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Report - - RAE Windtunnel Bedford - May 2015 | Military Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - RAE Windtunnel Bedford - May 2015

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Urbexbandoned

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
This is the only history I could find :

The site had several reasonably large windtunnels, one supersonic and one large subsonic. It also had a 'drop tower'. The drop tower is now used as a skydiving training venue. The supersonic tunnel was dismantled by 2005 and the building which held the fans and driving motors is now used as the set for the BBC popular science programme, "Bang Goes The Theory". The subsonic tunnel is sometimes used for testing cars on a rolling road.In March 1967 the U-2 flew out of RAE Bedford.

It was often touted as a possible site for the third London Airport (long before Stansted Airport took on that role). The local community was strongly opposed and many rural buildings were adorned with slogans such as "Thurleigh -NO!", "No! No! No!" and "Maplin Now".

The Explore

Well, I have to say thanks to Hamtagger first, not only did he help massively it was also down to this place that paved the way for another urbex romance haha So cheers babe :D

After seeing the boys visited this a few weeks before I did, I decided to go, I liked what I saw and I know the area well as I come from Bedfordshire. I actually thought It had gone.

Access was interesting, I had 2 options, the first was a no go so on to the second. But anyhow I got in, unscathed and everything intact!

I was confronted by that fan, something I ended up with over 50 pics of haha. Got a bit snaphappy. There was lots to see here, lots of really loud noises too, birds which had nested and I kept thinking they were inside the building but no just the echo coming from outside.
Found the first control room, door wouldn't open. Carried on, now I know that I probably just didn't push hard enough so a great excuse for a revist! Then after some exploring found the other, was quite nice, a LOT of dial/button/switch porn. I actually spent over an hour in here. After this I ventured back down to the main bit, found some old paperwork, some test tube thingymabobs which made a nice pic and then carried on snapping. All in all quite a relaxing explore. I loved it.



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thanks for looking!
 
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hamtagger

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Really like that first shot and the fan blade one. Enjoyed our recent revisit too babe pretending to be part of that film crew lol. :)

:thumb
 
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