Thanks to all for these fascinating Farnborough memories.
I arrived there in 1951, after Met Office jobs at Lyneham and Aldergrove. Not at the RAE proper, but the Institute of Aviation Medicine, which was (is?) at the Queen's Hotel end, near ETPS. I occasionally had reasons to visit some RAE department, and took the opportunity to browse in the library, where there were some interesting German publications on gliding and light aircraft between the wars.
The IAM climatic lab, with a large closed-circuit tunnel, had just been opened, and work on air-ventilated suits was going on, among other things. They were designed to keep aircrew warm or cool, by blowing air at a suitable temperature through a network of plastic tubes. I don't know if they were ever much used in regular service.
My first powered flight was at Farnborough, in a friend's Aeronca 100, G-AEWU. He gave me a lift to Lasham in it, where I later had the privilege of being instructed by Derek Piggot and Tony Deane-Drummond, among others. Sadly the Aeronca was squashed a year or two later, when the canvas-roofed hangar where it was kept collapsed in a heavy snowfall.
Near the IAM lab there was a small building or Nissen hut containing a lot of aviation junk, including what seemed to be things from German aircraft taken to Farnborough at the end of the war. The place was unlocked, and apparently anyone was free to help themselves. I picked up an Askania air-driven turn-and-slip, thinking it might be useful for a glider. I still have it, and offered it for free on this site a year or so ago, but got no takers. If anyone can make use of it, let me know: aj.buntingATbtopenworld.com