Bristol Brabazon

 the Brabazon Report was published and Bristol was able to respond with a slightly modified version of their bomber to fill the needs for the Type I requirement. Their earlier work was the sort of performance the Brabazon committee was looking for, and they were given a contract for two prototype aircraft. After further work on the design, a final concept was published in November 1944. It was for a 177 ft (54 m) fuselage with 230 ft (70.1 m) wingspan (35 ft/11 m greater than a Boeing 747) powered by eight Bristol Centaurus 18-cylinder radial engines nested in pairs in the wing. These drove eight paired contra-rotating propellers on four forward-facing nacelles.

Building the aircraft was a challenge. Bristol's existing factory at Bristol Filton Airport was too small to handle what was one of the largest aircraft in the world, and the 2,000 ft (610 m) runway was too short to launch it. Construction of the first prototype's fuselage started in October 1945 in an existing hangar while a gigantic hall for final assembly was built, whose designer, T. P. O'Sullivan, was awarded the Telford Premium for the work. The runway was lengthened to 8,000 ft (2,440 m), which required moving elsewhere the inhabitants of the village of Charlton.

The Brabazon Report assumed that the wealthy people flying in the aircraft would consider a long trip by air to be uncomfortable, and they designed the Type I for luxury, demanding 200 ft³ (6 m³) of space for every passenger, and 270 ft³ (8 m³) for luxury class.

To meet these requirements the Type 167 specified a huge 25 ft (8 m)-diameter fuselage, which is about 5 ft (1.5 m) greater than a 747, with full-length upper and lower decks. This enclosed sleeping berths for 80 passengers, a dining room, 37-seat cinema, promenade and bar; or day seats for 150 people. The Committee recommended a narrower fuselage designed for 50 passengers. BOAC agreed, but preferred a design for only 25 passengers. In August 1943 ^[3] an agreement with the airline led to an interior layout housing a forward area with six compartments, each for six passengers and a seventh for just three; a midsection above the wing - the wing was 6 feet deep at that point - with 38 seats arranged around tables in groups of four with apantry and galley; and a rear area with 23 seats in an aft-facing cinema with a cocktail bar and lounge. Like the Saunders-Roe Princess, the Brabazon concept was a fusion of prewar and postwar thinking, using highly advanced design and engineering to build an aircraft that was no longer required in the postwar world.^[4]

A tremendous effort was put into saving weight. The Type 167 used a number of non-standard gauges of skinning in order to tailor every panel to the strength required, thereby saving several tons of metal. The large span and mounting of the engines close inboard, together with structural weight economies, demanded some new measure to prevent bending of wing surfaces in turbulence. A system of gust-alleviation was developed for the Brabazon, using servos triggered from a probe in the aircraft's nose.^[5] Hydraulic power units were also designed to operate the giant control surfaces. The Brabazon was the first aircraft with 100% powered flying controls, the first with electric engine controls, and the first with high-pressure hydraulics.

Some design and construction work was shared out to other British companies such as