[5] Most of the sixty buildings, scattered around the site, did not exceed treetop height, and all were well-camouflaged,[6] to reduce the chance of them being detected by aerial reconnaissance and to avoid making them targets, as the wind tunnels of the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt (DVL) in Adlershof (near Berlin) or the Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt (AVA, part of today's DLR agency) at the University of Göttingen were.

To help reduce the risk of detection, there were no railway lines in, nor overhead power lines, nor any chimneys; and uniquely for an aviation research facility of its time in Germany, no runways, taxiways or hardstands for active aviation operations; just about all of the facility's infrastructure needs were supplied underground from Braunschweig, including steam heat.

A1 had a circular nozzle 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) in diameter, producing a maximum speed of 123 mph (198 km/h; 107 kn); it entered service in 1937, the year after construction began on facilities.

[17] It was driven by a pair of 600 kW (800 hp) DC electric motors, and fitted with interferometer and striation gear for study of flow patterns.

[22] The A9 building housed a pair of supersonic wind tunnels, each driven by a 4 MW (5,400 hp; 5,400 PS) motor, with a maximum speed of Mach 1.5, but a test section diameter of only 80 cm2 (12 in2).

[25] The test centre assisted the BMW firm in developing the factory-produced forward cowling — which had the engine's oil cooler integrated into it from the beginning — for their BMW 801 fourteen-cylinder radial engine used in many German Luftwaffe military aircraft, most importantly the Focke-Wulf Fw 190A;[26] trials indicated it was possible to reduce drag enough to save 150–200 hp (110–150 kW; 150–200 PS),[27] as well as to maximize pressure build-up to assist cooling.