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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0565.PDF
3 May 1957 567 More about British Guided Missiles English Electric, Bristol and D.H. Disclosures Similar in external appearance to the Army's future anti-aircraft missile, an English Electric test vehicle blasts off from its launcher. OFFICIAL permission has been given for the publication ofcertain information concerning the three most importantnear-operational British guided-weapon systems : the sur- face-to-air programmes by English Electric and Bristol /Ferranti and the air-to-air by de Havilland Propellers. The following text comprises statements issued by these companies, amplified by our own appendices. Of particular interest are various accounts, given by the firms, of early development work. English Electric: "The English Electric Guided Weapons Divisionlocated at Luton and Stevenage has under development an anti-aircraft guided weapons system capable of intercepting and destroying enemy airattack. "From the outset the weapon has been designed for efficient andreliable operation in the hands of Service personnel under a wide range of operational conditions. Assembly and test of component parts canbe done in the minimum of time, while loading, setting up, final test and firing are straightforward. Components are packaged and readily acces-sible so that maintenance by replacement becomes a relatively simple operation. An efficient defence can, therefore, be obtained with theminimum of Service manpower. Experience has shown that the English Electric guided weapon system is capable of very rapid assimilationinto the Services without expensive training programmes. . . . "The complete weapon system has been designed with reliability asthe prime factor. In this field the works at both Luton and Stevenage, with their wide variety of modern test equipments, are superior to any inEurope. This equipment is capable of simulating flight conditions. Missile components are thus tested again and again during design toensure the utmost reliability when in the hands of Service personnel. "The development of the missile has been greatly facilitated by thefact that the English Electric Group can cover from its own resources all the varied techniques required for the complete weapon system.With simplicity of assembly and operation as the keynotes of design, quantity production is thereby facilitated. The English Electric Grouphas a large production potential within its many factories and this, with some degree of specialized tooling and organization, is capable of rapidexpansion. The spread of skills and the wide resources available make for flexibility so that rapid increases in production can be met withthe minimum of delay. "The weapon is simple yet deadly in operation, cheap to produce andto maintain and is backed by an organization whose production capacity and facilities are without equal in Europe." A photograph of an English Electric test vehicle was published on p. 885 of our "Missiles" special issue last December 7; a diagram appeared on p. 895. Several hundred development rounds have been fired both at Aberporth (Flight, November 2, 1956) and Woomera. Last week English Electric showed a film of tests against balloon-hung targets and Firefly drones. In all cases the miss-distances have been "acceptable" (a proximity fuse is, of course, fitted). The weapon can have various This action shot depicts Bristol's Bobbin, test vehicle for the Thor ramjet, which also powers the R.A.F. Bloodhound anti-aircraft weapon. types of warhead. Overall performance is rated better than the U.S. Army's Nike Ajax and "generally of the same order as Nike Hercules." Originally the weapon was designed to use a Napier liquid-pro- pellant sustainer motor, but an alternative version has a solid-fuel motor with equal performance. Marconi are mainly responsible for the guidance and electronic parts of the system. Drop-testing on to lead blocks is a standard procedure to prove the ability of components and airframes to withstand accelera- tion at launching. The historical film depicted test drops of com- plete vehicles from a Lincoln in order to prove air brakes, para- chute system and recovery nose-spike. Service personnel have been attached to English Electric for more than four years and over 100 have been under instruction during the past twelve months. A production order was placed a few weeks ago and bulk deliveries should start by the end of the year. Bristol: "The Bristol Group of companies and the Lancashire elec-trical engineering firm of Ferranti have been collaborating on the development of guided weapons for the air defence of the United King-dom since 1949. Together the two firms have one of the largest combined work-forces on guided weapons in Europe. Four Bristol and twoFerranti factories are now heavily committed to various forms of guided-weapon production for the British government. Bristol's drawingoffices at Filton and London are also engaged on this work. The most important single activity is the development and production of surface-to-air missiles for Service use. "Bristol Aircraft, Ltd., has borne the overall responsibility of thesuccessful development of Bloodhound—one of the first practical guided weapon systems in the United Kingdom. Bristol Aero-Engines, Ltd.,have concurrently developed and is now producing the ramjet power units used to drive the missiles; Ferranti, Ltd., have devised, anddesigned, and are producing, the intricate radar and servo-control equip- ment needed to guide the weapon automatically to its target. "Many hundreds of rounds of surface-to-air missiles have been firedboth from the Aberporth range, on the Welsh coast, and the Woomera range in Australia. The development of the weapon has proceeded fromthe outset without major redesign, and this largely accounts for the speed with which it has been ordered into production. It is also thereason why photographs of early missile tests cannot be issued, because they would show too much classified information. "It must be stressed that Bloodhound is more than just a surface-to-air guided missile; it is a complete defence system which has been designed and tested to act as such. In simple terms, the missile systemoperates in the following way: radar stations at strategic points around the coast give early warning of the approach of enemy aircraft, and thisinformation is passed automatically to the control post of the nearest battery of missiles. The control post automatically assesses when thetarget is within range and sends out signals which fire off as many missiles as necessary. The system could differentiate between one air-craft and two flying in close formation, thus permitting each to be attacked separately. "Bristol's factory at Cardiff is engaged on this guided-weapons work,as is Ferranti's at Manchester. Teams of Bristol and Ferranti scientists are based alongside Service and Ministry personnel both at Aberporthand Woontera. Bristol/Ferranti have worked closely with the Ministry of Supply and the British Services in the development of this weapon. "Power source for Bloodhound is a Bristol ramjet engine of theThor type—a unit developing tremendous power at very high speeds in the upper air. Extensive flight testing of the engine has been under-taken at the Aberporth and Woomera ranges, making use of over 200 test vehicles. Because ramjets operate efficiently only at supersonic speedsthese vehicles are given an initial boost by rockets which accelerate the missile from rest to more than 1,000 m.p.h. in a few seconds, duringwhich time the ramjet starts and attains full power. "This engine is now fully developed, fully reliable and ready for ser-vice. Ramjet power gives great flexibility of operation which cannot be matched by a rocket-powered missile. The ramjet uses only aboutone-tenth of the propellant required by a rocket and therefore makes possible extremely long-range interception. The speed and altitudecapability of the ramjet-powered missile are comparable with those of the rocket; the ramjet can also fly at high speed at low altitude. "Bristol Aero-Engines, Ltd., have built up extensive facilities forground-running ramjets and their component parts. Aerodynamic laboratories and engine test cells have been constructed and suppliedwith large quantities of highly compressed air to produce the supersonic airflow required to simulate the necessary flight conditions. "Development of the ramjets began about five years after the warwhen Bristol received a contract from the Ministry of Supply to develop
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