Aviation Pioneer. Frank Barnwell built his first aeroplane with his brother in Scotland in 1900. It failed to fly. In 1911 they actually flew an aeroplane of their own building and had won a Scottish Aeronautical Society Prize. They then moved South, Frank to Sir George White's British and Colonial Aeroplane Company (later the Bristol Aeroplane Company) and his brother Harold to Vickers, where he was killed flying in 1917. At Bristol, Frank designed the highly successful Bristol Scout (1914), the Bristol Fighter (1916) and led the design team for all subsequent Bristol planes until the WW II Blenheim and Beaufort. He was a passionate but poor pilot and having been banned from flying any of the Bristol Company's machines, built his own personal aeroplane and was tragically killed in August 1938 while testing it at Bristol Civil Airport, Whitchurch. His three sons all died flying in WWII.
Aviation Pioneer. Frank Barnwell built his first aeroplane with his brother in Scotland in 1900. It failed to fly. In 1911 they actually flew an aeroplane of their own building and had won a Scottish Aeronautical Society Prize. They then moved South, Frank to Sir George White's British and Colonial Aeroplane Company (later the Bristol Aeroplane Company) and his brother Harold to Vickers, where he was killed flying in 1917. At Bristol, Frank designed the highly successful Bristol Scout (1914), the Bristol Fighter (1916) and led the design team for all subsequent Bristol planes until the WW II Blenheim and Beaufort. He was a passionate but poor pilot and having been banned from flying any of the Bristol Company's machines, built his own personal aeroplane and was tragically killed in August 1938 while testing it at Bristol Civil Airport, Whitchurch. His three sons all died flying in WWII.
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