Fascinating Facts You can find out lots of interesting things about aviation by following the links on this page. We'll be adding more here later in the year. West of England Firsts Since 1910, West of England aviation has been breaking records. Here are just a few of them: The Bristol Boxkite was the first British aircraft to be sold abroad. The first order came from Russia in 1910. The Bristol M1C was the first aircraft to make a double crossing of the Andes. The Andes is a high mountain range in South America. The flight took place in 1919 – the pilot didn't have permission to fly so was ordered to go back again! The previous year an M1C had made the first flight across the highest section of the mountain range. Two Westland Wapitis powered by Bristol Pegasus engines were the first aircraft to fly over Mount Everest. The flight took place in 1933. When the Bristol Type 138A broke the world altitude record in 1936 it was the first aircraft to fly higher than 15,000 metres. This was also the first time the record had been broken by an aircraft and an engine built by the same company. The engine was the Pegasus. In 1940 the Bristol Blenheim became the first aircraft to sink a German U-boat (a submarine). The next year the Blenheim was the first aircraft to sink a Japanese submarine. On 7 November 1945 a Gloster Meteor IV jet, built by the Gloster Aircraft Company, set a new world speed record by flying 606 miles per hour. That was an amazing 137 miles per hour faster than the previous speed record. The Bristol Sycamore was Britain's first helicopter. It first flew in 1947. The Bristol Type 173 was the world's first twin-engined twin-rotor helicopter. It first flew in 1952. An English Electric Canberra broke the world altitude record in 1953 and 1955. It was powered by the Bristol Pegasus engine. In 1957 Bristol Britannia became the first airliner to fly non-stop across the Atlantic. It was powered by the Bristol Proteus engine. The Bristol Type 188 was the world's first stainless steel high speed aircraft. It first flew in 1962. Slide Shows Click the links below for slide shows about West of England aviation since 1910. Advertising Images Slide Show (Powerpoint file) Activity: This advertisement was made to celebrate Bristol Aeroplane Company's 30th birthday in 1940. Design an advertisement to celebrate the company's 100th birthday in 2010. Aircraft Since 1910 Slide Show (Powerpoint file) Activity: Imagine you watched the flight of the Boxkite at Bristol in 1910. Using a blank postcard or sheet of paper, write a message to a friend saying what it was like and draw a picture on the other side of what you saw. How Aeroplanes Fly Slide Show (Powerpoint file) Activity: There are lots of different kinds of wings: bird wings, insect wings, pterodactyl wings, bat wings, aeroplane wings. Imagine you've written a book called The Wonderful World of Wings. Design the front cover of the book. Working in Aviation Slide Show (Powerpoint file) Activity: Imagine you are one of the people in the slides. Write a few lines in your imaginary diary about something that happened at work today.
				Bristol Type 138A. There are some activity worksheets where you can have fun as you find out about air resistance, balloon buggies, balloon rockets, fuels and turbines on the Rolls-Royce website.