News / Arts
Museum Week: Bristol Boxkite
It’s Museum Week from March 23-29 and to celebrate, each day this week we’ll be taking a look at a different item from Bristol’s museums.
The Bristol Boxkite was developed in 1910 at the UK’s first commercial airplane factory in Filton. It was the first full production airplane; over 70 were made and sold worldwide.
The Boxkite at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery is a replica, one of three built from the original drawings by Miles and Co for the 1964 film Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, where it featured as the Phoenix Flyer.
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After filming, 20th Century Fox sold the aircraft to the British Aircraft Corporation at Filton, who presented the plane to the museum in 1965. It has hung in the front hall ever since.
Photo by Sarah McDowall
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