MoD Boscombe Down

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MoD Boscombe Down
IATA: N/A - ICAO: EGDM
Summary
Airport type		Military
Operator		QinetiQ
Serves		Amesbury
Elevation AMSL		407 ft (124 m)
Coordinates		51°09′08″N, 001°44′51″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
05/23	10,538	3,212	Concrete/Asphalt
17/35	6,278	1,914	Concrete/Asphalt

MoD Boscombe Down (IATA: N/A, ICAO: EGDM) is an aircraft testing site located south of Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. It is run and managed by QinetiQ, the Public-private partnership company created as part of the break up of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in 2001 by the UK Ministry of Defence. It is the home of the Empire Test Pilots' School.

[edit] History

Aircraft testing at the airfield started when the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) moved from RAF Martlesham Heath in August 1939, as World War II hostilities commenced, when the airfield was known as RAF Boscombe Down.[1]

The site has witnessed many significant developments in the British aviation industry, including trials of many aircraft flown by the British armed forces since the Second World War, such as the first flights of the English Electric P 1, forerunner of the Lightning, and the BAC TSR.2. It was also formerly home to the School of Aviation Medicine.

In 1992 the site was renamed the Aircraft and Armament Evaluation Establishment when experimental work moved to the Defence Research Agency. Responsibility for the site passed from the MoD Procurement Executive to the Defence Test and Evaluation Organisation (DTEO) in 1993, and subsequently to the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in 1995.

With the creation of QinetiQ in 2001 Boscombe Down was handed over on a 25 year Long Term Partnering Agreement (LTPA) with responsibility for testing all future MoD aircraft. There are still military personnel stationed at Boscombe Down who work with QinetiQ as part of the testing and development processes, including flying the aircraft themselves.

[edit] Today

The site has two runways, one approximately three kilometres in length and the second 1.8 kilometres. It is also currently home to the Southampton University Air Squadron [2] and Empire Test Pilots' School [3].

Boscombe Down has been associated with rumours concerning U.S. black projects. One notable incident is reported to have occurred there in 1994, although evidence is patchy and unreliable. [4]