Airplane and Armament Experimental Establishment
The Airplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A & AEE) was a British military aviation research establishment that existed from 1918 to 1992.
history
In 1917 the Experimental Aircraft Flight of the Central Flying School in Wiltshire was relocated to Martlesham in Suffolk . On January 16, 1917, Martlesham Heath Airfield officially opened as an airfield for test aircraft. The unit was subsequently renamed the Airplane Experimental Unit, Royal Flying Corps . After the First World War , the space remained in use, but was renamed the Airplane and Armament Experimental Establishment of the Royal Air Force (A & AEE).
After the outbreak of the Second World War , the A & AEE was relocated to a new location in Boscombe Down in the middle of Salisbury Plain because of the proximity of Martlesham Heath to the east coast of England and the associated risk from German bombing . The airfield was then referred to as RAF Boscombe Down .
By mid-September 1939, about 50 aircraft and their associated military and civilian personnel had arrived in Boscombe. The facility was declared operational on September 20, although there was still no way to test aircraft armaments over test sites. The Boscombe field had been set up as a regional control center for the RAF Bomber Command . The blind flight training and development unit was also set up there in September. However, there was only one grass runway for takeoffs and landings, a small paved area, one new and five hangars from before 1930 and a few other permanent structures. The construction activity during the war was not enough to change anything. For example, a concrete runway, which was considered important for the operation of heavy test aircraft, was not completed until early 1945.
During the war, the A & AEE took on additional tasks such as testing weapons as well as performance and acceptance tests for all new emergency aircraft. The work to be carried out also included the development of dehumidifying devices for cockpit windows and flame dampers for aircraft that are used at night.
In 1946 the A & AEE, like other military research institutions, came under the Ministry of Supply . In 1950 the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment was affiliated with him. After the Ministry of Supply was dissolved in 1950, the A & AEE moved to the Ministry of Aviation , then in 1967 to the Ministry of Technology , 1970 to the Ministry of Aviation Supply and finally in 1971 to the Ministry of Technology .
The A & AEE has been involved in many major developments in the UK aviation industry. Particular mention should be made of the tests carried out on many aircraft of the British armed forces since the Second World War. These included the first flights of the English Electric P.1 , the direct predecessor of the English Electric Lightning and the BAC TSR.2 . The School of Aviation Medicine was also located on the premises . The special advantages of the A & AEE included the test facilities, such as a wind tunnel in which speeds of up to 640 km / h could be achieved and a large hangar for simulating extreme environmental conditions, where e.g. B. Temperatures of −40 to +50 ° C and a humidity of up to 100% could be achieved. A weighing bridge was also available for determining the weight and center of gravity for aircraft up to 135 t.
In 1992, when responsibility for experimental work was transferred to the Defense Research Agency , the Airplane and Armament Experimental Establishment was renamed the Aircraft and Armament Evaluation Establishment . The Defense Test and Evaluation Organization (DTEO) took over responsibility for the site in 1993 from the MoD Procurement Executive . In 1995 the Defense Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) became the owner of the facilities. In 2001 the DERA was split into two separate organizations: one was the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), which continued to be part of the state administration, the rest became part of QinetiQ , whose employees in Boscombe Down were given their status as Public sector workers lost.
organization
During the war, the A & AEE's aircraft fleet was organized into two squadrons, which in turn were divided into flights. The job was to test new models and new armament. During the Second World War, over 150 aircraft, mostly prototypes or aircraft for weapon development, were regularly stationed here. Although the station was operated and administered by the RAF, the technical office was part of the Air Ministry. The structure was in detail:
- Performance Testing Squadron
three pre-war flights + one deployed during the war.
- A Flight (A per T, fighter planes)
- B Flight (B per T, bomb planes)
- C Flight
- D Flight
These were reorganized as Squadron A to D in 1944.
- Armament Testing Squadron
three flights
- A (Gunnery) Flight
- B (bombing) flight
- C (Special Duty Flight)
Flights A and B were incorporated into Squadrons A and B in 1944. The actual strength of the A-Squadron was at the beginning of 1946 at about 20 machines, which included Gloster Meteor Mk.III and Mk.IV, newer variants of the Supermarine Spitfire and a number of Hawker Tempest .
- Other
-
- High Altitude Flight
- Intensive flying development unit
- Gun Proofing Flight
- BATDU / WIDU / 109 Squadron (1939-1942)
- Affiliated units
-
- No. 58 Squadron RAF
- No. 56 Squadron RAF
- No. 249 Squadron RAF
- Handling flight CFS
- Bomber Development Unit
Commanding officers
- Group Captain B. McEntegart
- Group Captain Ralph Sorley
- Air Commodore RB Mansell
- Air Commodore A. Greig
- Air Commodore John Boothman - Boothman was a pre-war pilot with the A&AEE
- Air Commodore HP Fraser
literature
- Don Robertson: A testing time, Part 1 - Test Pilot with the Airplane and Armament Establishment 1943-1945 . In: Airplane Monthly December 1982, pp. 658-661
- William Green, Gordon Swanborough: Testing to Perfection - The work of the Airplane an Armament Experimental Establishment . In: AIR International July 1983, pp. 13-18, 34-37
- Tom Neil: Boscombe Down Memories - Test piloting with the A & AEE 1946-1950 . In: AIR Enthusiast No. 54 Summer 1994, pp. 36-51
- Tim Mason: The Secret Years: Flight Testing at Boscombe Down 1919-1945 Hidoki 1998.
Individual evidence
- ↑ UCL Adastral Park Postgraduate Research Campus - History of the site ( Memento from August 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Mason p. 6
- ↑ Mason p. 7
- ^ "Records of the Airplane and Armament Experimental Establishment", National Archives, AVIA Division 4, [1]
- ↑ Boscombe Down - An Apprentice's Perspective
- ↑ Tom Neil: Boscombe Down Memories p. 39