Bradfield is one of four Australian recipients of the ICAO Edward Warner Award, civil aviation's highest honour (alongside Don Anderson, Brian O'Keeffe and David Warren).

[4] In November 1934, at age 24 Bradfield was selected as the Rhodes Scholar for New South Wales, and began doctoral studies in Engineering Science at New College, Oxford.

Originally intending to complete a final year of study at University of California, Berkeley (which conducted the world's only course in airport design), with the continuing tensions leading up to the Second World War the Rhodes trustees asked him to remain in England and Bradfield spent the remaining time of his scholarship working for the airport design firm Norman and Dawbarn.

[6] In this role, Bradfield created designs for a significant expansion of Kingsford Smith Airport in Sydney, with his plans approved by Prime Minister Ben Chifley in March 1946.

[7][8] In 1947 Bradfield was appointed as Australia's permanent representative on the council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Faced with the growing challenges to airport infrastructure posed by the growth of the number and size of passenger jets entering service, requiring redesigns of runways and taxiways, and larger terminals.

NSW Labor MP for Shortland, Charles Griffiths, in particular questioned Bradfield on this in a sitting of the Parliamentary Works Committee, "I think you will admit that you will give Tullamarine a distinct edge, in that for five or seven years this sort of thing will have to occur."

[2] Returning to Sydney, Bradfield lived in retirement until he died aged 95 on 12 June 2006, survived by his wife Jeannette, two sons, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.