Royal Aircraft Establishment

The Royal Aircraft Establishment was originally founded as the Army Balloon Factory in 1905. Between 1905–1906, the Army Balloon Factory, which was part of the Army School of Ballooning, under the command of Colonel James Templer, relocated from Aldershot to the edge of Farnborough Common in order to have enough space to inflate the new "dirigible balloon" or airship which was then under construction. Templer's place was taken by Colonel John Capper and Templer himself retired in 1908. Besides balloons and airships, the factory also experimented with Samuel Franklin Cody's war kites and aeroplanes designed both by Cody and J. W. Dunne. In October 1908, Cody made the first aeroplane flight in the United Kingdom at Farnborough.

In 1909, Army work on aeroplanes ceased and the Factory was brought under civilian control. Capper was replaced as Superintendent by Mervyn O'Gorman. In 1912, the Balloon Factory was renamed the Royal Aircraft Factory (RAF). By this point, the organisation was focused on the construction and evaluation of new aircraft and aero engines of both domestic and foreign origins. During the First World War, the RAF played a leading role in implementing new manufacturing, testing and inspection standards for both aircraft and various associated apparatus, ranging from anemometers to gear boxes, lighting, and aero engines.

The RAF's first new designer was Geoffrey de Havilland, who subsequently founded his own company. Later colleagues included John Kenworthy who became chief engineer and designer at the Austin Motor Company in 1918 and who went on to found the Redwing Aircraft Co in 1930 and Henry Folland – later chief designer at Gloster Aircraft Company, and founder of his own company Folland Aircraft. One of the designers in the engine department was Samuel Heron, who later went on to invent the sodium-filled poppet valve, instrumental in achieving greater power levels from piston engines. While at the RAF, Heron designed a radial engine that he was not able to build during his time there, however upon leaving the RAF he then went to Siddeley-Deasy where the design, the RAF.8, was developed as the Jaguar. Heron later moved to the United States where he worked on the design of the Wright Whirlwind. Other engineers included Major F. M. Green, G. S. Wilkinson, James E. "Jimmy" Ellor, Prof. A.H. Gibson, and A. A. Griffith. Both Ellor and Griffith would later go on to work for Rolls-Royce Limited.

In 1918, the Royal Aircraft Factory was once more renamed, becoming the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) to avoid confusion with the Royal Air Force, which was formed on 1 April 1918, and because it had relinquished its manufacturing role to concentrate on research related to improving performance, safety and reliability across the field of aeronautics.

Activities undertaken during the interwar period by the RAE included the creation of professional scientific and engineering qualifications for aeronautics. In the 1920s, the organisation was heavily involved in the testing of theories relating to aerofoil and airscrew designs, which included the use of wind tunnels. In support of this work, the RAE's first specialised wind tunnel building was completed in 1920; further wind tunnels would be commissioned in the 1930s and 1950s. Another study area was high altitude flight, for which the RAE helped to develop heated pressurised flight suits and onboard oxygen supply systems for pilots; this research would continue into the Cold War era. Another area of research around the 1920s was spin behaviour, with the aim of reducing the accident rate caused by loss of control from spinning; this work included low-altitude flight trials. In 1932, a deep wave tank for testing the hulls of seaplanes and flying boats was completed.

The RAE was also involved in early work on jet propulsion; in 1926, A. A. Griffith published a RAE report proposing the use of a gas turbine as a new power plant, experiments were conduced by the RAE to verify this theory, including the testing of a single-stage turbine in 1929. The RAE also introduced increasingly sophisticated test rigs for performing structural testing, evaluating aspects such as torsion forces, materials limits and manufacturing techniques. Other areas of research included navigation lighting, improved magnetos and ignition units for engines, and electric heaters for guns.

During the Second World War, the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment, which had moved from Felixstowe to a safer location at Helensburgh in Scotland, was placed under the control of the RAE. One influential innovation produced the RAE that was deployed during the conflict was its aerial reconnaissance techniques and technologies, such as the F.24 camera, which was frequently fitted to Supermarine Spitfires, de Havilland Mosquitos and other RAF aircraft. Another key breakthrough, made by Beatrice "Tilly" Shilling at the RAE, was Miss Shilling's orifice, which resolved a major issue with the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine that caused it to reduce power or even cut out in negative-G combat conditions. The Establishment was also involved in the design and testing of various features for aircraft carriers, including catapults, arrestor gear, barrier systems, and the angled flight decks.

In 1946, work began to convert RAF Thurleigh into RAE Bedford. Engineers at the Royal Aircraft Establishment invented high strength carbon fibre in 1963. In 1957, a centrifuge was commissioned to simulate high G-forces present during the flight of modern jet aircraft. The RAE were heavily involved in the testing of ejector seats (both on the ground and from modified aircraft) and, via a decompression chamber, evaluated emergency procedures related to pressurisation loss.

Royal Aircraft Factory

Aircraft Factory designs

Between 1911 and 1918, the Royal Aircraft Factory produced a number of aircraft designs. Most of these were essentially research aircraft, but several actually went into quantity production, especially during the First World War. 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 designation letters referred to the general layout of the aircraft, derived from a French manufacturer or designer famous for that type:

S.E. = Santos Experimental (Canard or tail-first layout)

B.E. = Blériot Experimental (Tractor or propeller-first layout)