Royal Aircraft Establishment

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The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) England, was a British research establishment laterly under the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD)

The first site was at Farnborough Airfield ("RAE Farnbrough") in Hampshire to which was added a second site RAE Bedford.

Contents 1 Royal Aircraft Factory 1.1 Aircraft Factory designs 1.2 Designs produced 1.3 Controversy 2 Change of name 3 Merger 4 Functions 5 See also 6 External link

[edit] Royal Aircraft Factory

It was created in 1908 as HM Balloon Factory. In October that year Samuel Cody made the first aeroplane flight in Britain at Farnborough.

In 1911 it was renamed the Royal Aircraft Factory (RAF). Among its designers was Geoffrey de Havilland who later founded his own company, and Henry Folland - later chief designer at Gloster Aircraft Company, and founder of his own company Folland Aircraft.

[edit] Aircraft Factory designs

Between 1911 and 1918 the Royal Aircraft Factory generated a number of aircraft designs. Most of these were essentially research aircraft, but a few actually went into mass production, especially during the war period. Some orders were met by the factory itself - but the bulk of production was by private British companies - some of which had not previously built aircraft.

Up to about 1913 the model letters came from the general layout of the aircraft - referring to a French manufacturer or designer famous for that type:

• S.E. = Santos Experimental (Canard or tail first layout)
• B.E. = Bleriot Experimental (Tractor or propeller first type)
• F.E. = Farman Experimental (Pusher or propeller behind the pilot)

From 1913/4 onwards this was changed ro a designation based on the role for which the aircraft was designed:

• S.E. = Scouting experimental (single seat fighters)
• F.E. = Fighting experimental (mostly two seat fighters)
• R.E. = Reconnaissance experimental

There was some overlap, the B.S.1 of 1913 combined both systems: Bleriot (tractor) Scout (fighter), in time it became the S.E.2.

[edit] Designs produced

• S.E.1 - 1911
• F.E.2 - 1911
• B.E.1 - 1911
• B.E.2 - 1912
• B.E.3 - 1912
• F.E.3 - 1913
• B.E.7 - 1913
• B.S.1 - 1913
• R.E.1 - 1913
• R.E.2 - 1913
• B.E.8 - 1913
• R.E.3 - 1913
• F.E.2 - 1914
• S.E.2 - 1914
• R.E.5 - 1914
• S.E.4 - 1914
• F.E.6 - 1914
• R.E.7 - 1915
• B.E.12 - 1915
• B.E.9 - 1915
• F.E.8 - 1915
• F.E.4 - 1916
• R.E.8 - 1916
• S.E.5 - 1916
• F.E.9 - 1917
• N.E.1 - 1917
• C.E.1 - 1918
• Ram - 1918

[edit] Controversy

At the time of the "Fokker Scourge" in 1915 a campaign against the standardisation of Royal Aircraft Factory types in the Royal Flying Corps - allegedly in favour of superior designs available from the design departments of private British firms - was begun in the British press. This slowly gained currency - especially because of the undeniable fact that the B.E.2c and B.E.2e were kept in production and service long after they were obsolete, and that the B.E.12 and B.E.12a were indisputable failures^{[citation needed]}. This criticism became prejudiced and ill-informed.

Some aviation historians continue to perpetuate the resulting belittling of the important experimental work of the Factory during this period, and the exaggeration of the failings of Factory production types - several of which have been described in sensational terms such as "the worst aeroplane ever built".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Change of name

In 1918 it was renamed again as the Royal Aircraft Establishment to avoid confusion with the Royal Air Force, which was formed on April 1, 1918.

In 1946, work bagan to convert RAF Thurleigh into RAE Bedford.

In 1988 it was renamed the Royal Aerospace Establishment.

[edit] Merger

On April 1 1991 it was merged into the Defence Research Agency (DRA), the MOD's new research organisation. Then, on April 1 1995 the DRA and other MOD organisations merged to form the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA).

In 2001 DERA was part-privatised by the MOD, resulting in two separate organisations, the state-owned Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), and the privatised QinetiQ, a Public-Private Partnership.

[edit] Functions

The farnborough site is currently home to QinetiQ, DSTL, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch and the British National Space Centre. The Bedford site was largely shut down in 1994.

Many aircraft have been developed or tested at the RAE including the B.E.2, F.E.2, R.E.8, S.E.5, Hawker Siddeley Harrier and Concorde.

The Farnborough site includes two wind tunnels, the 24' wind tunnel and the Transonic wind tunnel, both of which are now Grade I listed buildings.

[edit] See also

• RAE Bedford - Farnborough's sister site at former RAF Thurleigh, Bedford
• Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe

[edit] External link

• Risky Buildings: Farnborough wind tunnels
• Royal Engineers Museum Royal Engineers and Aeronautics