The Barnes Wallis-designed “Stratosphere Chamber” was built in 1946 to investigate high-speed flight at very high altitudes. The exhibition highlights Wallis’ research work for the Vickers aircraft company after 1946
This exhibition inspires people of all ages, including young people who may be considering careers in science and technology, using the technological achievements of people at Brooklands.
Here, we share the inspirational story of Barnes Wallis, a pioneer beyond his times, who also designed the World War Two-winning Tall Boy and Bouncing Bombs.
Stand in awe before the great Chamber and its ingenious door design, and see in the Chamber itself, the forward section of a Vickers Vanguard airliner just as it would have been on test in the 1950s.
Also on display in the Stratosphere Chamber building is the Museum’s collection of aero engines ranging from the simplest early piston engines up to advanced turbofan jet engines.
Plan your visit
Factory Square, Entry via Paddock
Museum Map >
Step free access
Accessibility at the Museum >
DISCOVER THE STORIES
Brooklands Stories:
Sir George Edwards
George Robert Freeman Edwards was born above his father’s toy shop in Highams Park, London. After local schooling, he went to Walthamstow Engineering and Trade School. From there he worked for a time in heavy industry and later on the design and construction of projects as diverse as lock-gate machinery, cranes, bridges, and hydraulic pumps.
At the age of 27, he moved on to design work with Vickers Aviation, at Brooklands. This started a career that spanned the era of manned flight from biplanes to supersonic travel.
DISCOVER THE STORIES
LGBTQ at Brooklands:
Janet Gulland
Janet Gulland was a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and Director of Market Research at BAe Weybridge. Gulland took some of her first steps on this path when she won a Fulbright Scholarship as a research assistant in engineering at the Brown University, Rhode Island, USA in April 1956 while at Oxford University and was awarded a certificate in Research Assistantship for 1956-1957, working in the Wind Tunnel Department. Then, between 1958 and 1960, she was taken on as a graduate apprentice at Vickers- Armstrongs (Supermarine) at South Marston, Wisley Airfield and Weybridge.
