Arnold Engineering set a record for the largest aircraft model, a 10 percent scale model of a B-52 Stratofortress. The testing was requested from the B-52 Program Office to look at the scope of the internal weapons bay upgrade. From left, J.T. Thompson discusses the model with Gary Cunningham in 16-foot wind tunnel.
A Pratt & Whitney F-135 engine for the conventional takeoff and landing version of the F-35 Lighting II Joint
Strike Fighter undergoes proof testing at Arnold Air Force Base.
Arnold Engineering Development Complex test engineer Shannon Tibbals, right, and AEDC outside machinist Greg Crabtree get an up-close look at a nozzle in the Von Karmann Gas Dynamics Facility. Base officials say the military complex near Tullahoma is having its busiest testing year in some time.ARNOLD ENGINEERING AND DEVELOPMENT COMPLEXArnold Engineering and Development Complex in Tullahoma, Tenn., is the nation’s largest complex of flight simulation test facilities, dedicated in June 1951 and named for five-star General of the Air Force Henry “Hap” Arnold. The complex operates 43 aerodynamic and propulsion wind tunnels, rocket and turbine engine test cells, space environmental chamber, arc heaters, ballistic ranges and other specialized units. Twenty-seven of Arnold’s test units are unmatched in the United States, and 14 are unique in the world. Facilities can simulate flight conditions from sea level to 300 miles up and from subsonic velocities to Mach 20.The facility has in its pedigree most of the military’s fighters and experimental jets like the X-15, X-29, X-32, X-33, X-35 and XB-70, along with a lineup of space rockets, like the Atlas and Titan, the space shuttle, projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo and the Minuteman and Peacekeeper ICBM missiles.Source: Arnold Engineering and Development Complex, Arnold Air Force Base
The next time you hear a sonic boom and spy one of the latest U.S. military jets streaking across the sky, you can give a little credit to some folks in Tullahoma, Tenn.
Arnold Engineering and Development Complex at Arnold Air Force Base is nearly three months into one of its busiest testing years in some time.
The U.S. Department of Defense is keeping Arnold hopping despite budget cuts to a facility that, at its peak years ago, employed about 4,500 people, officials said.
“Last week was sort of a milestone week for us,” spokesman Jason Austin said Friday.