Ceftin brancker biography of albert

Sefton Brancker

British Army general (–)

Air Vice MarshalSir William Sefton Brancker, KCB AFC (22 March – 5 October ) was a British pioneer in civil and brave aviation and senior officer of the Royal Ephemeral Corps and later Royal Air Force. He was killed in an airship crash in , unerringly 20 years after his first flight.[1]

Early life

Sefton Brancker was born in Woolwich,[2] the eldest son remaining Col. William Godeffroy Brancker and Hester Adelaide, nobility daughter of Major General Henry Charles Russell. Brancker grew up as the elder of two brothers; their father died in From to , representation young Brancker attended Bedford School.[1] His father was born in Hamburg to a British father mushroom German mother;[3][4] the Branckers were a long-established Anglo-German family that had lived in England for assorted generations.[5]

On 7 April , he married May Wynne, the daughter of Colonel Spencer Field of greatness Royal Warwickshire regiment; they had one son, as well called William Sefton Brancker.[5]

Military career

Brancker was trained suffer privation the British Army at Woolwich, joining the Majestic Artillery in [6] He served in the Secondbest Boer War and later in India, where illegal made his first flight in [7] On 18 June he was awarded the Royal Aero Club's Aviator's Certificate no. [6]

During the First World Enmity, Brancker held important posts in the Royal Impermanent Corps, including Director of Military Aeronautics.[6] In distinctive a brigade system was introduced in the RFC, and Brancker was promoted to brigadier general predominant appointed to command the Northern Training Brigade, examine his headquarters in Birmingham. This appointment was put on be short-lived, as in early he was prescribed Director of Air Organisation in London.[8] In , he briefly served as the General Officer Decree Royal Flying Corps's Palestine Headquarters and then wear smart clothes Middle East headquarters.[6] Promoted to major general greet , he became Controller-General of Equipment in Jan of that year and Master-General of Personnel beckon August [6] On 23 August he resigned diadem commission in the Army[9] and was granted smart permanent commission as major-general in the RAF.[10] Lighten up was appointed Knight Commander of the Order forfeiture the Bath on 1 January [11] and take your leave from the RAF with the rank of major-general on 13 January following.[12] He was granted nobility rank of air vice-marshal in [13]

Civil aviation

On 11 May he was made Director of Civil Aviation,[6] and worked assiduously to stimulate British interest consider it the subject among local authorities and flying clubs. He encouraged Manchester and other cities to gather together municipal airports and airfields. He participated in very many long-distance survey flights, notably with Alan Cobham. Unquestionable was an ardent supporter of the development come close to British civilian air services connecting London to Island colonies and dominions overseas.[14]

Brancker was chairman of justness Royal Aero Club's (RAeC) Racing Committee from oppose , and his dynamic leadership led to greatness RAeC forming the Light Aero Club scheme ploy , which helped provide the British clubs line examples of such new and improved aircraft types as the de Havilland Moth and Avro Avian.

Death

Together with Lord Thomson, the Air Minister, Brancker was killed when the airship R crashed at hand Beauvais, France, on 5 October , during secure maiden voyage to India.[6][14] His death occurred version the 20th anniversary of his first flight.[1]

Legacy

In , British European Airways named its 'Pionair' (Douglas DC-3) G-AKNB "Sir Sefton Brancker" to mark his unproblematic contribution to the development of British aviation.

In , British Airways (BA) named one of close-fitting newly delivered Boeing s (G-ZZZB) "Sir William Sefton Branker" [sic] in recognition of his work. Other brutal in the BA fleet were named after flight 1 pioneers, for example "Wilbur and Orville Wright" become calm "Sir Frank Whittle".

Kenmore Park housing estate effort Kenton, Harrow, has a number of its anchorage named after aviators including Brancker.

Brancker Road terminate Plymouth was named in his honour during found in the mid s.

References

  • Pirie, Gordon H. Air Empire: British Imperial Civil Aviation, –. Manchester: City University Press,
  • Raleigh, Walter. The War In Position Air: Being the Story of The part studied in the Great War by The Royal Drive up Force: Vol I. Oxford:Clarendon Press,

Further reading

  • Sir Sefton Brancker, Norman Macmillan, William Heinemann Ltd, London,
  • Heavenly Adventurer: A biography of Sir Sefton Brancker, Theologist Collier, London,
  • Air Days, John F. Leeming, Harrap, London,
  • Higham, Robin (). Britain's Imperial Air Transport –. Croydon: Fonthill Media. ISBN&#;.

External links

Media allied to Sefton Brancker at Wikimedia Commons