British Aerospace Hawk T1, UK - Air Force AN2173331

The Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine was a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

aviation medicine research unit active between 1945 and 1994.

Early days

The RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine (IAM) was opened on 30 April 1945 by the Princess Royal. It was located on land to the south side of the

Farnborough Airfield Farnborough Airport (previously called: TAG Farnborough Airport, RAE Farnborough, ICAO Code EGLF) is an operational business/executive general aviation airport in Farnborough, Rushmoor, Hampshire, England. The airport covers about 8% of Rush ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, and was successor to the wartime RAF Physiological Laboratory. Initially having separate sections for acceleration, altitude, biochemistry, biophysics, personal equipment and teaching, its mandate was to conduct both pure and applied research in support of flying personnel. Initially run by Dr

Bryan Matthews Sir Bryan Harold Cabot Matthews, (14 June 1906 – 23 July 1986) was Professor of Physiology, Cambridge University 1952–1973, emeritus professor thereafter and Life Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. Matthews was educated at Clifton College ...

, Group Captain Bill Stewart was appointed head in 1946. A former pupil of the

Hamilton Academy Hamilton Academy was a school in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The school was described as "one of the finest schools in Scotland" in the Cambridge University Press County Biography of 1910, and was featured in a 1950 Scottish Seconda ...

school, Stewart was to be promoted to Air Vice-Marshal, and awarded CB and CBE. The Stewart Lecture at the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Members, Fellows, ...

was established in his memory in 1969. The IAM obtained a

decompression chamber A diving chamber is a vessel for human occupation, which may have an entrance that can be sealed to hold an internal pressure significantly higher than ambient pressure, a pressurised gas system to control the internal pressure, and a supply o ...

(moved from the Physiological Laboratory) in 1945, and this was supplemented by a climatic chamber in 1952, and human centrifuge in 1955 (the latter facility is still in operation and was designated a Grade 2 Listed Building in August 2007). Additionally, the Institute was responsible for a number of mobile decompression chambers and the training of operators for chambers deployed at certain RAF operational stations with the object of familiarising flying personnel with the effects of anoxia at operational altitudes.

Heyday

The IAM became a world leading centre for

aviation medicine Aviation medicine, also called flight medicine or aerospace medicine, is a preventive or occupational medicine in which the patients/subjects are pilots, aircrews, or astronauts. The specialty strives to treat or prevent conditions to which aircr ...

research in the 1960s and 1970s, gaining additional facilities, and continuing an active flight research programme that commenced in World War II. Research into protection against the effects of high altitude, high G force, heat and cold stress, noise and vibration, sleep and wakefulness, spatial disorientation, vision, aviation psychology and human error, and aircraft accident investigation dominated activities at the IAM. Much work was done to develop and improve aircrew life support equipment.

Latter history

The IAM ceased to exist in 1994, when many research staff and facilities were transferred to the

DERA Dera, Dero, Daro, Dhoro, Dahar or Dehra is a word in several languages of South Asia, whose meaning is 'camp', 'mound' or 'settlement'. It appears in the names of a number of places. Geography India * Dera, Himachal Pradesh * Dera Bassi, Moha ...

Centre for Human Sciences. In the RAF, the spiritual successor to the IAM is the

RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine The RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine (RAF CAM) is a medical organisation run by the Royal Air Force and based at RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire. It is the main organisation conducting aviation medicine research in the UK. History Formation The cent ...

, which opened in 1998 at

RAF Henlow RAF Henlow is a Royal Air Force station in Bedfordshire, England, equidistant from Bedford, Luton and Stevenage. It houses the RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine, the Joint Arms Control Implementation Group (JACIG), elements of Defence Equipment ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

, and conducts training and operational support for RAF aircrew.

Commanding Officers

*1945-46 Sir Bryan Matthews *1946-67 AVM William K Stewart *1967-74 AVM Henry L Roxburgh *1975-88 AVM Peter Howard * 1988-92 AVM John Ernsting

References

{{authority control 1994 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Aviation medicine organizations Aviation organisations based in the United Kingdom Aviation research institutes Farnborough, Hampshire Medical units and formations of the United Kingdom Organisations based in Hampshire Research institutes in Hampshire Royal Air Force Military medical research organizations of the United Kingdom