I've been doing a bit of research into something I'm thinking of having a stab at and came across these guys http://www.bahg.org.uk Bedford Aeronautical Heritage Group. I bought a copy of "Wings Over Thurleigh" from them and I can highly recommend it. 243 pages of fantastic insight into the Aeronautical research that took place there from 1954 to 1994. The book has some great pictures (although these are black and white) and some very interesting reading. Its a paperback, but A4 in size. It costs £15 + £6 P&P. For more information see the website link above.
Also found this which shows how some of the buildings from the supersonic wind tunnels look today...
Also related to Thurleigh, here is a really good paper by Sir John Charnley entitled "The RAE Contribution to All-Weather Landing". It documents auto land and some nice pictures too, well worth a read.
Thanks for that Ben. The history of the MoD/PE Bases and related Aircraft is fascinating to me, mainly because of the variety of types and the 'raspberry ripple' livery. Sadly, Bedford and Farnborough closed before I had a car, so I never got to visit them.
Have you seen a pic of the road near Thurleigh that still has a central reservation where the 5-mile runway was due to go over the top?
