Aircraft Crash Testing at RAF cardington

[brokenlink]

Talking to one of my Civilian Instructors last night who spent his career calibrating various types of machinery when he mentioned a piece of kit he worked on was at RAF Cardington. Apparently it was used to try and replicate how an aircraft distorted in a crash. Wings were removed and the fuselage placed in some sort of crusher which then did its job and the results were then examined. Any ideas or pictures anyone?

[jumpseater]

It rings a vague bell with me. This may be bollox but I seem to recall hearing that it was some sort of drop rig rather than a crusher, no idea of its dimensions if that were the case, as clearly aeroplanes are made in different sizes, and presumable a test rig would likely need to be adjustable.

I went and looked at a vampire that was being restored there a good few years ago and possibly heard the info at that time, or from other BAe employees when Hatfield was open in the 80's.

[LTNman]

There used to be a British Airways Boeing 707 minus wings in one of the hangars