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The Royal Aircraft Establishment (aka RAE) in Farnborough, Hampshire was created in 1908 as the HM Balloon Factory. It was later renamed the Royal Aircraft Factory before becoming the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) in 1918 to avoid confusion with the Royal Air Force which came into being on 1 April, 1918.
The RAE became the Defence Research Agency (DRA) on April 1 1991, reflecting the organisation's wider remit, which then extended beyond just aircraft. An amalgamation of DRA and other MOD agencies resulted in the formation of DERA, the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, on April 1 1995. In 2001, the Agency was part-privatised by the MOD, resulting in two separate organisations, DSTL (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory), and QinetiQ. DSTL is the public-owned part of the DERA PPP, and Qinetiq is the privatised part.
Many aircraft have been developed or tested at the RAE including the Hawker Siddeley Harrier and Concorde.
The BE2b evolved from earlier aircraft after a great deal of experimental work by the government-owned RoyalAircraftFactory at Farnborough and proved to be one of the first practical aircraft supplied to the Royal Flying Corps.
The BE2b was the outcome of further design work by the RoyalAircraftFactory on the earlier BE2a version.
It is impossible to say how many BE2, 2a and 2b aircraft were built because of the early practice of rebuilding damaged aircraft but it is thought to be in the order of 150.
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