How not to design an airliner

[LVSteve]

No, this is not about the Airbus A380, although there are some common themes. 75 years ago this week the one and only Bristol Brabazon took to the air. It was a monster, about the same size as a B-36, but it was an airliner for just 100 people. Say what!? This is what you get when a government committee having no-clue about the realities of post-WWII commercial aviation specifies an airplane. Each passenger was allocated the equivalent space of a small car as their own. Yeah, that's really going to drive down costs. Remember all those grand plans for suites and bars on the A380?

Delays in the turboprops for the MkII and concerns about the fatigue life of the airframe finally killed the project. Still, just getting this monster airborne on piston engines must be considered a great engineering achievement for the time. The buried installation of those motors is shown in the third link, and is a bit 'different'. Some good came out of the project in terms of new engineering and manufacturing techniques.

The luxury Bristol Brabazon plane that took flight 75 years ago

Bristol Brabazon - Wikipedia


Bristol Brabazon

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Another example of the horse designed by a committee.

 

[Rudi]

What a monster!

 

[S-W4EVER]

More proof that the government that governs least governs best.

 

[Retired W4]

Reading about the Bristol Brab took me back 20 years when I was going to Portland, OR 4-5 times a year. Of course I had to get down to McMinnville to see Howard Hughes' H-4 Spruce Goose. It was actually made of birch, which lead to a nickname not to be used in polite company. It was a sight to behold. The first aircraft I ever flew was another Hughes contraption, the TH-55, a 2 seat, 4 cylinder training helicopter based at Ft. Wolters, TX. Later I was lucky enough to fly a Hughes OH-6, light observation helicopter, or Loach as it came to be known. The TH-55 was like a gnat compared to a condor, or goose if you will. The Brabazon and the H-4 both fall into the weird category.

 

[Krogen]

From the linked article: "The airlines no longer saw their planes as flying ocean liners. The cost of air travel was falling, and airliners were being transformed into aerial buses."

A profound statement! The aerial buses of that era have morphed into the aerial sardine cans we have today.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Also it was designed and built just as jet engines were being made practicable.

 

[S-W4EVER]

...Of course I had to get down to McMinnville to see Howard Hughes' H-4 Spruce Goose...

Several years ago, while on vacation we stopped at the museum in McMinnville. As we were leaving, the women went into the gift shop so I waited on the couch inside the entrance to the museum. A family entered with younger children and the little girl in the lead was fixated on the smaller aircraft (around the H4) at first. When she finally looked up at the H4, her eyes widened and she turned to her mother and said “Mom, look at that plane, look at that plane!” It was funny because you really do have to see the H4 in person to believe it. I’m sure glad it wasn’t scrapped after the War like so many other one-off’s.