Old Wind Tunnel Test Model
Discussion
A bit of background, I'm a researcher from Liverpool University's Flight Science and Technology Centre and as such I get to play with wind tunnels on occasion and poke around old labs full of defunct test gear and various contraptions. On one of my forays this afternoon while bored having to supervising some third year project students, I found an old wind tunnel test model hidden on top of a large 1960's tunnel covered in a thick layer of dust hidden from view. The model is very heavy and looks like it is made from mahogany judging from the colour at the tail of the model.
No details on it except a label saying "Boulton Paul Experimental Delta" and a quick Google search brings up a company that did some aircraft research on delta wings back in the fifties. Looking through their aircraft it does resemble the P.111 with that carachteristic fat nose. Will have to do some more poking around and see if I can find what, if any work was carried out here at the engineering dept as it's piqued my interest somewhat. Just thought it might be of interest to some here as old models like this are few and far between I imagine and some of the aircraft created in the fifties were quite novel.
And the Boulton Paul P.111
No details on it except a label saying "Boulton Paul Experimental Delta" and a quick Google search brings up a company that did some aircraft research on delta wings back in the fifties. Looking through their aircraft it does resemble the P.111 with that carachteristic fat nose. Will have to do some more poking around and see if I can find what, if any work was carried out here at the engineering dept as it's piqued my interest somewhat. Just thought it might be of interest to some here as old models like this are few and far between I imagine and some of the aircraft created in the fifties were quite novel.
And the Boulton Paul P.111
coanda said:
If you have any sway, please try and get that piece of our aerospace research history donated to Cosford. It's where it belongs now.
This!Would be perfect in their experimental hanger, although to be fair they have a ton of stuff not on display in their reserve collection already..
lufbramatt said:
coanda said:
If you have any sway, please try and get that piece of our aerospace research history donated to Cosford. It's where it belongs now.
This!Would be perfect in their experimental hanger, although to be fair they have a ton of stuff not on display in their reserve collection already..
I'll need to speak to the guy in charge of the labs, but I suspect he won't mind donating it to a museum or at least putting it on display. One of the guys from my dept is in charge of the Speke Aerodrome Heritage Group which have several aircraft under restoration so might have some contacts. Going back to the lab this afternoon, so will have a word with the lab manager and another look.
We also have a lab full of wooden ship hull models that date to the sixties which were used in our 90,000 litre water tunnel, which dates from the same time. I'm told that there are a few hull forms that were used to test potential America's Cup yacht designs.
Again off on a slight tangent, I was given this as a birthday present a few years ago from a colleague in Manchester uni. They were doing some work renovating an old lab and found a room that was previously sealed off, containing old experimental equipment designed by Alan Turing while he was working there after the war. The builders were actually putting the lot into a skip before it was rescued. Most of it was given to a museum or put on display in the dept but they were allowed to keep several pieces themselves. The piece I have was part of a lab excercise he designed, for teaching students various aspects of logic. Amazing what history some of these old uni labs contain.
We also have a lab full of wooden ship hull models that date to the sixties which were used in our 90,000 litre water tunnel, which dates from the same time. I'm told that there are a few hull forms that were used to test potential America's Cup yacht designs.
Again off on a slight tangent, I was given this as a birthday present a few years ago from a colleague in Manchester uni. They were doing some work renovating an old lab and found a room that was previously sealed off, containing old experimental equipment designed by Alan Turing while he was working there after the war. The builders were actually putting the lot into a skip before it was rescued. Most of it was given to a museum or put on display in the dept but they were allowed to keep several pieces themselves. The piece I have was part of a lab excercise he designed, for teaching students various aspects of logic. Amazing what history some of these old uni labs contain.
Max_Torque said:
In 50 years time, do you people will stumble on 100GB of old CFD data and enjoy it as much as these old models??
Naw, me neither...... ;-)
100Gb? We've just upgraded our storage to 64Tb as a single CFD simulation for our line of work is around 500Gb, although a colleague is now pushing that limit to 2Tb per simulation. The joys of flight simulation.Naw, me neither...... ;-)
That's beautiful. Interesting nose.
Eric Mc said:
The FAST Museum at Farnborough also has a number of wind tunnel models on display.
I was quite amused to spot one of the mixer nozzles I did some testing on years ago in their collection, but not half as impressed as my mate was when he found a photo that he's in. Well I say in, he's not visible but the picture shows the outside of the bunker he was in at the time it was taken 
Another update as we've found another old wind tunnel test model during some clearance work to modernise our wind tunnel facilities and was approached by a technician asking if we were interested in it as it was about to meet the skip outside. Anecdotally I've been told that this is an early Tornado variant, although it looks very Hawk-ish and appears to be only single engine. There is also a collection of different engine intake profiles for the model (in the tray on the top of the box), the ones currently attached to the model appear to be streamlined for reducing drag in this area while determining other aerodynamic aspects of the model. But other than the serial number on the side I have no ideas as I haven't had time to do any digging. I believe the Flight Simulation Group in our dept is looking to put it back onto it's stand and give it a spruce up for display inn the department.
Just for reference the box is around 2 meters in length.
(serial number says GAC 607/R29)
Just for reference the box is around 2 meters in length.
(serial number says GAC 607/R29)
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