Hi, not a pilot or even a boffin, just an ex-RAE apprentice wishing to share some unique and rare photographs and memories. I worked in Flight Systems on the flight simulators and the telemetry equipment. In a previous post someone asked for photographs of the aircraft we had at Thurleigh, I have some of the T2 Harrier (XW175 - before its garish respray) piloted (I believe) by John Bolton (sp?) and a couple of Mr John Farley (see picture below) and his non-RAE T2, all taken in Feb 1977 aboard HMS Hermes somewhere in the Moray Firth. My role in this little exercise was to man the telemetry equipment recording flight-trials information (I also built a bit of it) - all of which was housed in the little orange and white cabin to the left of the picture - which incidentally was made at Thurleigh from a section of old wind tunnel.
I have 14 more pictures like this if anyone is interested in seeing them.
erm... some memories - The head of Electronics School was indeed Keith Paull, and he drove a Reliant Regal, not a Robin. His expertise was in thermionic valves so solid state electronics was an alien tech for him ... but he did fill our days with a lot of esoteric stuff like his memoirs as a dispatch rider, the Scouts, his thoughts on paranormal stuff and research into flying fortresses based at Twinwoods. As someone said, a lot of "characters" worked at the RAE in those days...
During my time there I worked on the telemetry equipment of the Flight System's T2 Harrier and the Gnat (Tonka toy... that's a new one on me) and as a radio tech the Sea Vixen, Lightning, HS125, Hunter, Sea King, Puma and Wasp. Being based in the Electronics School for two years, I also watched many launches from the steam catapult, including the Fairey Gannet, which would drop off the end of the deck and run along the grass for several yards before finally getting airborne.