Also known as Army Balloon Factory · Royal Aircraft Factory · Royal Aircraft Establishment · Farnborough Airport
The story of Farnborough Airfield (RAE Farnborough)
In 1918 it was renamed the Royal Aircraft Establishment, to avoid confusion with the new Royal Air Force. It gave up building aircraft for research. Its first specialised wind tunnel opened in 1920. In 1926 A. A. Griffith published an RAE report proposing the gas turbine as an aircraft engine. Ju 88s bombed the airfield and establishment on 13 August 1940. The RAE's F.24 camera equipped wartime reconnaissance Spitfires and Mosquitos.
After the war the RAE tested ejection seats and built the world's first grooved runway in 1961. Its engineers invented high-strength carbon fibre in 1963. The Farnborough Airshow brought crowds every other year. In 1952 the DH.110 broke up during a display, killing 31 people. The RAE merged into new agencies from 1991. The Ministry of Defence stopped flying here in 2003, and the airfield became a business airport.
Flying units
| Unit | Years | Aircraft |
|---|---|---|
| Army Balloon Factory | 1905–1912 | |
| Royal Aircraft Factory | 1912–1918 | |
| Royal Aircraft Establishment | 1918–1991 |
What survives
- The airfield, now Farnborough Airport, home of the Farnborough International Airshow
- Former RAE buildings used by the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust museum
The museum on the airfield
| Museum | Adult entry | Airframes | Headline exhibit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farnborough Air Sciences Trust MuseumFarnborough, Hampshire | Free | 16 | FAST at Farnborough guards the birthplace of British aviation science — Cody, the RAE, wind tunnels — with sit-in Harrier, Puma and Lynx… |