Facing the main airshow site at Farnborough can be seen a familiar skyline of office and industrial buildings, some new, some truly historic. Among the latter is the restored 1911 airship shed, the famous wind tunnels, First World War aircraft hangars, and just behind them the original 1912 Headquarters of the Royal Flying Corps, now home to the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST) Museum.
While the UK’s aviation attention this year has been focused on the celebrations marking the centenary of the Royal Air Force, April 1918 also saw the renaming of the Royal Aircraft Factory as the Royal Aircraft Establishment. Over the subsequent century, the RAE became the world’s single most productive center for game-changing aeronautical research, development, testing, and evaluation.
To mark this milestone, FAST opened a major exhibition at its museum in May, RAE100, to highlight some of the most significant innovations from the list of more than 300 that were identified, spread across 30 areas of R&D activity. This exhibition is being transferred to the heritage area at Farnborough International, situated in a pavilion near the western end of the flight line, where it will be open during the final three days of the airshow. It will then return to the museum, where it will be on view for the rest of the year.
A book about the exhibition describing in more detail the massive contribution that the RAE scientists, technicians, and test pilots made to aviation since 1918 will be on sale at the FAST shop, which is open throughout the show and situated in the retail area near the Airbus static park.
The RAE provided the first formal framework for structured aeronautical specifications and component testing from 1918 onwards and with the advancement in the development of engines, aerodynamics, aircraft controls, and structural and materials testing, it led the world, and the results were passed to industry. Airborne radio communications developed at Farnborough transformed the utility of military aircraft—and later civil aircraft—while work on the first radar air defense system in the late 1930s enabled the RAF to win the Battle of Britain. Later, the RAE’s pioneering work in aircraft accident investigation also set a global standard that continues to this day, with the Air Accident Investigation Branch still being based at Farnborough Airport.
Work on jet engine design and performance and supersonic developments kept the RAE’s expertise at the heart of all new British aircraft programs right up to the 1990s. As early as the 1960s its scientists developed the first night-vision goggles and low-light electro-optical sensors and head-up displays, and later still the first helmet displays. Terrain-following radar was originally perfected by the RAE for use in the canceled TSR-2 low-level bomber, but was subsequently adopted by the RAF for use in other attack aircraft. Carbon fiber is another RAE invention that is now to be found in almost every new aircraft.
Less well known is the fact that by 1946 the RAE had evaluated and operated a 60-strong fleet of captured German aircraft, including all the most advanced Luftwaffe jet aircraft. Much of this experience was factored into a new generation of swept-wing post-war British aircraft. Further, RAE wind-tunnel testing of advanced wing designs and high-lift devices resulted in outstanding performance from such aircraft as the VC-10, Concorde, and the Airbus family.
The FAST Museum is closed to the public during the airshow since it is used for corporate events, but every weekend throughout the year it is open with entry free. Visitors to Farnborough International cannot fail to see its historic aircraft parked outside the museum alongside Farnborough Road, and the statue of S.F. Cody, the flamboyant aviation pioneer who made the first successful powered flight in the country in 1908 at Farnborough, gazes out at the runway approach.