum is a motoring and aviation museum occupying part of the former Brooklands motor-racing track in Weybridge, Surrey, England. Formally opened in 1991, the museum is operated by the independent Brooklands Museum Trust Ltd, a pri ...

and restored. A further downhill extension to the main runway was made for the Concorde project in the late 1960s. There was also a shorter concrete runway at Filton with a roughly north–south orientation, which was sometimes used by a Dakota to ferry key BAC personnel to Fairford during Concorde development in the early 1970s. This has now been demolished for the Charlton Hayes housing development.

1977 onwards

In 1977,

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

, who owned a share in what became

, had a major share of the site. Work undertaken included production of components for

BAe 146 The British Aerospace 146 (also BAe 146) is a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2001. Manufacture by Avro Internation ...

and Airbus aircraft. During the late 1990s and up to 2010 Douglas DC8 and Airbus A300 B4 aircraft flew regularly in and out of Filton. Airbus A300 B4 aircraft would be lined-up, awaiting conversion from passenger to freight use by

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenue ...

. Boeing 747-200 maintenance was also undertaken. In 2002 BAE Systems left civil aircraft development and manufacture, to reorganise into a military manufacturer of aircraft, ships and other military products. Airbus continues on the site. The runway will be lost under housing developments. On 26 November 2003,

216 (G-BOAF) made its last flight, and also the last flight by any operational Concorde. It flew from

Heathrow Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

, passing over the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

before making several low passes over Bristol, including over the

where crowds had gathered, before landing at Filton. A new museum,

, opened in 2017 to the north of the old runway. This followed the closure of a previous visitors centre in 2010 after a fatal accident in which a man fell from a walkway. Concorde is one of the exhibits in the Bristol Aero collection. On 21 November 2006, a public inquiry meeting was held with South Gloucestershire Council to discuss the building of 2,200 homes on the airfield ( Patchway section). The first residents moved in to Charlton Hayes in October 2010. The aircraft interests of the formerly named British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) are now owned by Airbus, GKN and BAC rebranded as BAE Systems, whilst the aero engine facilities are part of Rolls-Royce. MBDA owned the guided weapons facilities. Refurbishment by Airbus of Filton House and Pegasus House (both

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

buildings), as part of a new major office complex, was completed in 2013. Pegasus House, also known as New Filton House, was reopened by the

Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester () is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curre ...

after standing vacant for 20 years. Built in 1936 as headquarters for the

, the large Art Deco office building has sculptures, plaster panels and foyer flooring by Denis Dunlop. Next to the A38 road, Airbus UK purchased of the former Rolls-Royce Rodney Works in order to build a facility for wing development and manufacture, which was completed following the granting of planning permission by

Council in 2016.

Units

The following units were here at some point: * No. 2 Aircraft Preparation Unit * No. 2 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School RAF * No. 2 Elementary Flying Training School RAF * No. 2 Ferry Pilots Pool RAF * No. 2 Overseas Aircraft Preparation Unit * No. 7 Radio Maintenance Unit * No. 7 Radio Servicing Section * No. 8 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit RAF * No. 10 Group Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Flight * No. 10 Group Target Towing Flight * No. 12 Reserve Flying School RAF * No. 15 Ferry Unit RAF * No. 19 Squadron RAF * No. 20 Squadron RAF *

No. 25 Squadron RAF Number 25 (Fighter) Squadron (alternatively Number XXV (F) Squadron) is squadron of the Royal Air Force, having reformed on 8 September 2018. During the First World War, No. 25 Squadron operated as a fighter-reconnaissance unit and later as a ...

* No. 33 Squadron RAF * No. 42 Squadron RAF * No. 62 Squadron RAF *

No. 66 Squadron RAF No. 66 Squadron was a Royal Flying Corps and eventually Royal Air Force aircraft squadron. History World War I It was first formed at Filton on 30 June 1916 as a training squadron equipped with Royal Aircraft Factory BE2, BE12s and the Avro 50 ...

* No. 101 Squadron RAF * No. 110 (Anti-Aircraft Co-operation) Wing * No. 118 Squadron RAF * No. 236 Squadron RAF *

No. 263 Squadron RAF No 263 Squadron was a Royal Air Force fighter squadron formed in Italy towards the end of the First World War. After being disbanded in 1919 it was reformed in 1939 flying mainly strike and heavy fighter aircraft until becoming No 1 Squadro ...

No. 286 Squadron RAF No. 286 Squadron RAF was a non-operational Second World War Royal Air Force squadron that operated a variety of aircraft to provide targets for anti-aircraft gun practice in the West Country of England. History The squadron was formed at RAF Fil ...

No. 501 Squadron RAF ("Fear nothing") , colors = , colors_label = , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = , anniversaries = , decorations = , battle_honours = France & Low Countries, 1940 Battle of Britain, 1940 Home Defen ...

* No. 504 Squadron RAF * No. 528 Squadron RAF * Bristol UAS * Centaurus Flight

Closure

Sections of the land that made up Filton Airfield were sold by BAE Systems for £120 million.

Revival

In the autumn of 2017, several hangars were re-opened as

, a museum about aerospace and the heritage of aerospace manufacturing in Bristol.

Current situation

The former airfield site has been earmarked by

Council for 2,675 new homes. This new suburb, to be called Brabazon, is being developed by YTL Corporation and will begin construction in 2020 with the first residents arriving in 2021.

Images

File:Concorde at filton noseview arp.jpg, A preserved ex-

at Filton Airfield. The plane has since been moved to

, where it can be accessed by the public. File:Aa filton near Bristol UK 1935.jpg, The area round Filton near

in England as about 1935 File:Filton.learjet.60.arp.jpg, The

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

and a visiting Learjet 60

business jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pu ...

File:Bell 206B Jet Ranger III at Filton Airfield 2006-06-10.jpg, A Bell 206B Jet Ranger III in 2006, stationed at Filton for electricity pylon patrols File:Police eurocopter ec135 g-wcao arp.jpg, The

Western Counties Air Operations Unit The Western Counties Air Operations Unit was a joint consortium established to provide police aviation for Avon and Somerset Constabulary and Gloucestershire Constabulary. It was formed in August 1995, and operated a Eurocopter EC135 from Bristol ...

Eurocopter EC 135 T2 providing law enforcement and medical assistance in the

Avon and Somerset Police Avon and Somerset Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in the county of Somerset and in four districts that used to be in the defunct county of Avon: Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and So ...

, and Gloucestershire Police areas, was based at the airport. This role has since been taken up by the National Police Air Service.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Filtons Aviation HeritageGoogle Earth view of Bristol Filton Airport
{{Authority control Transport in Bristol Filton Defunct airports in England Airports established in 1915 1915 establishments in England BAE Systems facilities Aircraft assembly plants in England Airports in South West England