NGTE Prystock Anechoic Chamber June 19

[BikinGlynn]

I have had a good few months exploring so have quite a backlog of pics accumulating so thought Id start with this one. This place is quite baffling (u will laugh later)but is interesting.
I kinda missed the boat on this one as most of the infamous Prystock is now gone, but the Anechoic Chamber is still in there & in tact. In fact this has been "cleaned up" a fair bit from prev reports.

So what is it?
If you dont know but I suspect most of you do this is (Stolen from WIKI)
(National Gas Testing Establishment)part of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), was the prime site in the UK for design and development of gas turbine and jet engines. It was created by merging the design teams of Frank Whittle's Power Jets and the RAE turbine development team run by Hayne Constant. NGTE spent most of its lifetime as a testing and development centre, both for experimental developments and to support commercial engine companies.

For over 50 years Pyestock was at the forefront of gas turbine development. It was probably the largest site of its kind in the world. V bomber, Harrier and Tornado engines were tested on site. The power of the air house allowed Concorde's engines to be tested at 2,000 mph. Every gas turbine installed in Royal Navy ships was checked here; captured Soviet engines were discreetly examined.

So what is is?
Its a bloody big concrete box filled with baffles in reality which dosent sound that interesting, however the scale of this place is worth seeing alone, its colossal inside, & combined with the fact the baffling makes it deathly silent with no echoes its an extraordinary place to visit.
Its also pretty dark & difficult to photograph & this was crammed into a busy day so the pics are not as good as I would of liked but hopefully this will be well recieved.


IMG_5596 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr


IMG_5616 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr


IMG_7359 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr


IMG_5626 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr


48634567638_57a1b40fc0_k by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr


IMG_5614 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr


IMG_5612 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr


IMG_5605 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr


IMG_5598 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr


IMG_7364 by Bikin Glynn, on Flickr

 

[Sabtr]

Like yourself I missed on this place. What a place it was though! Created before computer modeling or calculations? it was something quite special. As you say, they had enough clout to provide air at huge capacity and massive speeds. The scale of the site was mindblowing.
I'm surprised this is left? Is it to be saved or is it the fact that thousands of those sound dampening blades will need to be unbolted!

 

[BikinGlynn]

I believe it will b going shortly like the rest of it,
Not an easy demolition project though I shouldn’t think, it looks like it was constructed from reinforced concrete throughout!

 

[mookster]

Prystock?

It's only been left as it was only shut down within the last few years. When I and many others were exploring Pyestock back in the day you would often hear the exhausters from the building roaring away.

 

[Tim Mellor]

Remember going down there to do some engine testing, impressive place.

 

[HughieD]

Looks like a set off Star Wars. Excellent work BG!