Catalogue description Records of the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment

An Aeroplane Experimental Station RFC was set up by the Air Board in 1917 and taken over by the Ministry of Munitions in 1918. In January 1920 it passed under the control of the Air Ministry. In April 1920 the station's name was changed to Aeroplane Experimental Establishment and, in March 1924, to Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (AAEE). It was responsible for acceptance tests on aircraft before release for general service and also for testing their armament and much of their equipment. In 1939 it moved to Boscombe Down and in 1940 passed under the control of the Ministry of Aircraft Production.

AAEE passed to the Ministry of Supply in 1946. It absorbed the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment in 1950. Responsibility for AAEE passed successively to the Ministry of Aviation in 1959, Ministry of Technology in 1967, Ministry of Aviation Supply in 1970 and Ministry of Defence in 1971. In 1991 AAEE became part of the Ministry of Defence's Directorate General of Test and Evaluation.