§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the wind tunnels already operating in the United Kingdom in public and private ownership, indicating the capacity of each and the energy intake.
§ Mr. PattieThere are about 150 aeronautical wind tunnels operating in the United Kingdom in Government establishments, industry and universities. I am placing in the Library of the House a copy of the list of Commonwealth wind tunnels—CC740—produced in January 1977 by the Commonwealth advisory aeronautical research council, which includes the United Kingdom tunnels.
The major wind tunnels operated by the Ministry of Defence, and their energy intakes, are:
RAE Farnborough 24 ft. diameter, sub-sonic 1,500 Kilowatts 11½ ft. x 8½ ft., sub-sonic 3,600 Kilowatts 4 ft. x 3 ft., sub-sonic 150 Kilowatts 5 m. x 4.2 m., sub-sonic 19,700 Kilowatts 8 ft. x 6 ft., transonic 15,000 Kilawatts
RAE Bedford 13 ft. x 9 ft., sub-sonic 1,115 Kilowatts 3 ft. x 3 ft. transonic and supersonic 9,000 Kilowatts 8 ft. x 8 ft. subsonic and supersonic 60,000 Kilowatts Ministry of Defence Wednesday 31st October 1979
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when he expects the new transonic wind tunnel will be built in the 543W United Kingdom; what is the anticipated cost; and where it will be located;
(2) whether he is contemplating a European facility for wind tunnel development funded on an international basis.
§ Mr. PattieEuropean requirements for additional transonic wind tunnel facilities have been under consideration in NATO and preliminary studies of technical feasibility and options are currently in hand. No firm decisions have been taken, although we expect things to be clearer by the middle of next year. The Ministry of Defence has no plans itself to construct a new transonic wind tunnel.