RAE Bedford
RAE Bedford was established in 1946. It was designed to be a hub for aircraft experimental development work. At the time it was described as “the finest research and development establishment outside the United States”.
Former RAF Thurleigh was selected as the base for the new venture. During construction, the original runway was increased in length to allow certain pre-production aircraft to be tested on site. The runway sits at around 10,500 feet long and 300 feet wide.
Its currently used by Cazoo as vehicle storage. I believe it is also used to store a lot of the old cars from the government's bullshit Scrappage Scheme implemented back in 2009. Most of those vehicles are now highly desirable classics, and worth a lot more than the £2000 that the owners got for them at the time.
A link road was also built. Using an old country road which ran from the main runway at RAE Bedford to the wind tunnel testing site featured in this report. The road was never properly finished. Looking on maps, you can see where the end nearest the wind tunnel site was started, leading onto Old Milton Road, but it doesn’t seem to go any further.
I assume the wind tunnel testing site was built on an old camp ground or land associated with RAF Thurleigh. Couldn’t find any concrete information on it.
The site was decommissioned In February 1994 and officially closed in March 1994. Due to the cost and impracticality of relocating the Advanced Flight Simulator system, the site retained some of its development work under the QuinteQ brand. In early 2007, QuinteQ sold their remaining stake of the Bedford site, and so finished the sites' association with military aviation.
The Explore
This report is compiled of photos taken over two trips, The first being with @Mikeymutt and Man Gone Wrong. The second being with @dansgas1000 and, again, @Mikeymutt
There are cameras on poles which the security guard told us were active, but we shall get onto that little story shortly.
The first visit was uneventful. We dropped in on the way back from exploring a big factory site. We checked out the 3x3, spent a good few hours there and then were done. Me and Mikey then walked around the 8x8 checking for any opening as he has wanted to see it for about 8 years now but has never been successful. We didn’t find any open doors so left it and went home.
A week later, I heard through the grapevine that the 8x8 was indeed open, perhaps me and Mikey were being daft and didn’t try the a way which was supposedly open or maybe it just wasn’t open at that time. So me, Mikey and Dan all arranged between us to go and check out the 8x8 the next Saturday.
Again, we arrived, drove in and parked up, made a B-Line for the 8x8, all excited to finally see it. Sure enough, the way in was correct, we all slipped in and started shooting. Spending probably around 3 hours inside, I'm pretty sure Dan was having a wank in the main control room as he was in that bit for the best part of an hour. Don’t think I've ever seen him so happy in a place before.
We finished up in the 8x8, decided to check out the canteen which is often overlooked. Not much to see there but a couple of nice photo opportunities. Then before leaving, we walked past the 3x3, Mikey has just pruchased a new 8mm lens for his camera and wanted to do a couple more shots inside the 3x3. We also came across a couple of other people inside the control room, we had a nice chat with them. Turns out they are well established on Instagram with over 20,000 followers between them. Nice pair, not your typical gooney Instagram explorers but genuinely nice people.
Then it took a bit of a turn. Looking on maps, we wanted to have a look at a couple of other buildings on site. Walking to them meant passing the Childrens Playhouse. A couple of people were lingering outside but thought nothing of it really. Just stick your heads down and walk quickly! Then in the distance I heard “Excused me!” in that typical Karen voice. We stopped, turned and looked at her. “Could I ask what you are doing here please!?” All three of us just stood there staring at her gormlessly, nobody said a word. I think she was confused. Then the other two explorers walked past, and she shouted the same to them. They both shrugged their shoulders, again saying nothing. At this point the woman was absolutely bewildered as to why these five people are just stood staring at her saying nothing. “Im going to have to call security” she huffed. We slowly walked back to where we were parked. “How did you get in?” was another question she fired at us. Expecting for us to confess to jumping over a gate or cutting a hole in the fence. Mikey says “Security let us in, we drove onto the site!” This properly took the wind out of her sails. She calls security and warns us “he can be very grumpy and blunt but ignore it, he's ok really, it's just the way he comes across”
Security came dawdling around the corner in his little smashed up silver Peugeot 207. He got out and separated us three to the other two. He walked us over to the car. Expecting the full bag check, photographs etc but instead he gathers us all round and quietly mumbles something along the lines of “Come on guys, you're making me do work. She called me and I don’t wanna be out here. You're making me look bad” we have a laugh and a joke, he then proceeds to pat Mikey on the back and walks off. He was the best security guard I have ever dealt with, he did not give a single fuck. Think he was more pissed off at the Karen who made him do work.
8x8 Building
Now onto the photographs. Starting with the bit everyone wants to see. It’s becoming a bit of a ‘tourist hotspot’ at the moment, but you can understand why. The power is still on in most of the rooms, including the main control room which makes it a pleasure to photograph. The main hall is beautiful too, shame the circular fan thing has been removed from the wall and is now on the floor but at least it's still there. This building was apparently used for some kind of filming hence the floors are fairly new. One of the ladders I climbed did have a delivery note on it addressed to a production company.
Stunning gauges
That's the money shot!
The smaller, gloomier control room
CONTINUED
RAE Bedford was established in 1946. It was designed to be a hub for aircraft experimental development work. At the time it was described as “the finest research and development establishment outside the United States”.
Former RAF Thurleigh was selected as the base for the new venture. During construction, the original runway was increased in length to allow certain pre-production aircraft to be tested on site. The runway sits at around 10,500 feet long and 300 feet wide.
Its currently used by Cazoo as vehicle storage. I believe it is also used to store a lot of the old cars from the government's bullshit Scrappage Scheme implemented back in 2009. Most of those vehicles are now highly desirable classics, and worth a lot more than the £2000 that the owners got for them at the time.
A link road was also built. Using an old country road which ran from the main runway at RAE Bedford to the wind tunnel testing site featured in this report. The road was never properly finished. Looking on maps, you can see where the end nearest the wind tunnel site was started, leading onto Old Milton Road, but it doesn’t seem to go any further.
I assume the wind tunnel testing site was built on an old camp ground or land associated with RAF Thurleigh. Couldn’t find any concrete information on it.
The site was decommissioned In February 1994 and officially closed in March 1994. Due to the cost and impracticality of relocating the Advanced Flight Simulator system, the site retained some of its development work under the QuinteQ brand. In early 2007, QuinteQ sold their remaining stake of the Bedford site, and so finished the sites' association with military aviation.
The Explore
This report is compiled of photos taken over two trips, The first being with @Mikeymutt and Man Gone Wrong. The second being with @dansgas1000 and, again, @Mikeymutt
There are cameras on poles which the security guard told us were active, but we shall get onto that little story shortly.
The first visit was uneventful. We dropped in on the way back from exploring a big factory site. We checked out the 3x3, spent a good few hours there and then were done. Me and Mikey then walked around the 8x8 checking for any opening as he has wanted to see it for about 8 years now but has never been successful. We didn’t find any open doors so left it and went home.
A week later, I heard through the grapevine that the 8x8 was indeed open, perhaps me and Mikey were being daft and didn’t try the a way which was supposedly open or maybe it just wasn’t open at that time. So me, Mikey and Dan all arranged between us to go and check out the 8x8 the next Saturday.
Again, we arrived, drove in and parked up, made a B-Line for the 8x8, all excited to finally see it. Sure enough, the way in was correct, we all slipped in and started shooting. Spending probably around 3 hours inside, I'm pretty sure Dan was having a wank in the main control room as he was in that bit for the best part of an hour. Don’t think I've ever seen him so happy in a place before.
We finished up in the 8x8, decided to check out the canteen which is often overlooked. Not much to see there but a couple of nice photo opportunities. Then before leaving, we walked past the 3x3, Mikey has just pruchased a new 8mm lens for his camera and wanted to do a couple more shots inside the 3x3. We also came across a couple of other people inside the control room, we had a nice chat with them. Turns out they are well established on Instagram with over 20,000 followers between them. Nice pair, not your typical gooney Instagram explorers but genuinely nice people.
Then it took a bit of a turn. Looking on maps, we wanted to have a look at a couple of other buildings on site. Walking to them meant passing the Childrens Playhouse. A couple of people were lingering outside but thought nothing of it really. Just stick your heads down and walk quickly! Then in the distance I heard “Excused me!” in that typical Karen voice. We stopped, turned and looked at her. “Could I ask what you are doing here please!?” All three of us just stood there staring at her gormlessly, nobody said a word. I think she was confused. Then the other two explorers walked past, and she shouted the same to them. They both shrugged their shoulders, again saying nothing. At this point the woman was absolutely bewildered as to why these five people are just stood staring at her saying nothing. “Im going to have to call security” she huffed. We slowly walked back to where we were parked. “How did you get in?” was another question she fired at us. Expecting for us to confess to jumping over a gate or cutting a hole in the fence. Mikey says “Security let us in, we drove onto the site!” This properly took the wind out of her sails. She calls security and warns us “he can be very grumpy and blunt but ignore it, he's ok really, it's just the way he comes across”
Security came dawdling around the corner in his little smashed up silver Peugeot 207. He got out and separated us three to the other two. He walked us over to the car. Expecting the full bag check, photographs etc but instead he gathers us all round and quietly mumbles something along the lines of “Come on guys, you're making me do work. She called me and I don’t wanna be out here. You're making me look bad” we have a laugh and a joke, he then proceeds to pat Mikey on the back and walks off. He was the best security guard I have ever dealt with, he did not give a single fuck. Think he was more pissed off at the Karen who made him do work.
8x8 Building
Now onto the photographs. Starting with the bit everyone wants to see. It’s becoming a bit of a ‘tourist hotspot’ at the moment, but you can understand why. The power is still on in most of the rooms, including the main control room which makes it a pleasure to photograph. The main hall is beautiful too, shame the circular fan thing has been removed from the wall and is now on the floor but at least it's still there. This building was apparently used for some kind of filming hence the floors are fairly new. One of the ladders I climbed did have a delivery note on it addressed to a production company.
Stunning gauges
That's the money shot!
The smaller, gloomier control room
CONTINUED
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