Test,Evaluation and Trials topic e.g. RAE,DERA and QinetiQ
 

ETPS

-A&AEE Boscombe down.

-NGTE

-Royal Aerospace Establishment.

-DRA.

-DERA.

-QinetiQ/[dstl].

Of course any questions about the above It would be nice to post here as well.
Hope it's a fun topic for all!:ok:

Of course A&AEE DRA DERA and QinetiQ are all one and the same place and having started working for my beloved A&AEE i have worked for them all through default :ugh:

T&E eh, lets add some more acronyms to the alphabet soup with AFEE, AATDC, JATE, JADTEU AWC, ATEC and even though it was mostly naval stuff there was some flight testing with the DMWD.

Personally, I would class them as Organisations, although probably stretching the point to consider the latter 3 as 'organised'!

A&AEE was, of course, located at Boscombe Down; however the DRA & DERA, during their existence, inhabited many sites around the UK. QQ still does, albeit rather less these days.

lm

Maybe it would be better if I placed them in chronological order:hmm: as A&AEE no longer exists of course as it (I think) merged into or became DRA then DERA. Then in 2001 became QinetiQ (privatised).Same for the RAE went through DRA , DERA and the QinetiQ. :cool:

That's not precisely accurate. A&AEE never merged into or became part of DRA. :8

A&AEE (Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment)

became (briefly)

A&AEE (Aircraft & Armament Evaluation Establishment)

became (briefly)

DGT&E (Directorate General Test & Evaluation)

became

DTEO (Defence Test & Evaluation Organisation)

became

DERA (Defence Evaluation & Research Agency) - joining DRA etc

became

QinetiQ (losing what became DSTL)

will become... :ooh:

RAE again?

P

Well I wish the RAE would be back but some how with cut backs I doubt it very much.
Dont understand what you mean? You mean that DSTL is going to come under QinetiQ??? or the other way around as DSTL is gov owned:oh:
https://www.dstl.gov.uk/

To re-build the RAE you would need Scientists, Engineers and Leaders. QQ could offer Nest-Featherers, Project Managers, Accountants and possibly just a few of those who formerly worked at the RAE. Unfortunately, working within QQ has beaten the stuffing out of those former RAE folk.

Destruction of the RAE, A&AEE and several other specialist military organisations in the proven false hope of saving money has come home to roost, we cannot get anything right and we have precious little of the essential test facilities remaining.

All of this stupidity occurred in the early 1990s, readers of other topics concerning airworthiness will probably recognise that period as the time military airworthiness requirements were consigned to the past.

Enough to make you weep!

lm

It was remarked by my colleagues, having driven through the main gate to be greeted by another logo (again), a career in signwriting could be a lucrative option...

I mean that when DERA ceased to exist in 2001, it split into two: QinetiQ and DSTL. Sorry: [dstl] :8

Still we will have to hope DSTL stays gov owned as if that became privatised there would not be much left.:sad:

You are so right lightningmate. I am ex A&AEE forced into QQ this as they say is not what I joined up for :(

Out of interest what ranges did RAE/A&AEE etc use I know aberporth , shoeburyness and west freugh but was there any other ones???? I know P&EE used a lot but did the RAE and A&AEE use them??

RAE operated the air range at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain, Aberporth is Cardigan Bay, West Freugh was Luce Bay; Shoeburyness was not operated by RAE although it was under the umbrella of MOD(PE) like RAE & A&AEE.
One acronym was you forgot was: RPE (Rocket Propulsion Establishment) Westcott, which became part of Royal Ordnance by '92; don't know what it's called now.
Another was RRE (Royal Radar Establishment) Pershore the flying side of which was absorbed into RAE Bedford in about '75.
And don't forget RAE is actually 2 acronyms; Royal Aircraft Establishment became Royal Aerospace Establishment before it became DRA(Aerospace).

... and was Royal Aircraft Factory until it was changed to deconflict with the newly formed Royal Air Force in 1918.

There was also NGTE, subsumed into RAE in the early 1980s I think.

P

Yes it was with the Royal Aerospace Establishment;)

Yes should of remembered Westcott since I have been there:O but I'm sure they moved a lot of the resources up to spadeadam (don't count me on that) for blue streak missile/rocket.And I think some of the Royal Ordnance comes under BAE.

Sites
 

So far I know of the locations of these sites within the RAE/A&AEE
-Farnbrough
-Bedford Airbase/tunnels
-Malvern
-Pershore (Before it moved to bedford)
-Defford
-West Freugh
-Westcott
-Spadeadam
-Llanbedr
-Aberporth

-Boscombe down

Im I right I thinking these are correct and also are there any more???

Larkhill as mentioned; there was also an offshoot of RAE at Cobham,

Believe it or not in the distant past there was an out station of Boscombe Down in Libya