John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara,
GBE,
MC,
PC (8 February 1884 – 17 May 1964) was an
English aviation pioneer and
Conservative politician. He was the first Englishman to pilot a heavier-than-air machine under power in England, and he served as
Minister of Transport and
Minister of Aircraft Production during
World War II.
Early life
Moore-Brabazon was born in
London to Lieutenant-Colonel John Arthur Henry Moore-Brabazon (1828–1908) and his wife, Emma Sophia (d. 1937). He was educated at
Harrow School before reading engineering at
Trinity College, Cambridge, but did not graduate. He spent university holidays working for
Charles Rolls as an unpaid mechanic, and became an apprentice at
Darracq in
Paris after leaving Cambridge. In 1907 he won the
Circuit des Ardennes in a
Minerva.
Pioneer aviator
He learned to fly in 1908 in
France in a
Voisin biplane. He became the first resident Englishman to make an officially recognized aeroplane flight in England on 2 May 1909 on the
Isle of Sheppey with flights of 450ft, 600ft, and 1500ft. On 4 May 1909 Moore-Brabazon had his picture taken outside of the aero club Mussel Manor, now known as Muswell Manor, alongside the
Wright Brothers, the
Short Brothers,
Charles Rolls, and many other early aviation pioneers. In 1909 he sold his Voisin biplane,
Bird of Passage to
Arthur Edward George (who learned to fly in it at the
Royal Aero Club's flying-ground at Shellbeach) and bought a
Short Brothers...
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