This is the main hall in the Grade 2* listed Trenchard Building.  It contains an eclectic mix of aviation and RAE technologies, as well as RAE social paraphernalia, including the Test Pilot's Memorial - a collaboration between FAST and Aeroplane magazine.  

One of the highlights is the 1943 Whittle W2/700 Jet engine and the unique re-heat & by-pass turbines which were to be used on the ill-fated Miles M52 supersonic aircraft of 1945. 

This hall is the original 1908/9 Balloon School storage area and is also Grade 2* listed.  A rotating and cut-away Rolls Royce Conway jet engine allows the workings of a jet engine to be clearly seen. 

Dominating the entrance to the hall is a Stiletto supersonic target drone (Mach 2.8, 91,000 ft), with a unique Polaris Chevaline nose section displayed in its wake. The old RAE Technical College wind-tunnel (ex-Gottingen) is in running condition and used as an educational tool.  A small number of the large collection of RAE wind-tunnel models are also on display

The Cody Pavilion was constructed in 2008 to house the full scale replica of Samuel Cody's Flyer.  The replica is on show in a striking and modern building - the outer cover is similar to the roof of the Millenium Dome.  Also - very appropriately - it closely resembles the airship hangar frame of 1919 that has been restored and re-erected in the adjoining business park, which can be seen in the background from the Museum site.

The Cody Flyer Project was an ambitious undertaking by FAST volunteers to construct a full scale replica of Samuel Franklin Cody's British Army Aeroplane No1A. The highly accurate non-flying replica was constructed to commemorate the centenary of the first aeroplane to make a powered, controlled and sustained flight in Great Britain, which took place at Farnborough on 16 October 1908.  Built at Farnborough, the replica construction took over 18 months and this extremely large exhibit (53ft wingspan) is now a visitor highlight of the FAST Museum.

Why not try and take off, fly and land the Cody Flyer yourself? 
The display also includes a full scale mock-up of the Cody Flyer cockpit connected to a flight simulator.

For more information, the Cody Flyer Project had its own website which has been archived here >>

Sponsored by QinetiQ, the model room contains some 237 1/72 scale aircraft (only 50% of our complete collection) from World War 1 through the inter-war years, through WW2 to the present day.  It includes a number of experimental aircraft flown at RAE or elsewhere as well as a collection of RAE Experimental Flight Department aircraft in the 'raspberry ripple' livery.

Some of the models are part of a collection donated to FAST by Richard L Ward and David Cook who, with Alan W Hall constructed over 1000 models which became the 'History of Air Power' collection. Further models have since been donated. 

Also in the Cody Pavilion are a number of models of the RAE German Aircraft exhibition in 1945 built by the Farnborough Branch of the International Plastic Modellers Society.

This cupboard, situated in the entrance hall of the Museum in Trenchard House, was used as the first photographic darkroom by the Royal Flying Corps in 1912, being used by Air Mechanic F.C.Victor Laws who was seconded from the Coldstream Guards to the RFC not only as a mechanic but also a photographer.  He was soon put in charge of the photographic section of No 1 Squadron and continued in the field of aerial photography, becoming the aerial photography expert in the RAF and known colloquially as the "Father of RAF Photography".  It all started here!