# RAE Thurleigh, Bedford - Nov 2011 (Pic Heavy)



## a_little_feisty (Nov 20, 2011)

Recently visited this site with LadyHayles, Lukey1001 and MrT ... a very interesting place, with lots of rooms to explore.


_Here's the history part first:_

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."

RAF Thurleigh was built in 1941 as a new RAF Station. It was home to the 306th Bombardment Group during the Second World War, it was often touted as a possible site for the third London Airport (long before Stansted Airport took on that role). The local community was strongly opposed and many rural buildings were adorned with slogans such as "Thurleigh -NO!", "No! No! No!" and "Maplin Now".

In 1946 Thurleigh became the site for the second Royal Aircraft Establishment site. Two new runways were built in the post-war period to accommodate the Bristol Brabazon aircraft (which required a very long runway) that ultimately never went into production. One local road was dropped into a cutting so that it would not sit above the level of the runway.

On 13 March 1961, a Hawker P.1127 (XP831), the prototype of what would become the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, took its first regular flight at RAE Bedford.

The site supported some of the development work on Concorde's wings and was also a centre for the development of the Instrument Landing System. Local villages were being circled by airliners in the middle of the night, with planes testing the ILS; the planes would take off, circle, and re-land continually.

The site had several reasonably large windtunnels, one supersonic and one large subsonic. It also had a 'drop tower'. The drop tower is now used as a skydiving training venue. The supersonic tunnel was dismantled by 2005 and the building which held the fans and driving motors is now used as the set for the BBC popular science programme, "Bang Goes The Theory". The subsonic tunnel is sometimes used for testing cars on a rolling road.

In March 1967 the U-2 flew out of RAE Bedford.

During the 1970s RAE Bedford became home to numerous flight simulators, originally using model belts and camera technology, but later utilising computers. In the early 1980s the Advanced Flight Simulator was constructed, allowing pilots to be immersed in a fully three-dimensional moving simulation.

Also in the early eighties, RAE Bedford oversaw the development of the Short Take Off & Landing STOL system for the Sea Harrier (the most visible part of which are the up-curved ramps (ski-jumps) on the decks of Royal Navy aircraft carriers). This brought hundreds more takeoffs and landings that circled over Sharnbrook School — ironic considering that Thurleigh has one of the longest runways in Europe and was previously one of the Avro Vulcan Bomber dispersal bases.

In April 1991 the Royal Aerospace Establishment (as the Royal Aircraft Establishment had been renamed) which operated the airfield at Bedford, was merged with several other agencies to become the Defence Research Agency (DRA). The DRA would later become the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency.

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 the privatised arm of DERA QinetiQ).

The airfield has been divided into two parts. The southern part is now known as Thurleigh Business Park, and includes the runway, which is currently used for the mass storage of new cars, although it remains intact for possible future use. The northern part is now Bedford Autodrome which also houses Thurleigh Museum.


History bit over, here are some of my pics ... LadyHayles will add hers later.
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Exterior shots first:*


























*Now for the interior:
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Thanks for looking!


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## nelly (Nov 20, 2011)

Nice stuff matey, excellent photos, I've got some fond memories of Thurleigh, its a peeley paint heaven :_


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## a_little_feisty (Nov 20, 2011)

nelly said:


> Nice stuff matey, excellent photos, I've got some fond memories of Thurleigh, its a peeley paint heaven :_



Thank-you very much ... it certainly is peely paint heaven ... and asbestos city!! :laugh:


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## Priority 7 (Nov 21, 2011)

Nice photos, not so fond memories for me but the secret remains between me a a fecking trash can dismount at cardington 30 minutes earlier


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## a_little_feisty (Nov 21, 2011)

Priority 7 said:


> Nice photos, not so fond memories for me but the secret remains between me a a fecking trash can dismount at cardington 30 minutes earlier



Thank-you . . . and yes I did see that report and the subsequent pic of the poorly ankle - ouch!! . . . we went to have a look at Cardington after Thurleigh but postponed due to the possibility of a permission visit . . . if that doesn't pan out we will definitely be going back anyway as the place looks incredible on all the reports!


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## Priority 7 (Nov 21, 2011)

a_little_feisty said:


> Thank-you . . . and yes I did see that report and the subsequent pic of the poorly ankle - ouch!! . . . we went to have a look at Cardington after Thurleigh but postponed due to the possibility of a permission visit . . . if that doesn't pan out we will definitely be going back anyway as the place looks incredible on all the reports!



I want to revisit Cardington too so give me a heads up if you don't mind an extra head joining you..


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## nelly (Nov 22, 2011)

Priority 7 said:


> Nice photos, not so fond memories for me but the secret remains between me a a fecking trash can dismount at cardington 30 minutes earlier


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## klempner69 (Nov 22, 2011)

Lovely shots indeedy..we encountered the owner of the observatory,who invited us up and gave us all beer.Did you climb the wooden tower?


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## nelly (Nov 22, 2011)

klempner69 said:


> Lovely shots indeedy..we encountered the owner of the observatory,who invited us up and gave us all beer.Did you climb the wooden tower?



That sounds about right, I get chased around derelict shopping centres by a mad security guard with a baseball bat and YOU get an invite and a beer!!! PFFT!!!


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## a_little_feisty (Nov 22, 2011)

klempner69 said:


> Lovely shots indeedy..we encountered the owner of the observatory,who invited us up and gave us all beer.Did you climb the wooden tower?



Thank-you ... we didn't climb the wooden tower, the bottom rungs are now missing and also because we had read some reports about people encountering security and there was a fair bit of activity going on at the riding stables just outside the perimeter, so didn't want to draw attention to ourselves.

Defintiely didn't encounter the the observatory owner or any beer ... we went into the observatory though - a tight squeeze through that toilet window with backpack and camera  ... climbed the stairs to the top but it was a bit of a mess with rubbish at the bottom of the top stairs and the roof space was full of mouldy old bedding ... interesting though in it's own way.

Here's a couple of pics from the inside of the observatory:


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## a_little_feisty (Nov 22, 2011)

Priority 7 said:


> I want to revisit Cardington too so give me a heads up if you don't mind an extra head joining you..



We're just waiting to hear ... apparently it changed hands again quite recently and when we looked in on Saturday there was a small airship and a lorry in there.


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## kathyms (Dec 31, 2011)

*bedford*

this old lady may be mooching around Bedford on monday so may pop along to those.


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## Black Shuck (Dec 31, 2011)

klempner69 said:


> Lovely shots indeedy..we encountered the owner of the observatory,who invited us up and gave us all beer.Did you climb the wooden tower?



Klemp that's not an Observatory mate it's a Kinetheodilite Tower. a type of theodolite containing a cine camera instead of a telescope and giving continuous film of a moving target together with a record of its altitude and azimuth: used in tracking a missile, satellite, etc
Or Bristol Brbazon!!





Like this!!


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