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Boxkite Plane
It is a reproduction Bristol Boxkite, which was originally made to feature in the film 'Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines' in 1963. This is a working replica of the plane that was first built in 1910. Only three were ever made and none of the originals exist.
The Boxkite was built with just bits of canvas, wood and string and with what amounts to a lawnmower engine. Just 66 years later they were building the Concorde in Bristol.
The British and Colonial Aeroplane Company began building primitive Bristol Boxkites in a former tram shed at Filton in 1910. A few years later, during World War One, the more advanced Bristol Fighter was in mass production for the RAF.
In 1920 BCAC became The Bristol Aeroplane Company. Later the Company became famous for the production of the World War Two Blenheim and Beaufighter military aircraft. By the end of the war, the Filton site was one of the largest aviation complexes in the world.
Presenter Jules Hudson says: "This is the first aeroplane ever made by British Aerospace, and a film star in its own right..."
Where can it be found? At the Bristol City Museum, Bristol.
Ray Barnett, collections manager, says: "The whole of British Aerospace originated with this."
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