Catalogue description BAE Systems Collection

BAE Systems

As an early cradle of UK aviation, aircraft production began at Filton in 1910 with Sir George White’s British & Colonial (later, Bristol) Aeroplane Company. Over one hundred years of succession, mergers and takeovers has seen the creation of the British Aircraft Corporation, Bristol Siddeley and British Aerospace, through to the well-known industry names of today such as BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Airbus.  From the earliest advances in flight to some of the world’s most successful aero engines, and the birth of supersonic flight to the latest innovations in composite materials, the region’s companies are still at the forefront of the world’s aerospace industry.