Catalogue description Ministry of Aircraft Production and Ministry of Supply: Airborne Forces Establishment, later Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment: Reports

The reports in this series were created by AFEE and its predecessors and consist of the following groups (information supplied by Ministry of Technology):

• Report Series MAP/TDS/G, Subject Gliders, Period 1941-1949, AVIA 21/1-46
• Report Series AFEE/G, AVIA 21/336-337
• Report Series MAP/TDS/P, Subject Parachutes, Period 1941-1950, AVIA 21/ 47-219
• Report Series AFEE/P, AVIA 21/338-360
• Report Series AFEE/Res., Subject Research & Development, Period 1942-1950, AVIA 21/220-248
• Report Series AFEE/T, Subject Towing Aircraft, Period 1942-1949 AVIA 21/249-315, AVIA 21/361-364
• Report Series AFEE/E, Subject Miscellaneous Equipment, Period1943-1949, AVIA 21 / 316-328
• Report Series AFEE/Rota, Subject Helicopters, Period 1947-1950, AVIA 21/329-335

In mid-1942 a Royal Air Force unit under Army Cooperation Command was set up at Ringway, Cheshire, to train a large body of airborne troops. This unit was the forerunner of the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE). Known as the Central Landing School at first, its name was soon changed to the Central Landing Establishment when, within a few months of its inception, the unit's activities were extended to include the development of glider-towing techniques. The Establishment consisted of glider and paratroop training squadrons and a glider development unit.

The Establishment was renamed the Airborne Forces Establishment (AFE) in late 1941. The training squadrons were moved out and absorbed into normal Royal Air Force units and AFE now concentrated on developmental and experimental work in connection with the transport and delivery of airborne forces and their equipment. The glider development unit was replaced by a Technical Development Section and the entire Establishment was placed under the technical control of the Ministry of Aircraft Production.

AFE became AFEE in February 1942, its main function being to test and to assist in the technical development of the means of transporting airborne forces with their equipment and delivering them on the ground in a serviceable condition so that they could engage the enemy immediately.

AFEE left Ringway in August 1942 for a site with more suitable facilities at Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorkshire. However, the handicaps of adverse weather conditions in the area and of remoteness from other Experimental Establishments and from Army Airborne Development formations with whom close liaison was necessary quickly became apparent. It was not until the end of 1944 that a satisfactory alternative was found at Beaulieu in Hampshire. The Establishment moved there in January 1945. The better weather conditions at the new airfield permitted a considerable increase in the output of experimental work.

The Ministry of Supply assumed control of AFEE in 1946 and in 1950 the Establishment was moved to Boscombe Down where it merged with the present-day Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment.