Research and development in the Royal Air Force

1. Introduction

The National Archives contains a large number of records on aeronautical research and development, of which the most notable are described below. Please remember, however, that there are several other large collections in Britain, the most important of which is that held in the Royal Air Force Museum, Department of Research and Information Services, Aerodrome Road, Hendon, London NW9 5LL, Tel: 020-8205 2266.

2. Air Ministry

The most important series of records for the study of the early history of aeronautics is the Air Historical Branch Records, Series I (AIR 1), dating from 1897 to 1919. For the inter-war period, when responsibility for the development of new aircraft and equipment lay with the Air Ministry, files about research and development may be found in the Ministry's Correspondence (AIR 2), the Chief of the Air Staff Papers (AIR 8), Air Ministry Unregistered Papers (AIR 20) and in Air Publications (AIR 10). There is also a considerable amount of useful material in the papers of Bomber, Coastal and Fighter Commands (AIR 14, AIR 15, AIR 16) and in the papers of the Overseas Commands (AIR 23). The Air Ministry was also responsible for civil aviation until 1944 and papers about the development of civil aviation may be found in the Air Ministry Civil Aviation Files (AVIA 2). These files also include a certain amount of post-1945 material.

3. Ministry of Aircraft Production

The Ministry of Aircraft Production was created in May 1940 to relieve the Air Ministry of responsibility for the procurement of supplies. The former Air Ministry Department of the Air Member for Development and Production was transferred to the new Ministry together with the various research establishments described below. Although some files may be found in the Air Ministry classes described above, the main series of files of the Ministry of Aircraft Production are in AVIA 15. The Scientific and Technical Monographs (AVIA 44) prepared by the Ministry at the end of the war are also useful, as are the Private Office Papers (AVIA 9) and the Unregistered Papers (AVIA 10). The Ministry and its functions were taken over by the Ministry of Supply in 1945.

4. Royal Aircraft Establishment

The Royal Aircraft Establishment has a long history starting in 1878 when the War Office set up the Balloon Equipment Store at Woolwich. In 1892 the Store moved to Aldershot and was renamed the Balloon Factory. Dirigibles were built and flown with variable success. The Factory soon became interested in aeroplanes and after moving to Farnborough was in 1912 renamed the Royal Aircraft Factory. It designed and built many types of aircraft and aircraft engines, but in 1916 the Government decided to transfer this work to industry and to confine Farnborough to research and development. In 1918 the Factory was renamed the Royal Aircraft Establishment in order to avoid confusion with the initials of the Royal Air Force. Early reports of the Establishment may be found in AIR 1 and AIR 5. Detailed plans and drawings of aircraft built by the Establishment are in AVIA 14. Reports by the RAE from 1924 may be found in AVIA 6. Files of various departments of RAE are in AVIA 13.

5. Royal establishments, committees and councils

• The Royal Radar Establishment and its predecessors have been responsible since 1917 for scientific and development work associated with the detection and location of aircraft. As the name indicates the Files (AVIA 7), Reports (AVIA 26) and Journals (AVIA 36) of the Establishment are especially important for the development of radar and other devices. The most important of the predecessors to the RRE were the Searchlight Experimental Establishment, Air Defence Experimental Establishment (Reports in AVIA 17), Bawdsey Research Station and Telecommunications Research Establishment.
• The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A & AEE) is responsible for the testing of new aircraft and equipment. The Establishment was set up in 1917 by the Air Ministry at Martlesham Heath in Suffolk to carry out acceptance tests on aircraft. It moved to Boscombe Down in 1939. Early reports of the Establishment may be found in AIR 1 and AIR 5. From 1924 the majority of reports are in AVIA 18.
• The Marine Aeroplane Experimental Establishment (MAEE) was set up by the Air Ministry in 1924 to determine the performance of water based aircraft. Originally based in Felixtowe, the Establishment moved in 1939 to Helensburgh in Scotland. In 1945 it returned to Felixstowe before finally closing down in 1956. Reports may be found in AVIA 19.
• The Projectile Development Establishment, first established at Fort Halstead, Kent, was moved to a new firing range at Aberporth, Cardiganshire, in 1940. Technical reports of the development work and trials of solid propellant rockets are in AVIA 41. At the end of the last war, many of the staff of PDE moved to the newly created Guided Projectile Establishment at Westcott, Buckinghamshire. Files of the new establishment are in AVIA 48.
• The Royal Airship Works were established in 1919 when the Air Ministry took over a site at Cardington near Bedford used by the Admiralty for experimental work on airships. Airship work ceased after the R 101 disaster in 1931 and the works concentrated on balloons, becoming the Balloon Establishment in 1939. It received its present name of Research & Development Establishment, Cardington in 1945. The correspondence and papers of the Royal Airship Works are in AIR 11 with certain drawings and plans in AIR 12. The Reports (AVIA 20), Correspondence (AVIA 25) and Drawings (AVIA 24) of the Research and Development Establishment, Cardington, exclusively concern military balloons.

In 1909 the Government appointed the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to advise on aeronautical policy and to supervise research done in this country into the problems of flight. Its role was purely advisory and it could study only those problems which had been referred to it. The Committee became the Aeronautical Research Council in 1945; its minutes may be found in DSIR 22, reports and papers in DSIR 23 and correspondence in DSIR 24.

The National Archives also holds the papers and reports of several smaller research establishments.

6. Aircraft

6.1 British aircraft

A major part of the records of the Royal Air Force held in the National Archives is concerned with the research, development and operation of new aircraft. There is material on almost every aircraft flown by British Air Forces until 1946, although, with the exception of aircraft built by the Royal Aircraft Establishment during the First World War, (AVIA 14) there are few detailed plans of aircraft. Probably the most important source of material on aircraft held in The National Archives is the collection of Air Publications (AIR 10). These publications date from 1913 and include such items as pilot's notes, rigging diagrams, handbooks and maintenance instructions.

Apart from plans in AVIA 14 and a little material in AIR 2 and DSIR 22, DSIR 23, DSIR 24 most documents on the early development of the aeroplane until 1918 have been collected together in AIR 1, to which there are indexes at the National Archives.

Sources of material for aircraft of the inter-war period, especially for the 1920s, tend to be limited and to be scattered through several different classes. Aircraft specifications and some other material may be found in AIR 2 under Code 5. Similar material on early inter-war aircraft may also be found in the Air Historical Branch Records, Series II (AIR 5). Policy files are in AIR 2 and AIR 20.

Tests on aircraft and aircraft equipment are to be found in the early reports of the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (in AIR 1) but from 1919 these reports may be found in AVIA 18. The reports of the Marine Aeroplane Experimental Establishment (MAEE) which are in AVIA 19, are especially important for the development of seaplanes. The work of both these establishments continued during the Second World War; their reports include photographs and diagrams.

Certain other establishments and institutions issued reports which although tending to concentrate on the more theoretical aspects of aerodynamics may also contain items about individual aircraft. The National Archives holds a set of the monthly reports of the Directorate of Research from 1919 to 1925 (AIR 60). Reports from the Royal Aircraft Establishment (AVIA 6) date from 1915 to 1950 and include tests on aircraft and equipment; the Establishment's Files (AVIA 13) tend to deal with equipment rather than aircraft. The Air Ministry Inventions and Research and Development Files (AVIA 8) include material on both equipment and aircraft. Similar Air Ministry files are to be found in AIR 2.

The files of the Ministry of Aircraft Production (AVIA 15) contain a good deal of material on Second World War aircraft, and there are some files on aircraft among the papers of the Central Bomber Establishment and the Central Fighter Establishment (AIR 63 and AIR 64). Considerable numbers of documents about the development and use of aircraft are to be found in the papers of Bomber, Coastal and Fighter Commands (AIR 14, AIR 15 and AIR 16), while the papers of Overseas Commands in the Mediterranean, North Africa and South East Asia (AIR 23) also contain some information on the technical aspects of aircraft.

Specifications and photographs of every type of aircraft used by the RAF during the Second World War may be found in SUPP 9/1. These specifications may be supplemented by the Type Biographies of aircraft used by the RAF in the Ministry of Supply Files, Series I (AVIA 46).

The Whittle Papers (AIR 62) are an important source for the early history of the jet engine and the Gloster Meteor. These papers, which include some relating to Powerjets Ltd, date from 1936. The National Gas Turbine Establishment Drawings (AVIA 30) are detailed drawings of early jet engines and complement the papers in AIR 62. There is also some material in the papers of the Gas Turbine Collaboration Committee set up in 1941 (AVIA).

For post-1945 aircraft there are several useful sources including:

The National Archives also holds detailed drawings and plans of the Bristol Brabazon, a civil airliner of the immediate post-war period (AVIA 47).

6.2 Foreign aircraft

There is a certain amount of material on foreign, especially German, aircraft in AIR 1 for the period of the Great War. AIR 10 also has a little about foreign aircraft from 1918 until after the end of the Second World War. Among the papers of the Directorate of Intelligence (AIR 40) there are files about almost all the aircraft, including jets and helicopters, used by the German, Italian, French, Russian and Japanese Air Forces during the last war. These files include diagrams and photographs and often details of examinations carried out by the allies on enemy aircraft which crashed in the UK, although unfortunately these reports are not complete. This series contains details about most air forces in the world during the 1930s and the war years. Captured drawings of the German V-rockets may be found in AVIA 40. Detailed specifications and photographs of aircraft used by the USAAF during the Second World War may be found in SUPP 9/2. Tests on American aircraft used by the RAF may be found in the reports of AAEE and MAEE (AVIA 18, AVIA 19).

7. Airships

A few papers about the development of the airship before 1914 may be found in AIR 1/728, AIR 1/729, AIR 1/730. There are also papers on the airships of the First World War in AIR 1 and more may be found in AIR 2 described under Code 6/1 in the class list.

Much useful information about the construction and design of airships in the inter-war period may be found in the correspondence (AIR 11) and drawings (AIR 12) of the Royal Airship Works, Cardington. Other papers about airships of this period are in AIR 5 and AIR 20. Monthly reports of the Directorate of Research from 1919 to 1925 (AIR 60) concentrate on the military development of dirigibles. All surviving airship logbooks are in AIR 3 , including the logbooks for the R 100 and R 101. The report and papers of the court of enquiry into the loss of the R 101 are under the following references: AIR 5/902-906, AIR 5/909-913 and AIR 5/916-920. There is also a collection of photographs of airship sheds in AIR 59.

8. Further reading

S Fowler, P Elliot, R C Nesbit and C Goulter: RAF records in the PRO PRO Readers' Guide No. 8 (PRO, 1994)

William Spencer, Air Force Records for Family Historians PRO Readers' Guide No. 21 (PRO, 2000)