Town in Hampshire, England
Farnborough
A Hampshire town where an exiled French emperor lies buried, Britain's first official powered flight took off, and a Comet airliner was drowned in a tank.
Key information
- County
- Hampshire
- Nation
- England
- Known for
- The Farnborough Airshow, early British aviation and the Royal Aircraft Establishment
- Famous people
- Samuel Franklin Cody, Empress Eugénie, Eric 'Winkle' Brown
About Farnborough
The cowboy who got Britain airborne
On 16 October 1908, a showman in a Wild West-style hat flew a machine across a patch of Farnborough common. Samuel Franklin Cody, an American-born performer turned aviation pioneer, covered about 1,390 feet in British Army Aeroplane No 1. It is recognised as the first official powered flight in Britain. Cody was a natural for the job. He had already been flying enormous man-lifting kites for the army, and he brought the same showmanship to aeroplanes. He died in a crash in 1913, but Farnborough's reputation as the place where British flying grew up was already secure.
From balloons to the sound barrier
The town's aviation story began with gas bags. In 1905 the army's Balloon Factory moved to Farnborough, and it soon became the Royal Aircraft Factory and, later, the Royal Aircraft Establishment, the RAE. In October 1907 the army airship Nulli Secundus flew from Farnborough to London, circling St Paul's Cathedral before coming down at Crystal Palace. It was an early public show of what the site could do. For decades afterwards the RAE tested, tweaked and sometimes broke the country's most advanced aircraft. After the Second World War, test pilot Eric 'Winkle' Brown flew captured German aircraft here, learning what the enemy's designs could really do.
The airliner dropped in a water tank
When de Havilland Comet airliners began breaking up in flight in the early 1950s, the answer was found at Farnborough. Engineers placed a Comet fuselage in a huge water tank and repeatedly pressurised and depressurised it to mimic flights. The fuselage eventually cracked from metal fatigue. In the tank, the failure began at the forward escape-hatch cut-out. Fatigue near a roof-mounted aerial window was found in the wreckage of a different Comet. The findings changed how every aircraft since has been designed, with rounded windows and far more rigorous fatigue testing.
Every two years, the sky gets very loud
The Farnborough Airshow has been held at the town's airfield since 1948 and takes place in July of even-numbered years. It is one of the world's major aerospace trade shows, where airlines and manufacturers announce huge orders. It now runs Monday to Friday, as the traditional public weekend was dropped after the 2018 show. The airfield is also now home to Farnborough Airport, which handles business aviation. Nearby, the FAST museum keeps the town's research history alive, with aircraft and engineering stories from the RAE years.
An emperor's tomb in suburban Hampshire
One of Farnborough's most surprising sights is a French imperial mausoleum. After the fall of the Second Empire, Empress Eugénie, widow of Napoleon III, settled at Farnborough Hill. Her husband had died in exile in Kent in 1873. Her only son, the Prince Imperial, was killed in the Zulu War in 1879. She built St Michael's Abbey on the hill to house their tombs, and Napoleon III was moved there in 1888. The abbey, with its French-flavoured design, was run by Benedictine monks. Farnborough Hill, the house where Eugénie lived, is now a school.
The Boro and the big day at Highbury
Farnborough FC, nicknamed The Boro, play at Cherrywood Road. The club's most famous day came on 25 January 2003, when Farnborough Town drew Arsenal in the FA Cup fourth round. The tie was switched to Highbury, where the non-league side lost 5-1. The club hit financial trouble and went into liquidation in 2007, but supporters formed a new Farnborough FC, and the Boro are still going.