Empire Test Pilots' School
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The Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS) is a British training school for test pilots and flight test engineers of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England. It was established in 1943, the first of its type. The school moved to RAF Cranfield in October 1945, then to the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough in July 1947, before returning to Boscombe Down on 29 January 1968.
The Armstrong Whitworth Apollo served the ETPS as a multi-engined trainer at Farnborough during the mid-fifties
RJ100 in 2013
Qinetiq/ETPS BAe Avro 146 RJ70 arrives at the 2017 Royal International Air Tattoo, England. LTPA on the forward fuselage indicates the Long Term Partnering Agreement between Qinetiq and the UK Ministry of Defence
AgustaWestland AW-109E Power (ZE416) of the Empire Test Pilots' School at the 2017 RIAT, England
Test pilot
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A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.
Léon Lemartin, the world's first professional test pilot, under contract to Louis Blériot in c. 1910
Jimmy Doolittle in 1928 with his Curtiss R3C-2, around the time he pioneered blind flying
Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1, first test pilot to break the sound barrier at Mach 1 in 1947
Neil Armstrong and the North American X-15 after a research test flight in 1960