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(Image: Rez*; the former Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE Bedford) wind tunnel site)
After World War Two, two adjoining sites north of Bedford, in the East of England, were redeveloped into what became known as the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), an aeronautical research organisation overseen by the UK Ministry of Defence. Between 1946 and 1957, major infrastructure work was underway to transform RAF Thurleigh into what the Bedford Aeronautical Heritage Group described as “one of the most comprehensive research airfields in the UK, in Europe and indeed, in the World.” Meanwhile, immediately to the south, a site next to the abandoned wartime night fighter base of RAF Twinwood Farm was redeveloped into a series of large wind tunnels, testing aerodynamic capabilities and aircraft configurations at speeds of up to Mach 5.
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(Image: Rez*; abandoned control room within the RAE Bedford wind tunnel facility)
After Thurleigh airfield – also known as Bedford Aerodrome – closed in 1994, activities at RAE Bedford mainly came to a close. The site now serves as the Bedford Autodrome. The massive main runway is used for car storage while a short landing strip has been retained at the eastern end. A mile away, part of the abandoned wind tunnel facility now serves as Twinwood Business Park.
It seems an inglorious end for an organisation that for so many years worked on cutting-edge technologies poised to advance the field of aviation, though two former wind tunnels remain in use by private companies. This article offers a brief overview of RAE Bedford (for an in-depth history, click here), accompanied by a compelling series of images detailing the empty control rooms and industrial chambers of the former wind tunnel facility.
The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE Bedford): Background
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(Image: Rez*)
RAF Thurleigh was built in 1940 as a major Bomber Command station as the Royal Air Force sought to take the fight to Nazi Germany. But by the end of the war, as many hastily-constructed and short-lived airfields – like its contemporary at Twinwood Farm – were in the process of reverting to agricultural use, the British authorities had other plans for the old bomber base.
In 1946, they set about transforming the airfield into what would become a major proving ground for the operations for the Royal Aircraft Establishment, as an expansion of its existing facilities at Farnborough. British experimental aircraft were transported to RAE Bedford and put through their paces as the Cold War gathered pace.
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(Image: Rez*)
In a bid to embrace and support a new generation of long-range postwar aircraft, Thurleigh’s main runway was extended to an impressive 10,500 ft in length. Due to the myriad military aeronautical innovations forged during World War Two, the British government identified civil aviation as a market which Britain should seek to dominate after the conflict had ended. The ambitious Bristol Type 167 Brabazon, which was scrapped in 1953 having never gone into production, was one contender. Other innovative X-planes researched at RAE Bedford, however, were more successful.
During the 1950s Rolls-Royce tested its rather eccentric-sounding Flying Bedstead, officially called the Thrust Measuring Rig. Despite appearances, the TMR proved successful, helping to mature technologies that would enable the construction of a turbojet engine to power the experimental Short SC.1, Britain’s first true VTOL aircraft. Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) would be further refined on the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 Kestrel, which paved the way for the groundbreaking Harrier Jump Jet.
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(Image: Rez*)
During the iconic VTOL jet’s service with the Fleet Air Arm, Sea Harriers would make use of a ‘ski jump’ fitted to the front of Royal Navy aircraft carriers. This take-off aid was also tested on one of the runways at RAE Bedford’s Thurleigh airfield, as was a catapult system fitted to older generations of British carriers like HMS Ark Royal (R09) and (R05) HMS Eagle. (Urban Ghosts has previously featured the restoration of one of Bedford Aerodrome’s former research aircraft – Tornado GR1 ZA326.)
At the same time, practically all Britain’s military and civil aircraft built in the decades after World War Two – and others from around the world – made use of the Royal Aircraft Establishment’s four advanced wind tunnels. These included two supersonic and one high supersonic tunnels, and one low speed tunnel. In addition, a vertical spinning tunnel was provided to explore what was at the time the little-known phenomena of aircraft spinning characteristics.
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(Image: Rez*)
But in 1994 the decision was made to close Bedford Aerodrome. By the following year the Royal Aircraft Establishment had come under the control of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) and the decision was made to concentrate the UK’s experimental flight testing at MoD Boscombe Down, near Stonehenge. The airfield was sold in 1996, though the Defence Research Agency and DERA maintained a small scientific outpost there due to the cost of moving its advanced equipment. The facility was later run by QinetiQ until 2008, and today the 306th Bombardment Group Museum can also be found on the former airfield.
Defunct as a cutting-edge scientific research centre, cars moved onto the former Bedford Aerodrome and a number of private businesses began populating the abandoned wind tunnel site, renamed Twinwoods Business Park. The low speed and vertical spinning tunnels are now used by Red Bull for racing car development and Bodyflight for indoor skydiving. The larger supersonic wind tunnel, however, as Google Earth reveals, has been demolished.
Another former research building now serves as Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre. But as these images reveal, other areas of Bedford’s once-secretive Royal Aircraft Establishment wind tunnel site, where groundbreaking research led to major innovations in the fields of aviation and aerodynamics, remained eerily silent when they were documented in 2012.
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(Image: Rez*)
The images reveal cavernous indoor testing facilities and machine halls on the abandoned wind tunnel site collecting dust. Decaying corridors lead to abandoned laboratories seemingly frozen in time, while banks of dials and switches line retro consoles in strangely quiet control rooms. It’s as if the engineers and technicians simply left their stations and never returned.
The whole site has a retro-futuristic appeal that would make it ideally suited for the set of a movie like Star Wars. And though there are signs of damage, much of Bedford’s abandoned Royal Aircraft Establishment remains in good order. As this years go by perhaps these research buildings will also find new uses. Seen here, they’re little more than faded monuments to the world-leading research and experimentation that took place there throughout the Cold War years.
Related – The Record-Breaking Wellington Bomber Built in 24 Hours
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