Air Vice Marshal Sir William Sefton Brancker, (22 March 1877 – 5 October 1930) was a British pioneer in

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

and military aviation and senior officer of the Royal Flying Corps and later

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. He was killed in an airship crash in 1930, exactly 20 years after his first flight.

Early life

Sefton Brancker was born in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...

, the eldest son of Col. William Godeffroy Brancker and Hester Adelaide, the daughter of Major General Henry Charles Russell. Brancker grew up as the elder of two brothers and their father died in 1885. From 1891–94, the young Brancker attended Bedford School. His father was born in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

to a British father and German mother; the Branckers were a long-established Anglo-German family that had lived in England for several generations. On 7 April 1907, he married May Wynne, the daughter of Colonel Spencer Field of the Royal Warwickshire regiment; they had one son, also called William Sefton Brancker.

Military career

Brancker was trained for the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

at Woolwich, joining the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in 1896.Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker
/ref> He served in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

and later in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, where he made his first flight in 1910.Raleigh 1922, pp. 421–22. On 18 June 1913 he was awarded the

Royal Aero Club The Royal Aero Club (RAeC) is the national co-ordinating body for air sport in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1901 as the Aero Club of Great Britain, being granted the title of the "Royal Aero Club" in 1910. History The Aero Club was foun ...

's Aviator's Certificate no. 525. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Brancker held important posts in the Royal Flying Corps, including Director of Military Aeronautics. In late 1915 a brigade system was introduced in the RFC and Brancker was promoted to

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

and appointed to command the Northern Training Brigade with his headquarters in Birmingham. This appointment was to be short-lived as in early 1916 Brancker was appointed Director of Air Organisation in London. In 1917, Brancker briefly served as the General Officer Commanding Royal Flying Corps's Palestine Headquarters and then its Middle East headquarters. Promoted to

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

in 1918, he became Controller-General of Equipment in January of that year and Master-General of Personnel in August 1918. On 23 August 1918 he resigned his commission in the Army and was granted a permanent commission as major-general in the RAF. He was appointed

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as o ...

on 1 January 1919 and retired from the RAF with the rank of major-general on 13 January following. He was granted the rank of air vice-marshal in 1924.''

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...

1929–1940'', p. 154.

Civil aviation

On 11 May 1922 he was made Director of Civil Aviation, and worked assiduously to stimulate UK interest in the subject with both local authorities and flying clubs. He encouraged Manchester and other cities to construct municipal airports and airfields. He participated in several long-distance survey flights, notably with

Alan Cobham Sir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC (6 May 1894 – 21 October 1973) was an English aviation pioneer. Early life and family As a child he attended Wilson's School, then in Camberwell, London. The school relocated to the former site of Croydo ...

. He was an ardent supporter of the development of British civilian air services connecting London to British colonies and dominions overseas.Pirie 2009. Sir Sefton was chairman of the

's (RAeC) Racing Committee from 1921 to 1930 and his dynamic leadership led to the RAeC forming the Light Aero Club scheme in 1925, which helped provide the UK clubs with examples of such new and improved aircraft types as the

de Havilland Moth The de Havilland Moths were a series of light aircraft, sports planes, and military trainers designed by Geoffrey de Havilland. In the late 1920s and 1930s, they were the most common civilian aircraft flying in Britain, and during that time ever ...

and

Avro Avian The Avro Avian was a series of British light aircraft designed and built by Avro in the 1920s and 1930s. While the various versions of the Avian were sound aircraft, they were comprehensively outsold by the de Havilland Moth and its descendant ...

Death

Together with

Lord Thomson Christopher Birdwood Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson, (13 April 1875 – 5 October 1930) was a British Army officer who went on to serve as a Labour minister and peer. He served as Secretary of State for Air under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and betw ...

, the Air Minister, Brancker was killed when the airship

R101 R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airships completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was designed and built by an Air Mi ...

crashed near Beauvais, France, on 5 October 1930, during its maiden voyage to India. His death occurred on the 20th anniversary of his first flight.

Legacy

In 1952

British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The a ...

named its 'Pionair' ( Douglas DC-3) G-AKNB "Sir Sefton Brancker" to mark his substantial contribution to the development of British Aviation. In 1996 British Airways (BA) named one of its newly delivered

Boeing 777 The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet. The 777 was designed to bridge the gap betw ...

s "Sir William Sefton Branker" in recognition of his work. Other 777s in the BA fleet were named after aviation pioneers, for example "Wilbur and Orville Wright" and "Sir Frank Whittle." The aircraft (G-ZZZB) no longer carries Sir Sefton's name, aircraft names having been removed from the BA fleet since the short-lived 1997 Utopia re-branding. Kenmore Park housing estate in Kenton Harrow has a number of its roads named after aviators including Brancker. Brancker Road in Plymouth was named in his honour during build in the mid 1930s.

References

;Footnotes ;Bibliography * Pirie, Gordon H. ''Air Empire: British Imperial Civil Aviation, 1919–1939''. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009. * Raleigh, Walter. ''The War In The Air: Being the Story of The part played in the Great War by The Royal Air Force: Vol I''. Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1922.

External links

* , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Brancker, Sefton 1877 births 1930 deaths British people of German descent Aviation pioneers Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in France British Army major generals British Army personnel of the Second Boer War English aviators Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People educated at Bedford School Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class Royal Air Force air marshals Royal Air Force generals of World War I Royal Artillery officers Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) Military personnel from Kent Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1930