Bristol Aeroplane Company

Bristol Aeroplane Company
Industry	Aerospace manufacturer
Founded	1910 (as British and Colonial Aircraft Company)
Founder	Sir George White
Defunct	1966; (holding company); 1959; (aircraft production)
Fate	Split and merged
Successor	British Aircraft Corporation; Bristol Siddeley
Headquarters	Filton, United Kingdom
Key people	Frank Barnwell; Roy Fedden; Leslie Frise; Archibald Russell;
Subsidiaries	Bristol Aero-Engines; Bristol Helicopters; (1945–1959); Bristol Cars; (1945–1960); Bristol Aerospace; (1957–1966)

The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable aircraft produced by the company include the 'Boxkite', the Bristol Fighter, the Bulldog, the Blenheim, the Beaufighter, and the Britannia, and much of the preliminary work which led to Concorde was carried out by the company. In 1956 its major operations were split into Bristol Aircraft and Bristol Aero Engines. In 1959, Bristol Aircraft merged with several major British aircraft companies to form the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and Bristol Aero Engines merged with Armstrong Siddeley to form Bristol Siddeley.

BAC went on to become a founding component of the nationalised British Aerospace, now BAE Systems. Bristol Siddeley was purchased by Rolls-Royce in 1966, who continued to develop and market Bristol-designed engines. The BAC works were in Filton, about 4 miles (6 km) north of Bristol city centre. BAE Systems, Airbus, Rolls-Royce, MBDA and GKN still have a presence at the Filton site where the Bristol Aeroplane Company was located.