Sefton Brancker

Air Vice Marshal Sir William Sefton Brancker, KCB, AFC (22 March 1877 – 5 October 1930), commonly known as Sir Sefton Brancker, was a senior officer of the Royal Flying Corps and later Royal Air Force, and pioneer in British civil and military aviation.

Sefton Brancker was born on 22 March 1877, at Woolwich in Kent. His parents were Colonel William Godefroy Brancker and Hester Adelaide, the daughter of Major General Henry Charles Russel. Brancker grew up as the elder of two brothers and their father died in 1885. From 1891-94, the young Brancker attended Bedford School. The Branckers were a long-established Anglo-German family that had lived in England for several generations.

Brancker was trained for the British Army at Woolwich, joining the Royal Artillery in 1896. He served in the Second Boer War and later for a number of years in India, where he made his first flight in 1910. On 18 June 1913 he was awarded the Royal Aero Club's Aviator's Certificate no. 525.

During the First World War, Brancker held important administrative posts in the Royal Flying Corps and later the Royal Air Force including Director of Military Aeronautics. In late 1915 a brigade system was introduced in the RFC and Brancker was promoted to brigadier general 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 in 1918, he became Controller-General of Equipment in January of that year and Master-General of Personnel in August 1918. The following year, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath and, with the introduction of RAF-specific ranks, he became an air vice marshal.

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

Sir Sefton was chairman of the Royal Aero Club'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 and Avro Avian.

The wreckage of R101.

Together with Lord Thomson, the Air Minister, Brancker was killed when the airship R101 crashed near Beauvais France on 5 October 1930, during its maiden voyage to India.

In 1952 British European Airways 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's "Sir William Sefton Branker" [sic] 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.