RAF Filton

RAF Filton lay just north of Bristol in Gloucestershire, on a site that had been used for flying since around 1910 and grew up alongside the Bristol Aeroplane Company’s factory. From the First World War onwards the airfield combined military flying with aircraft manufacture, a dual character it kept throughout its life. A succession of Royal Flying Corps units passed through in 1916, among them squadrons flying the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2, the Sopwith Pup and the locally built Bristol F.2 Fighter.

During the Second World War the station served chiefly as a fighter and defence base, falling under Fighter Command within No. 10 Group. Squadrons based there flew Gloster Gladiators, Bristol Blenheims, Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires, with the long-resident No. 501 Squadron among the units stationed at the field over the years. Because of the adjacent aircraft works, Filton was a tempting target, and on 25 September 1940 a large force of German bombers struck the site, causing heavy casualties on the ground.

After the war the airfield continued in mixed military and civil use and became central to British aircraft development, hosting the first flight of the Bristol Brabazon and later work connected with Concorde. The aerodrome finally closed at the end of 2012. Several of its historic hangars were preserved, and in 2017 the Aerospace Bristol museum opened on the site, displaying the last Concorde to be built.