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Boscombe Down
An airfield, adjacent to Amesbury, to which the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment moved from Martlesham Heath on the outbreak of war in 1939.
After an outbreak of Acronym Overload in 1992, the A&AEE was renamed the A&AEE, as someone was bored and decided the quaint term 'aeroplane' was outdated and needed replacing with 'aircraft' - no doubt at considerable expense to the taxpayer.
Boscombe is often referred to as, 'secret', although if you were of a mind you could see everything going on there from the A303 or A345.
Boscombe is also home to the marvellously-named Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS). Quite how this title has survived is anyone's guess, but it is world-renowned and the 'Right Stuff' pitches up from all over the shop to get Q'd on archaic, out-of-date types.
All the wonderful MOD(PE) departments of old have undergone several titular alterations, but are now run by the un-marvellously titled Qinetiq.
External links
High Res pic for planning those midnight visits.
