Mk.II prototype. All that remains are a few parts at the M Shed museum in Bristol and the National Museum of Flight in Scotland. Although considered a failure and a white elephant, the record of the Brabazon is not entirely unfavourable. At least half of the large sums spent on the project had been expended upon the construction of infrastructure, including £6 million for new large hangars and an extended runway at Filton. These improvements meant that Bristol was in an excellent position to continue production of other designs; the assembly hall was soon being used for building another transatlantic aircraft, the Britannia. In addition, many of the techniques which had been developed during the Brabazon project were applicable to any aircraft, not just airliners. Bristol had also been awarded the contract for the Type III aircraft, for which they delivered the Britannia. By making use of the advances made during the development of the Brabazon, Bristol were able to design the Britannia to possess the best payload fraction of any aircraft up to that time, and it held that record for a number of years. Although the Britannia was delayed after problems with the separate Type IV, the jet-powered de Havilland Comet, it went on to be a workhorse for many airlines into the 1970s. Specifications (Mark I) See also Convair XC-99 Hughes H-4 Hercules Saunders-Roe Princess References Notes Citations Bibliography "Airborne in the “Brab”: Demonstration Flights from London Airport: Good Progress with Mk. I Development". Flight, 3 August 1951, Vol. LX, No. 2219. pp. 148–150. Buttler, Tony. Secret Projects 1935–1950 Fighters and Bombers. Midland Publishing, 2004. . Castle, Matt. "The Plane That Flew Too Soon." damninteresting.com. Gilbert, James. The World's Worst Aircraft. Philadelphia, PA: Coronet Books, 1978. . Jackson, A.J. British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Volume 1. Putnam & Company Limited. 1973. . Kaplan, Philip. "Big Wings: The Largest Aeroplanes Ever Built." Pen and Sword, 2005. . Winchester, Jim. "Bristol Brabazon (1949)." The World's Worst Aircraft: From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters. London: Amber Books Ltd., 2005. . External links The Bristol Brabazon – Engineering masterpiece or Great White Elephant "Brabazon Bulletin" a 1949 Flight article Brabazon 1940s British airliners Eight-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft with contra-rotating propellers Cancelled aircraft projects Aircraft first flown in 1949