Aircraft Research Association

The Aircraft Research Association (ARA) is an aerodynamics research institute in the north-west of Bedford.

History
The association was founded on 22 January 1952. 14 main British aviation companies funded £1.25m to build a large wind tunnel.

It was first proposed in 1953 to build the site at Stevington, north-east of Bedford. By March 1953, the current site was chosen.

Construction
Work started on Monday 7 September 1953.

The wind tunnel was fabricated by Moreland Hayne of east London.

The transonic tunnel first ran in April 1956.

Visits
The Duke of Edinburgh visited on the morning of Friday 4 May 1956. He had been planning to land by helicopter in the south-east of Bedford, and to be driven from there to the site by car, but weather conditions were unsuitable.

Structure
The site has the largest transonic wind tunnel in the UK, known as the TWT, with speeds up to Mach 1.4, powered by a Sulzer axial compressor. It is 25,000 hp electric-powered.

Wind tunnels

 * Supersonic tunnel, Mach 1.4 - 3.5, built in 1958

Two hypersonic tunnels
 * Mach 4-5 tunnel, built in 1965
 * Mach 7 tunnel, built in 1968

Research
Projects worked on include Concorde, the Harrier and most Airbus aircraft. The Rolls-Royce RB211 was tested there.

The site now works with RUAG of Switzerland.