Air Vice Marshal Sir William Sefton Brancker, (22 March 1877 – 5 October 1930) was a British pioneer in civil and

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and senior officer of the

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and later

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. He was killed in an airship crash in 1930, exactly 20 years after his first flight.

Early life

Sefton Brancker was born in Woolwich, the eldest son of Col. William Godeffroy Brancker and Hester Adelaide, the daughter of Major General Henry Charles Russell. Brancker grew up as the elder of two brothers; their father died in 1885. From 1891 to 1894, the young Brancker attended

Bedford School Bedford School is a 7–18 Single-sex education, boys Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the county town of Bedford in England. Founded in 1552, it is the oldest of four independent schools in Bedford run by the Harpur Trust. Bed ...

. His father was born in

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to a British father and German mother; the Branckers were a long-established Anglo-German family that had lived in England for several generations. On 7 April 1907, he married May Wynne, the daughter of Colonel Spencer Field of the Royal Warwickshire regiment; they had one son, also called William Sefton Brancker.

Military career

Brancker was trained for the

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at Woolwich, joining the

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in 1896.Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker
/ref> He served in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

and later in India, where he made his first flight in 1910.Raleigh 1922, pp. 421–22. On 18 June 1913 he was awarded the Royal Aero Club's Aviator's Certificate no. 525. During the First World War, Brancker held important posts in the

, including Director of Military Aeronautics. In late 1915 a brigade system was introduced in the RFC, and Brancker was promoted to brigadier general and appointed to command the Northern Training Brigade, with his headquarters in Birmingham. This appointment was to be short-lived, as in early 1916 he was appointed Director of Air Organisation in London. In 1917, he briefly served as the General Officer Commanding Royal Flying Corps's Palestine Headquarters and then its Middle East headquarters. Promoted to major general in 1918, he became Controller-General of Equipment in January of that year and Master-General of Personnel in August 1918. On 23 August 1918 he resigned his commission in the Army and was granted a permanent commission as major-general in the RAF. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1919 and retired from the RAF with the rank of major-general on 13 January following. He was granted the rank of air vice-marshal in 1924.''

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1929–1940'', p. 154.

Civil aviation

On 11 May 1922 he was made Director of Civil Aviation, and worked assiduously to stimulate British interest in the subject among local authorities and flying clubs. He encouraged Manchester and other cities to construct municipal airports and airfields. He participated in several long-distance survey flights, notably with Alan Cobham. He was an ardent supporter of the development of British civilian air services connecting London to British colonies and dominions overseas.Pirie 2009. Brancker was chairman of the Royal Aero Club's (RAeC) Racing Committee from 1921 to 1930, and his dynamic leadership led to the RAeC forming the Light Aero Club scheme in 1925, which helped provide the British clubs with examples of such new and improved aircraft types as the de Havilland Moth and Avro Avian.

Death

Together with Lord Thomson, the Air Minister, Brancker was killed when the airship R101 crashed near Beauvais, France, on 5 October 1930, during its maiden voyage to India. His death occurred on the 20th anniversary of his first flight.

Legacy

In 1952, British European Airways named its 'Pionair' ( Douglas DC-3) G-AKNB "Sir Sefton Brancker" to mark his substantial contribution to the development of British aviation. In 1996, British Airways (BA) named one of its newly delivered Boeing 777s (G-ZZZB) "Sir William Sefton Branker" in recognition of his work. Other 777s in the BA fleet were named after aviation pioneers, for example "Wilbur and Orville Wright" and "Sir Frank Whittle". Kenmore Park housing estate in Kenton, Harrow, has a number of its roads named after aviators including Brancker. Brancker Road in Plymouth was named in his honour during build in the mid 1930s.

References

* Pirie, Gordon H. ''Air Empire: British Imperial Civil Aviation, 1919–1939''. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009. * Raleigh, Walter. ''The War In The Air: Being the Story of The part played in the Great War by The Royal Air Force: Vol I''. Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1922.

External links

* , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Brancker, Sefton 1877 births 1930 deaths British people of German descent British aviation pioneers Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in France British Army major generals British Army personnel of the Second Boer War English aviators Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People educated at Bedford School Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class Royal Air Force air marshals Royal Air Force generals of World War I Royal Artillery officers Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) Military personnel from Kent Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1930