Overview

Flying Info

The Station

MOD Boscombe Down is the tri-Service home of military aircraft Test & Evaluation and the Boscombe Down RAF Support Unit which provides administrative support to the military lodger units. 

It is a civilian operated airfield, administered by the RAF Air Warfare Centre at RAF Waddington which supports aircraft development. It provides an operational airfield with the longest military runway in the UK.

Address

MoD Boscombe Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP4 0JF.

Who's based here

Key dates

  • 1917 - First opened as Royal Flying Corps Redhouse Farm.
  • 1920 - Closed and the land returned to agricultural use.
  • 1939 - Began test flying with the Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment moving in.
  • 1992 - The site was renamed the Aircraft and Armament Evaluation Establishment (AAEE).
  • 2001 - The responsibility for the airfield was given to QinetiQ, in conjunction with the Air Warfare Centre.