Ready for Take Off | Harrodian | Independent School West London | Pre Prep, Prep, Seniors and Sixth

Reach for the Sky

The 12s STEM trip to Brooklands Aviation and Motoring Museum included both a fascinating history of manpowered flight and the inspirational life story of a Concorde pilot.

Fifty children from the 12s (Year 8) joined a STEM Club-inspired visit to Brooklands Aviation and Motoring Museum in early February. This trip focused on the history of aeroplanes from the first manpowered flight to the present: as expedition leader Mr Jake Murray explains, the museum collection provides everything you need to tell this vivid and exciting story.

Brookland has everything from replicas of the Wright Brothers Flyer of 1903 and Louis Bleriot’s channel-crossing monoplane through Lancaster and Wellington bombers, to supersonic planes such as the Harrier and Concorde

‘Brooklands is packed with historic classics,’ says Mr Murray. ‘There’s everything from replicas of the Wright Brothers Flyer of 1903 and Louis Bleriot’s channel-crossing monoplane to original first and second world war fighters and bombers such as the Sopwith Camel biplane, the Hurricane, and the Lancaster and Wellington bombers, all the way through to supersonic planes such as the Harrier jump jet and the Concorde airliner.’

Girls at controls of Jet airliner — There were plenty of opportunities for children to try out the cockpit controls in all sorts of aeroplanes

Learning how a propeller works — Pupils investigated how the rotary motion of propellers provides the thrust that enables planes to fly

The focus of the story for the day was on the way the design and manufacture of aeroplanes has evolved from early wood and canvas through the first aluminium warplanes of the second world war to modern airliners and jet fighters. ‘Aviation is a story driven by constant innovation over the past century and more,’ says Mr Murray. ‘Today the emphasis of manufacturers has shifted to efficiency and sustainability but it’s still an exciting field for engineers to work. There’s even a new supersonic airliner in development called ‘Boom’.

At the controls
in the pilot's seat

Captain john and Concorde nose

Along with the aeroplanes Harrodian’s party also had a Concorde pilot as a source of aviation inspiration. Captain John Tye (who is a schoolfriend of the Headmaster) joined the visit to Brooklands to tell pupils the story of a 46 pilots to year career journey which saw him defy the odds to become one of only 134 Concorde pilots despite a rare medical condition which affected his legs. Captain John has written a book about his remarkable journey, ‘Life of a Concorde pilot: from the orphanage to the edge of space’ which you can purchase here.