Would Sir like a seat for the car as well?
Writing in my study in ‘locked-down’ Melbourne, Australia, traveling seems something we indulged in a long time ago. Road trips are a quintessential Aussie holiday, but taking your car with you on an aircraft is a rarity in this age of car rental companies and cheap airline tickets — pre-pandemic anyway.
Post-war England
The short but glorious age of the airborne car ferry was born in the 1940s from a military specification issued by Britain’s War Ministry. But the need for an aircraft capable of transporting military vehicles became redundant after World War Two concluded in 1945.
Nevertheless, the Bristol Aeroplane Company decided to produce the vehicle- transport aircraft anyway, to tide over the post-war drop in demand while its gigantic, eight-engine Brabazon passenger transport was being developed. Bristol’s interim product was designated the Type 170, more commonly known as the Bristol Freighter.
While the Bristol Brabazon never went into production, the Type 170 Freighter became a moderate success. The aircraft was a typical 1940s ‘tail-dragger’ design, with large clam-shell doors in the nose allowing access…
