On display inside the Museum
In the Museum you will see
- photographs spanning the history of the site
- jet engines and helicopter rotors
- fully working demonstration wind tunnel
- scale models
- artefacts illustrating landmarks in technical achievement
- educational material
- photographs and documents relating to the military and civil aviation
We are posting a series of articles describing the highlights of the collection in more detail. (Please be patient while the list grows)
Many of the items on display were made in the RAE workshops and used to support ground-breaking research. Here are a few examples.
Whittle Jet Engine W2/700
Historic Jet Engine
This engine was part of the collection transferred from QinetiQ to FAST and used to be in the entrance hall of the main Pyestock building. We don't think this engine was ever flown but it was certainly of the period and had been assembled by the Whittle engineers.
Pioneering after burner
In addition, we have in the museum the "augmentor" [later called after burning] unit that was to be fitted behind the W2/700 and installed in the cancelled Miles M52 aircraft. This combination was likely to have been able to exceed the speed of sound [Mach 1] before the American Bell rocket powered aircraft.
Whittle Centenary Year
2007 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sir Frank Whittle. To mark the occasion a full-length documentary "Whittle - the Jet Pioneer" is available on DVD from Quanta Films
There is more about Sir Frank Whittle's life and work on the Cambridge University Department of Engineering website.
Shock Cones
Shock cones - windtunnel models for research into air intakes on supersonic aircraft
Helicopter Rotor
Helicopter rotor hub. This exhibit shows how the rotor blades are adjusted in pitch to produce lift and forward motion - more details to follow
Windtunnel Models
Some of the smaller wind tunnel models. The "M" and "W" shapes were evaluated in the Farnborough No 3 windtunnel carrying out fundamental research into wing configurations. There are some early Concorde models used to confirm the low speed performance of the famous shape.
Copyright © Farnborough Air Sciences Trust
Registered Charity 1040199
http://www.farnboroughairsciences.org.uk
Version: 1.15 date: 20 October 2007