British Aerospace - Chester

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OLD TIME LORRIES, COMPANIES AND DRIVERS (INTERACT
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Does anyone have photo or details of any of the road transport of British Aerospace, Broughton, Chester or any of its predecessors - Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd., DeHavilland Aircraft Co Ltd., Hawker Siddeley Aviation Ltd or of the later BAe Systems -Airbus?

Here’s a few pictures I’ve managed to find so far:-

A 1953 Flintshire registered Bedford A Series in DeHavilland colours at a driving competition.

Another DeHavilland vehicle, a 1956 Morris/BMC also at a driving competition.

TDM402F, a 1968 AEC Mandator of Hawker Siddeley Aviation with a Nimrod (HS801) fuse in tow and en-route to their factory at Woodford, Cheshire for completion.

A shot of the same vehicle inside Broughton Factory with another Nimrod fuse and ready to depart to Woodford . Two more Nimrod fuses can be seen to the rear, Nimrod fuse production to the offside and HS125 Executive Jet production to the nearside.

TDM402F again and busy with another job in 1971 at Manchester Airport as she manoeuvres a Queen Mary type pantograph trailer below and into a Super Guppy transporter aircraft en route to Bremen, Germany with the first set of Broughton produced A300 Airbus wings.

After a long and varied career at Broughton, here’s TDM402F once more, pictured in well earned retirement as she appeared at the Tern Valley Rally in 2002.

Broughton Factory also had a few old rigid aircraft refuellers , which were only used within the factory and airfield confines, a few Queen Mary trailers, a Thornycroft Nubian crash tender (maybe more than one?), a forward control Landrover and a six wheel Rangerover conversion were also used by the company Fire Service there. The Landrover was later used at the Bird Scaring Unit! They also had some buses for staff transport - Bristols, a couple of Seddons and later a couple of Bedfords.

Any help with further details or photos of road transport at Broughton Aircraft Factory or any information on the old Flintshire / Chester road transport concerns would be gratefully received.

Hope you have enjoyed the pictures, thanks for you interest in reading this posting.

Cheers - RR

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Next time you’re strolling through the Cross in Chester City Centre and the Town Crier is in full flow - pause for thought - that loads like this once passed though there… a DH Comet 2 fuse en-route from Belfast to Broughton taken in about 1957. This was the only Comet 2 fully completed at Broughton although the factory went on to built 40 Comet 4’s between 1958-64. - Mind you that Scammell looks far more impressive to me!

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Some Cracking photos there Rapidgem, with me being a Truck and Aviation enthusiast its the best of both worlds.

Thanks for posting them.

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Glad that you enjoyed them Sugar Ray, thanks for your comments.

Cheers - RR

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Cough, Cough, :wink: just blowing the dust off this old thread, I am yet again indebted to Bubbs for the following clipping from his Scrapbook memories - Cheers again Bubbs :smiley:

I’m pleased to say that the Mandator is still about and appears occasionally on the rally scene, see pic above.

Can I take this opportunity to appeal for any further info on transport at Broughton ( Chester) Factory of Airbus, British Aerospace and it’s predecessors - Vickers-Armstrong, De Havilland and Hawker-Siddeley, any help would be appreciated on this topic and with any info on the old Flintshire and Chester area firms.

Cheers - Rob.

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Hello Rob,still looking for the Leyland journal for you mate,but found this while searching for it. :laughing:

Koff Kofff Koffff,bloody dust Rob!!!

Cheers Marc. :wink:

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bubbleman:
Hello Rob,still looking for the Leyland journal for you mate,but found this while searching for it. :laughing:

Koff Kofff Koffff,bloody dust Rob!!!

Cheers Marc. :wink:

Nice one Marc, no rush on the Leyland Journal all in good time, I know it will be worth the wait :smiley:

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How many of you remember getting stuck behind this Daf 95 as it made it’s way from Broughton, Chester (via A55 and M56) to Manchester Airport with European Airbus Wing boxes in the 90’s when similar loads were a frequent sight on this route?

A big thanks to N Z Jamie for sending me a copy of this piccy. Cheers m8!

Nowadays, most versions of Airbus wing boxes are loaded onto an Airbus A300-600ST Beluga Super Transporter aircraft at Broughton and flown directly from there ( via Hawarden Airport which is situared alongide the Broughton factory) to the Airbus plant in Toulouse.(The only exception being the 48 metre long Airbus A380 wing boxes which are taken by a special barge along the River Dee near the Airbus plant to Mostyn Dock when they are loaded on to a vessel bound for France)

Here’s how it’s done these days:-

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rapidgem:
How many of you remember getting stuck behind this Daf 95 as it made it’s way from Broughton, Chester (via A55 and M56) to Manchester Airport with European Airbus Wing boxes in the 90’s when similar loads (from mid 70’s to late 90’s) were a frequent sight on this route?

Sorry for the poor quality, it’s a photocopy. I’m on the lookout for Trucking International for October 1991 - my copy got lost in a house move :frowning: - My good lady swears she didn’t feed it to dusty bin when me back was turned! If anyone has a spare copy I’m prepared to pay the going rate. Cheers.

Nowadays, most versions of Airbus wing boxes are loaded onto an Airbus A300-600ST Beluga Super Transporter aircraft at Broughton and flown directly from there ( via Hawarden Airport which is situared alongide the Broughton factory) to the Airbus plant in Toulouse.(The only exception being the 48 metre long Airbus A380 wing boxes which are taken by a special barge along the River Dee near the Airbus plant to Mostyn Dock when they are loaded on to a vessel bound for France)

Here’s how it’s done these days:-

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