FS2004 Bristol Brabazon

The Bristol Brabazon was the world's first jumbo airliner. This Gmax version includes a gauge package, sound package, a VC and several possibly amusing features (such as its boarding ramps). Full Gmax animations are also incorporated. By Dennis Simanaitis.

The Bristol Type 167 Brabazon, named for the English Lord Brabazon of Tara, was one of the biggest and most ambitious projects ever undertaken by the British aircraft industry. Conceived during WWII, it was to provide high-speed, high-capacity, non-stop passage across the Atlantic Ocean. Alas,its 8-year development was accompanied by political embarrassment and indecision that finally doomed the project. Its eight radial sleeve-valve piston engines were geared in pairs to drive counter-rotating propellers. Its pressurized cabin could seat as many as 100 passengers in gracious comfort. Some 400 hours of flight testing were amassed over 4 years before the British government withdrew support and the Brabazon 1 prototype G-AGPW was scrapped.

THE REAL BRISTOL BRABAZON 1 TYPE 167, 1950:

Span: 230 ft. Wing area: 5317 sq. ft.
Length: 177 ft. Height: 50 ft.
Weight, empty: 169,500 lb Weight, maximum: 290,000 lb
Power: Eight Centaurus 20 18-cylinder sleeve-valve radials, 2500 hp each
Cruising speed: 217 kts (250 mph) at 25,000 ft.
Fuel capacity: 6750 gal./wing
Range: 5500 miles

THE VIRTUAL BRISTOL BRABAZON 1 TYPE 167:

The Brabazon is characterized by its wonderfully sleek profile, bright aluminum finish, complex propellers and sheer size. Her flight dynamics are derived from my earlier Brab. I cheated weight more than a little to get takeoff and landing performance similar to the real aircraft's. (The virtual weight is 100,000 lb, not 169,500 lb.) The real aircraft could carry 6750 gal. of fuel in each wing; on her test flights she had only 2500 gal. per side, and this is what I have in the virtual version. You can fool with the aircraft.cfg entry for transatlantic flights. Just give yourself a long runway!

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