Where and With Whom to Test
I have tested, or trained test pilots, at Edwards Air Force Base in the USA (three years of F-5 and F-16 flight test), Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake in Canada (three years in the F-5 and F-18) and trained Test Pilots with the U.S. Navy at Patuxent River Naval Air Station (2 years off-and-on). I have done flight test in the Military (USAF), as a contractor (three years with Veridian, now Calspan), and as a civil servant (7 years with NASA managing flight research projects, then performing research flights myself for several months before leaving that job.) Of the places I've been, I truly enjoyed both Edwards and Cold Lake. The latter gave you more autonomy in getting stuff done, because they didn't have the overhead for a lot of red tape. I really enjoyed the mission with Calspan, because a lot of what they were doing was testing to support manufacturers or FAA, so they could ignore any push to get a specific answer and concentrate on getting the CORRECT answer, like it or not. Good luck with your choice!