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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 2370.PDF
FLIGHT, 27 August 1954 285 MISSILES in the COMMONWEALTH WHOEVER writes about guided weapons—for publication, that is—necessarily runs the risk of producing an un balanced account, as the king-pins of the whole subject (the weapons themselves) cannot yet be referred to at all. Never theless, it is known that such things are being developed within the British Commonwealth. Guided weapons are fearsome things, and they need a lot of space if they are to be experimented whh safely. It was largely as a result of the fact that we live in a "tight little island" that led die British and Australian governments to hold discussions with a view to preparing a huge range in the Australian "outback" where all kinds of warlike developments could be tried out. It was in 1947 that the first real survey took place, and a few words about the region itself are appropriate. From Adelaide, South Australia, die trans-Australian railway runs initially northwards, to the head of Spencer's Gulf; then it strikes west across the Nullarbor plain to Perth, 1,500 miles away. Between the Nullarbor plain and Adelaide, and 350 miles from die latter city, is a small junction named Pimba, and a spur line runs from here about eight miles to the head of the range, which has been named Woomera, an aboriginal word for a spear-throw ing device. The range-line itself stretches away to the north-west for thousands of miles, crossing the Australian coast at Eighty-mile beach and carrying on across the ocean. At the head of the range the ground is largely stony desert—or was, before Woomera was established. And yet it is not quite desert, for it has always supported a few sheep to the square mile, on enormous stations almost as large as England. These sheep stations are still there, of course, and missile firing has scarcely disturbed them. Farther out, in the interior, it becomes real grim desert. Throughout the range, there are no towns or hills, or anything which would adversely affect the use of the range; furthermore, the weather is almost continuously good. In this vast region the Long Range Weapons Establishment was started, in 1948. The Establishment itself, of course, is almost entirely at one end, and centres about Woomera and Salisbury. The latter is a town about 15 miles north of Adelaide, where a £7m munition factory was built during the 1939-1945 war. This factory, witii many newer buildings, now houses the technical organization acting as the "second line" behind the Woomera range itself. The set-up is roughly as follows. The initial stage in the development of a guided weapon is to prepare a series of test vehicles, which are used to perfect the aerodynamics, guidance, structure, power unit and launching procedure. Test vehicles of both British and Australian design and manufacture have been fired at Woomera. Personnel and equipment (and, of course, missiles) come to Woomera from many parts of Britain, and also from Australian sources and from British factories in Australia; die latter are all located in die Salisbury region, and the firms involved include Armstrong Whitworth, Bristol, E.M.I., English Electric, Fairey (of Australia), Vickers Armstrongs and Sperry. A daily R.A.A.F. air service links the two Long Range Weapon Establishments at Salisbury and Woomera. *"" Symbolizing guided-weapon development in the British Commonwealth is this photograph of an Australian-built rocket-teA vehicle being fired at Woomera. The ground-scale is used for calculating acceleration during the boost phase. The new Edinburgh Field, the aerodrome serving Salisbury, was opened by H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh during his recent visit to the L.R.W.E. Odier airfields have also been built up at the range-head at Woomera, and the types of aircraft which may be seen there include Bristol Freighters and Sycamores, Australian-built Lincolns, Gloster Meteor 7s. The Meteors do a variety of jobs, one of which is to act as a "mother-ship" or shepherd to the radio-controlled Jindiviks. There is, of course, very much more to the L.R.W.E. than the mere firing off of missiles. Regarding other trials, an American journal has asserted that "a new type of bomb for high-speed, high-altitude bombers" has been developed at Woomera, and that dropping trials took place from a special Lincoln with two Merlins and two Python turboprops, flying at 40,000ft. Research into clear-air gusts is reported to be another activity. The laboratories at Salisbury have, for several years, pursued such subjects as specialized electronics, optics, rocket propulsion, supersonic aero dynamics, control and guidance systems, and mathematical analy sis and computation. All the work is conducted under the joint authority of the British Ministry of Supply and the Australian Department of Supply. Salisbury itself is a perfecdy normal town, with all die usual "essential services" laid on. Woomera was nothing at all when the work started, and the establishment of die range-head has been an immense task—and it was not made any easier by the fact that skilled labour is at a premium in die rapidly expanding economy of Australia. Some 5,000 men were in the labour force at one time, and die problems faced included the necessity of laying down a pipe-line to the Murray river, over 300 miles away, in order to provide a supply of water. Today, Woomera is a permanent town of some thousands of people. There are churches, a school for 600 children, cinemas, tennis courts, swimming pools, stores (where, we are told, one may buy anything from a refrigerator to a boomerang), civil and Service messes and even a prison. Hundreds of thousands of trees have been planted which, when they are fully grown, will change the whole character of the region. For Woomera is built to last; it is an immense asset to the British Commonwealth, with its capability of handling long-range weapons. Britain and Australia, although dominating die CommonwcaluYs guided-weapon research programme, have no monopoly in this field. Canada, also, has done a great deal of work, and has done it almost entirely on her own. Canada has a strong electronic and light engineering industry and she is pressing on rapidly with the development of at least one very promising guided weapon. It was inspected recendy by the Duke of Edinburgh. This is an air-to-air weapon, so a Woomera-type range is not required. Most of die initial theoretical study was carried out with electronic analogue computers, which examined die behaviour of a hypothetical missile tracking a hypothetical target. This basic development was largely done at the Canadian Armament Research and Development Establishment, at Valcartier, Quebec. The design of the weapon's airframe was entrusted to Canadair, Ltd., at Montreal, and some of die associated electronic work was die responsibility of Westinghouse. At present, die complete missile has not been built, but most of die components and systems are in a reasonably advanced state of development. The basic shell of the weapon has been launched from the ground, using additional rocket boosters, and air launching has also been carried out, from a Sabre and possibly from other aircraft. It should not be very long before the missile can be launched complete with its guidance system, and it may then go into production fur issue to Canada's home defence squadrons of Sabres and CF-lOOs.
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