§ Mr. Brian Parkynasked the Minister of Technology what plans he has to increase the capital investment at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford, apart from the projected new wind tunnel.
§ Mr. FowlerIt has been the policy for some time to keep new capital investment at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford, to a minimum. This policy will continue pending the decision on the third London Airport. Apart from the projected new wind tunnel the only new, relatively small, capital facility at present under consideration is a rolling platform to simulate the movement of the deck of a small ship at sea, to be used in aid of naval helicopter development. In addition, there are several schemes under consideration for improving the efficiency and extending the facilities provided by existing major pieces of plant.
§ Mr. Brian Parkynasked the Minister of Technology to what extent the 76W development of Concorde has benefited from the use of the wind tunnel facilities at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford.
§ Mr. FowlerThe Bedford tunnels have contributed essential data to every phase of the development of Concorde. They participated in the initial investigation of the aerodynamics of slender wings which enabled the fundamental aerodynamic design principles for slender-wing supersonic transport aircraft to be formulated, and demonstrated the feasibility of economical flight at Mach numbers near two. The tunnels continued to play a vital rôle throughout the aimed research programme which led to the evolution of the Concorde configuration and the subsequent development of the prototype and pre-production aircraft.
§ Mr. Brian Parkynasked the Minister of Technology to what extent the development of the Lightning aircraft has benefited from the use of the wind tunnel facilities at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford.
§ Mr. FowlerThe tunnels provided essential aerodynamic design, performance and stability data. These included the basic high-speed design data and the final check-out performance and stability measurements. Additional work was related to the carriage of missiles and stores, accident investigation and the development of later marks of aircraft.
§ Mr. Brian Parkynasked the Minister of Technology to what extent the development of the Jaguar aircraft has benefited from the use of the wind tunnel facilities at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford.
§ Mr. FowlerThe tunnels provided essential aerodynamic design, performance and stability data. These included the initial high-speed and low-speed data from which the basic aircraft shape was settled, more detailed design data for the spoilers, the effects of the external stores and the final definitive performance and stability measurements.