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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1204.PDF
318 FLIGHT, 26 August 1955 The variety of launchers on the Range "G" apron gives a clue to the variety—especially in size—of weapons tested. AT WOOMERA The Weapons Research Establishment, South Australia SINCE the Australian range area was first surveyed in 1946,vast strides have been made in the establishment of com-prehensive joint United Kingdom/Australian guided- weapons research and development facilities. The base is at Salisbury, 15 miles from Adelaide, and operations are conducted from a rangehead near Woomera, 270 miles to the north-west. The major purpose of the Weapons Research Establishment is to provide facilities for, and to co-operate in, research and development on guided weapons. The projects are in the main initiated by the United Kingdom, but work is also in progress on projects conceived in Australia. Because of the extent of the undertaking, the work has been divided between the two countries broadly in accordance with respective resources. The United Kingdom, with highly developed research and development organizations and extensive manufac- turing and financial resources, has, in general, undertaken the development of the prototype weapons. The primary contribu- tion of Australia, whose geographical features are a unique asset, is the provision of the facilities for testing the weapons and for analysing the test data. Salisbury: The main establishment—To perform these tests much preliminary testing and background work are necessary, and extensive supporting facilities (more extensive, m fact, than the actual range installations themselves) are required. These have been set up in Salisbury in existing buildings of very satis- BY its very nature, the work of Australia's Weapons ResearchEstablishment most remain secret, details only being released piecemeal —if at all—as and when equipment techniques become obsolete. Solittle has been published about the project that, even after several years' operation, very little is generally known about its magnitude.A good idea of the scope of the installations at Salisbury and Woomera is, nevertheless, given by the following official account, speciallyprepared in Australia for this Commonwealth Number of "Flight." factory type, built in connection with an explosives establishment during World War II. A considerable amount of work has been done on the buildings to fit them out as laboratories, workshops and other special- purpose departments. A large number of buildings of extensive floor space has been (and still is being) modified and equipped to provide weapon-preparation facilities for the various United Kingdom contractors. These buildings are on a site seven square miles in area, which was already developed with roads, power, water supply and other services and is within reasonable daily travelling distance of a main centre of population and shipping port, namely, Adelaide. Proximity to this large city has proved a most important asset, for as the undertaking has developed there has been a continuously growing demand for skilled staff, materials and services which could not otherwise have been met. The policy of the Department of Supply, which controls the A still-growing village of some 500 bungalows houses Woomera's technicians. Service personnel and other workers. •-•*_•**•--v
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