Brooklands Museum

Brooklands epitomises some significant features of the British aircraft and motor car industries, and of motor sport. An embanked concrete racetrack for motorcars was built by the landowner Hugh Locke King in 1907. The track was crossed by a steel bridge, symbolising the two new constructional materials of the early twentieth century. Brooklands was fashionable, and had a distinctly upper-middle-class atmosphere, reflected in the clubhouse. The following year A V Roe made there the first powered flight by a Briton in a British aeroplane. The first public demonstration of flying in Britain took place there in 1909, and flying training commenced in 1910 and continued for many years. The kiosk used from 1911 to sell tickets for pleasure flights still stands. In 1914 the Bleriot company began to build aircraft at Brooklands and in 1915 Vickers commenced aircraft production in the former Itala motorcar factory within the racing circuit. Aircraft were made on the site until 1987. The museum portrays both aspects of the history of Brooklands. The track and almost all the buildings remain from the motor racing track of the early twentieth century, which has many similarities to a horse-racing course. The aircraft collection includes a replica of A V Roe’s biplane of 1908, a Wellington bomber restored after recovery from Loch Ness, three post-Second World War airliners of types that were built at Brooklands, a Viking, a VC10 and a BAC 1-11, and a Concorde. Many aspects of aircraft construction are displayed in the museum and visitors are able to explore the Acoustics Building, a laboratory built by the British Aircraft Corporation in the 1960s.