Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel ...

John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara, , HonFRPS (8 February 1884 – 17 May 1964), was an English

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

pioneer and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization ...

politician. He was the first Englishman to pilot a heavier-than-air machine under power in England, and he served as

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...

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 née Richards (died 1937). He was educated at Harrow School before reading engineering at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, but did not graduate. He spent university holidays working for

Charles Rolls Charles Stewart Rolls (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was a British motoring and aviation pioneer. With Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident wit ...

as an unpaid mechanic, and became an apprentice at

Darracq A Darracq and Company Limited owned a French manufacturer of motor vehicles and aero engines in Suresnes, near Paris. The French enterprise, known at first as A. Darracq et Cie, was founded in 1896 by Alexandre Darracq after he sold his Glad ...

in Paris after leaving Cambridge. In 1907 he won the Circuit des Ardennes in a

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Ro ...

Pioneer aviator

Moore-Brabazon first flew solo in November 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, at Shellbeach on the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is deriv ...

with flights of 450 ft, 600 ft, and 1500 ft. On 4 May 1909, Moore-Brabazon was photographed outside the Royal Aero Club clubhouse Mussell Manor (now Muswell Manor Holiday Park) alongside the Wright Brothers, the

Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...

, and many other early aviation pioneers. In 1909 he sold the ''Bird of Passage'' to

Arthur Edward George Arthur Edward George (17 June 1875 – 8 September 1951) was an accomplished sportsman, an aviation pioneer, aircraft designer, racing driver, engineer and businessman. He served in the Second Boer War (in the British Cape Colony armed forces), ...

, who learned to fly in it at the Royal Aero Club's flying-ground at Shellbeach and bought a

-built Wright biplane. A documentary, ''A Dream of Flight'', was made in 2009 to celebrate the centenary of his achievement on the Isle of Sheppey. On 30 October 1909, flying the Short Biplane No. 2, he flew a circular mile and won a 1,000 pound prize offered by the '' Daily Mail'' newspaper. On 4 November 1909, as a joke to prove that pigs could fly,Arnold-Baker, Charles (1996, 2001): ''The Companion to British History.'' Routledge, London. . he put a small pig in a waste-paper basket tied to a wing-strut of his aeroplane. This may have been the first live cargo flight by aeroplane. With Charles Rolls, he would later make the first ascent in a spherical gas balloon, which had been made in England by the Short brothers. On 8 March 1910, Moore-Brabazon became the first person to qualify as a pilot in the United Kingdom and was awarded Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate number 1;''Flight'' 12 March 1910
/ref> his car also bore the number-plate FLY 1. However, only four months later, his friend Charles Rolls was killed in a flying accident and Moore-Brabazon's wife persuaded him to give up flying.

First World War

With the outbreak of war, Moore-Brabazon returned to flying, joining the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). He received a special-reserve commission as a second lieutenant (on probation) in the RFC on 2 December 1914, in the appointment of flying officer (assistant equipment officer), and was confirmed in his rank on 11 February 1915. He was promoted to lieutenant on 19 February 1915 and was appointed an equipment officer on 31 March, with the temporary rank of captain. On 1 September 1915, he was promoted to the substantive rank of captain, with a special temporary promotion to major on 18 May 1916. He served on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers * Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...

, where he played a key role in the development of

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing airc ...

and reconnaissance. On 1 April 1918, when the Royal Flying Corps merged with the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

to form the Royal Air Force, Moore-Brabazon was appointed as a staff officer (first class) and made a temporary lieutenant-colonel. He was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel in the RAF on 1 January 1919 in recognition of his wartime services, relinquishing his commission that year. Moore-Brabazon finished the war with the rank of

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel ...

. He was decorated with the Military Cross (MC) on 1 January 1917 and was also twice mentioned in dispatches, on 15 October 1915 and on 13 November 1916. He was further decorated as a Knight of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

in February 1916.

Pioneer yachtsman

In 1934 Moore-Brabazon fitted a gyro-rig to a

Bembridge Bembridge is a village and civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to the implausible claim by some residents that Bembridge ...

Redwing The redwing (''Turdus iliacus'') is a bird in the thrush family, Turdidae, native to Europe and the Palearctic, slightly smaller than the related song thrush. Taxonomy and systematics This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 17 ...

, an Isle of Wight class of yacht that allows and encourages the development of different rigs. The area of the rotating blades complies with the sail area limits of the class and are painted red, also to comply with the class rules. The boat was, and remains, dangerous, but it was probably the first auto-gyro boat. The boat is currently in the collection of the

Classic Boat Museum The Classic Boat Museum is a museum of boats and of the history of yachting and boating. It is located on the Isle of Wight at two separate sites on either side of the River Medina; The Boat Collection in Cowes, and The Gallery in East Cowes. It ...

at East Cowes, Isle of Wight, and still 'sails'.

Conservative MP

Moore-Brabazon later became a

Member of Parliament (MP) for Chatham (1918–1929) and

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral P ...

(1931–1942) and served as a junior minister in the 1920s. In 1931 and 1932 he served as a member of the London County Council. He was strongly opposed to war with Nazi Germany and in early 1939, when war seemed imminent, he made contact with Oswald Mosley in an attempt to co-ordinate activity against the war. Despite his earlier anti-war agitation, in Winston Churchill's wartime government, he was appointed

in October 1940 and joined the Privy Council, becoming Minister of Aircraft Production in May 1941. As the Minister of Transport he proposed the use of

Airgraph V-mail, short for Victory Mail, was a hybrid mail process used by the United States during the Second World War as the primary and secure method to correspond with soldiers stationed abroad. To reduce the cost of transferring an original letter t ...

s to reduce the weight and bulk of mails travelling between troops fighting in the Middle East and their families in the UK. He was forced to resign in 1942 for expressing the hope that Germany and the Soviet Union, then engaged in the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later r ...

, would destroy each other. Since the Soviet Union was fighting the war on the same side as Britain, the hope that it should be destroyed, though common in the Conservative Party, was unacceptable to the war effort.

Later life

Moore-Brabazon was elevated to the House of Lords as

Baron Brabazon of Tara Baron Brabazon of Hill of Tara, Tara, of Sandwich, Kent, Sandwich in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 27 April 1942 for the aviation pioneer and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politic ...

, of Sandwich in the County of Kent, in April 1942. In 1943 he chaired the

Brabazon Committee The Brabazon Committee was a committee set up by the British government in 1942 to investigate the future needs of the British Empire's civilian airliner market following World War II.Phipp, 2007, pp.15-16 The study was an attempt at defining, in ...

which planned to develop the post-war British aircraft industry. He was involved in the production of the

Bristol Brabazon The Bristol Type 167 Brabazon was a large British piston-engined propeller-driven airliner designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company to fly transatlantic routes between the UK and the United States. The type was named ''Brabazon'' after the ...

, a giant airliner that first flew on 4 September 1949. It was then and still is the largest aeroplane built entirely in Britain although only one example was built and it was a very expensive failure Britain could not afford. In 1949, when the House of Lords Yacht Club was established, Brabazon was its first Commodore. A keen golfer, Moore-Brabazon was captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping w ...

, from 1952 to 1953. In 1955, then 71 years old, he won the

Cresta Run The Cresta Run is a natural ice skeleton (sport), skeleton racing toboggan track in eastern Switzerland. Located in the winter sports town of St. Moritz, the run is one of the few in the world dedicated entirely to skeleton. It was built in 1 ...

Coronation Cup at an average speed of . Moore-Brabazon was president of the Royal Aero Club, receiving its gold medal in 1958, president of the Royal Institution, chairman of the

Air Registration Board The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the statutory corporation which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the United Kingdom. Its areas of responsibility include: * Supervising the issuing of pilots' licences, testing of e ...

, and president of the Middlesex County Automobile Club from 1946 until his death in 1964. He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1953. In 1960 he presented the Brabazon Cup to the British Women Pilots' Association, to be given for achievements in aviation. The first recipient was Yvonne Pope. On 27 November 1906, he married Hilda Mary Krabbé, with whom he had two sons. He was succeeded by his eldest son,

Derek Derek is a masculine given name. It is the English language short form of '' Diederik'', the Low Franconian form of the name Theodoric. Theodoric is an old Germanic name with an original meaning of "people-ruler". Common variants of the name ...

. Moore-Brabazon is buried in Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east ...

.''The Aeronautical Journal''
/ref>

References

External links

* * * Film trailer o

a documentary that celebrates the centenary of the first powered flight by a Briton in Britain, JTC Moore Brabazon, in 1909 on The Isle of Sheppey.
Photograph
by

Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as an Oscar–winning stage and costume designer for films and the thea ...

, 1940
Portrait in Pastels by Alfred Egerton Cooper, 1958

"Kestrel" Brabazon's Autogyro yacht at Classic Boat Museum
*
Papers
held by the

Royal Air Force Museum London The Royal Air Force Museum London (also commonly known as the RAF Museum) is located on the former Hendon Aerodrome. It includes five buildings and hangars showing the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force. It is part of the Royal Air Fo ...

Archive and Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brabazon of Tara, John Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron 1884 births 1964 deaths Aerial reconnaissance pioneers Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge John British Army personnel of World War I British aviation pioneers British people of World War II Burials in Buckinghamshire Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Moore-Brabazon, John English aviators Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Members of London County Council Members of the Early Birds of Aviation Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945 People educated at Harrow School Politicians from London Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War I Royal Flying Corps officers Secretaries of State for Transport (UK) Moore-Brabazon, John Moore-Brabazon, John Moore-Brabazon, John Moore-Brabazon, John Moore-Brabazon, John Moore-Brabazon, John UK MPs who were granted peerages 1 Barons created by George VI