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Stratosphere Chamber
Brooklands is well-known for motoring and aviation, but it is also home for an extraordinary piece of research equipment, the stratosphere chamber Read this text about the chamber, then try the vocabulary exercise below. The exercise is based on the meanings of the words in bold.
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Brooklands was a centre for British aircraft manufacturing for much of
the twentieth century, but in addition some very special research
and development work was carried on there after 1945.
 One
remarkable structure which started operation in 1948 and still
exists today is the Stratosphere Chamber. Its purpose was to simulate
at ground level the extreme conditions that fast and high-flying aircraft
might meet. It could be operated at air pressure only 5% of that on the
ground, which is equivalent to flying at 70,000 feet, or over 21,000 metres.
It could also test a temperature range from -65°C to + 45°. In its 33-year
working life, the Chamber was used for many trials, some of which had
nothing to do with aircraft. For example, one test programme reproduced
icing conditions on a trawler in the Arctic.
 Today
Brooklands is a museum, and one of its priorities is to maintain
its aviation traditions. It takes pride in restoring aircraft, particularly
if they were built in the nearby factory. The biggest single task
of that sort is still continuing - the painstaking restoration
of a Wellington bomber that was recovered in 1985 from the bottom of Loch
Ness in Scotland.
Exercise - Vocabulary
Look at the definitions below. Each one is for a word in bold
in the text. Choose the word or expression from the list on the right
which matches the definition.
 Check
your answers
Links for more information
Brooklands Museum
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