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The Boscombe Down Aviation Collection is located at Old Sarum Airfield in Wiltshire.
The museum tells the history of Boscombe Down and explains the place it has in the history of flight and flight test.
History
The Boscombe Down Aviation Collection (BDAC) was formally opened in April 1999 at Boscombe Down but was moved to Old Sarum Airfield and opened to the public in July 2012.
The collection is based on the aircraft, vehicles and artifacts associated with the Boscombe Down site, and its history of flight and flight test.
The site, formerly known as RAF Boscombe Down, has evaluated aircraft for the British armed forces since 1939.
Today, MoD Boscombe Down is still an aircraft testing site and has two runways of 10,538ft and 6,280ft. It is run and managed by QinetiQ and is the home of the Empire Test Pilots School. In October 2007 it was announced that Boscombe Down would become a Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) airfield from early 2008, offering round-the-clock fighter coverage for the South and South West of UK airspace.
In 1994, Boscombe Down was associated with rumours concerning U.S. black projects after an unusual aircraft allegedly crash-landed at the site and the SAS were scrambled to set up a perimeter around the air base.
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