RAE Bedford

RAE Bedford (from Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford) based near the village of Thurleigh, north of the town of Bedford in England, has been the site of major aircraft experimental development work.

In the book "A Short Illustrated History of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford", author Arthur Pearcy writes: "(RAE Bedford is ) the finest research and development establishment outside the U.S.A."

RAE Bedford

Starting in 1946, construction work began on the airfield to turn the site into what became known as the Royal Aeronautical Establishment, Bedford. The runway was extended in the post-war period to accommodate the Bristol Brabazon aircraft (which required a very long runway) that ultimately never went into production. A lot of the development for what became the Harrier was done here, one early version became known as the 'Flying Bedstead'. Also Thurleigh had a catapult runway and it was here that the 'ski jump' later fitted to some aircraft carriers was also developed. One local road goes through a cutting for a runway to be put above it, linking the Airfield site to the tunnel site about a mile and a half away. Although ultimately this was never carried out. The runway is some 10,500ft long, and some 300ft wide and as of June 2011 is used by a number of car storage companies.

The airfield was decommissioned in February 1994 after a lengthy study determined that flight operations should be centralised at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire. Due to the cost and impracticality of relocating the Advanced Flight Simulator system the site retains some of its development work (under the banner of QinetiQ from mid-2001 onwards). As of early 2007, QinetiQ have sold their remaining stake in the Bedford Airfield site (as well as the nearby 'Wind Tunnel' site) and are planning to relocate the remaining staff to Farnborough in early 2008, finally ending the site's long association with military aviation.

The airfield was closed in 1997 with the RAE having become the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). DERA consolidated its experimental flying operations at Boscombe Down, moving aircraft from Farnborough as well as Bedford.

References

• Pearcy, Arthur. A Short Illustrated History of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford Shrewsbury Airlife Publishing Ltd. 1999. (ISBN 1-85310-360-8)