The work contained in this thesis covers the design, development and testing of a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) with Sailfoil blades. Included is a brief history of wind turbine technology, its revival, a review of current wind energy developments and a literature survey of previous work on wind turbines with sail type blades. The Sailfoil blade consists of a framework of a leading edge D spar and a rigid trailing edge spar over which is stretched a fabric sock, forming a wing-like surface. The aerodynamic performance theories of HAWTs are described, as is the aerodynamic, structural and mechanical design of a 4 metre diameter, 3 bladed HAWT with Sailfoil blades. A wind turbine test facility was designed and developed for free air testing of wind turbines and is described. Free air tests were carried out on the Sailfoil wind turbine on the test facility to obtain power coefficient versus tip speed ratio curves and power versus wind speed curves for the wind turbine. These are presented and compared to predicted values.