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High ambition of air pioneer
THE distinguished Bristol businessman Sir George White could hardly have dreamt when he started building aircraft at Filton in 1910 that the aviation industry would still be based on the site nearly a century later.
It is said that his British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, later known as the Bristol Aeroplane Company, carried sufficient stock to build about 5,000 planes. The firm claimed to be the largest aircraft works in the world.
Since then the aircraft factories have written many exciting chapters in Britain’s aviation history.
Its story runs from Sir George’s Bristol Boxkite through to the post-World War II Brabazon – at the time one of the largest aircraft in the world but abandoned before it ever flew commercially – to the Bristol Britannia, known as the Whispering Giant, and, of course, Concorde, the world’s first supersonic plane.
There was yet another historic day last week when the first Airbus 380 double-decker “super jumbo”, whose wings were part-made at Filton, was delivered to Singapore Airlines.
Aircraft are no longer made at Filton. Instead the site is a major base for Airbus UK, which is part of the global aircraft company Airbus SAS.
“Here we lead the wing and fuel system design and production for all Airbus aircraft, as well as the
integration of the landing gear for most Airbus models” said spokeswoman
Karen Mitchell.
It is also the design, engineering and test centre, employing several thousand engineers.
“There is also a small manufacturing unit with the largest thing made here being the wing of the A400M military transporter plane” said Ms Mitchell.
The sections made at Filton are taken to the Airbus site in North Wales to be joined to the rest of the wing for delivery to the final assembly lines in France and Germany.
With major developments in the aviation world, Airbus UK’s recruitment centre at Filton has a constant need for the very best people. About 6,000 are employed on the site.
In addition to engineers with years of technical expertise, the firm has a strong track record in taking on apprentices across all aspects of its business.
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