for scrap, along with the incomplete turboprop-powered Brabazon I Mk.II. Design and development Background During the Second World War, the British government made the decision to dedicate its aircraft industry to the production of combat aircraft and to source the majority of its transport aircraft from manufacturers in the United States. Having foreseen that the effective abandonment of any development in terms of civil aviation would put Britain's aviation industry at a substantial disadvantage once the conflict had come to an end, during 1943 a British government committee began meeting under the leadership of Lord Brabazon of Tara with the aim of investigating and forecasting the post-war civil aviation requirements of Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations. The committee, which had become known simply as the Brabazon Committee, delivered its report, which was likewise known as the Brabazon Report. This report called for the construction of a total of four of five designs they had studied. Of these designs, the Type I was a very large transatlantic airliner, the Type II was a short-haul airliner, the Type III was a medium-range airliner for the multiple-hop 'Empire' air routes, and the Type IV was an innovative jet-powered 500 mph (800 km/h) airliner. In particular, the Type I and Type IV were regarded as being of very high importance to the industry, particularly the jet-powered Type IV which would give Britain a commanding lead in the field of jet transportation. An outline of the specifications for the various envisioned aircraft, including the gigantic Type I, was issued by the Committee. As early as 1937, the Bristol Aeroplane Company had already conducted studies into prospective very large bomber designs, one of which received the internal company designation of Type 159 and another design that was undesignated which broadly resembled the eventual configuration of the Brabazon. Additionally, Bristol's design team had already been considering the requirements of a prospective aircraft capable of conducting routine transatlantic flights, which had resulted in projections of the necessary size, weight, and range of such an airliner. Amongst these, it was determined that a minimum payload of 100 passengers should be carried by the type in order to be profitable. In 1942, the Air Ministry issued a draft operational requirement from the Air Staff, which sought a heavy bomber design that would be capable of carrying a payload of at least 15 tons of bombs. In response, Bristol dusted