Why were the Brabazon's nacelles so slim?

Short answer

Because they didn't hold the engines. The eight 18-cylinder Bristol Centaurus engines sat in pairs buried inside the wing, next to the fuselage, to improve drag and leave room for the outer tanks; their shafts converged on a huge central gearbox, and the four forward nacelles carried only the eight contra-rotating propellers.

Published: November 5, 2026 · Updated: November 5, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

Why were the Brabazon's nacelles so slim?

Bristol brabazon wheel arp

The engines, inside the wing

The Brabazon was powered by eight 18-cylinder Bristol Centaurus radial engines. They were mounted in pairs and buried in the wing, close to the fuselage, to improve aerodynamic drag and leave room for the outer fuel tanks. The shafts of each pair angled towards a huge central gearbox. Only four nacelles projected forward, on which eight paired contra-rotating propellers were mounted.

A wing that had to be protected from gusts

The large wingspan, the mounting of the engines so close to the wing root and the structural weight savings called for some new measure to prevent flexing of the wing surfaces in turbulence. The answer was a gust alleviation system developed specifically for the aircraft, with a set of servos driven by a gust-detecting probe installed on the outside of the nose.

Saving tons of metal

The Type 167 used non-standardised skin thicknesses to match each panel to the strength required, which saved several tons of metal. The aircraft was named Brabazon after the Brabazon Committee and its chairman, Lord Brabazon of Tara, who had drawn up the specification for which the airliner was designed.