With over 30 years of experience our extensive knowledge in the industry has made us one of the largest and respected manufacturers in the world selling our products to virtually every continent. Quality Assured Products We are the world’s largest manufacturer of man-carrying balloons and has been for several decades. The company carries full approval and type certifications from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and many authorities in other parts of the world. The product range extends far beyond balloons. Aircraft that were developed or tested at the RAE included the Hawker Siddeley Harrier and Concorde.

As early as 1862, Lieutenant George Grover with a personal interest in ballooning approached the War Office with a proposal; that the British Army should investigate the use of the balloon as a platform for reconnaissance and observation. The War Office reaction was cool but it did allow Grover and Captain F. Beaumont to conduct balloon trials at Aldershot with the assistance of the pioneer civilian balloonist Henry Coxwell.Several aircraft were produced during the days as the Army Balloon Factory. These include the airships as well as the Cody and Dunne designs.

In 1930 the RAE developed the Robot Air Pilot, an autopilot that used a gyro and flight controls that functioned by compressed air. [19] Subsequent Royal Aircraft Factory type designations are inconsistent and confusing. For instance the " F.E.2" designation refers to three quite distinct types, with only the same broad layout in common, the F.E.2 (1911), the F.E.2 (1913), and finally the famous wartime two-seat fighter and general-purpose design, the F.E.2 (1914). This last aircraft was the one that went into production and had three main variants, the F.E.2a, F.E.2b, and the F.E.2d. As if this wasn't enough, there is the F.E.2c; this was a generic description rather than a subtype proper, and refers to several one-off conversions of F.E.2b's that experimentally reversed the seating positions of the pilot and the observer.In this exhibition-experience, artworks stimulate our senses through touch, sight and hearing. Having fun while discovering transdisciplinary works of art through immersive proposals is the concept of the Balloon Museum. Since 2023, artistic propositions have expanded. Today, inflatable art appears in digital projects, with the Ouchhh collective for example and its Data Art experiments, or with the Sila Sveta collective, inviting visitors into their utopian worlds through animated pop images. From 1913/4 onwards this was changed to a designation based on the role for which the aircraft was designed: The National Aerospace Library (NAL), located in the former Weapon Aerodynamics building (Q134 Building), has a collection of over 2,500 technical reports produced by the RAE. [21]