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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1174.PDF
FLIGHT, 24 April 1959 567 In a paragraph below we announce that the "more advanced surface- to-air missile" to be ordered for R.A.F. Fighter Command will be a development of the Bristol IFerranti Bloodhound. These three frames were taken from a cine film secured by one of the tip-mounted cameras carried by a Meteor U.I5 target destroyed by a Bloodhound at Woomera. In the third picture the fuselage can be seen disintegrating. All prints are completely unretouched Missiles and Spaceflight BLOODHOUND DEVELOPMENT Although the recently published Air Estimates contain only thecryptic announcement that "a new high-performance surface-to- air missile" is to be ordered for R.A.F. Fighter Command, it cannow be stated that this weapon will be a development of the Bristol/Ferranti Bloodhound which is already in service. It ishighly significant that a decision has already been taken to order a "stretched" version of the Bloodhound, and it facilitates theestablishment of a single integrated weapon system capable of progressive extension and improvement to counter all likely threatsas the latter develop. One of the many advantages of such a policy is that it permits fully-trained Bloodhound specialists to remainat missile stations over a long period without repeated re-training in new systems. Some indication has been given by Bristol Aircraft of theimprovements offered by the advanced weapon. "It will," say the company, "have a substantially increased operating range andaltitude. Advanced techniques will also ensure still greater lethality at these increased ranges and heights, and will also improvelow-altitude performance to counteract the threat of low-flying targets. This developed Bloodhound is merely the second step inthe creation of the family; as the threat grows or changes, so will Bloodhound ... be continuously improved to meet it." Wepublish on this page three frames from a cine film showing a recent strike by a first-generation Bloodhound at the WeaponsResearch Establishment at Woomera. BLUE STREAK PROGRESS It has been reported by newspapers in Britain and Australia thatthe de Havilland Propellers Blue Streak long-range ballistic missile will be fired over the full 1,250 miles of the extendedWoomera range early next year. According to the Associated Press, the weapon has an operational range of 2,200 miles and willbe fired to a height of 1,000 miles (considerably higher than the apogee of a normal ballistic trajectory for this range) fromWoomera to a 30-mile-radius target area at Talgarno, between Broome and Port Hedland, Western Australia. It has also beenstated that static firings of the Rolls-Royce rocket engine which will power Blue Streak (generally assumed to be similar to theRocketdyne MB-3 and S-3) will very soon begin at the Spadeadam establishment in Cumberland, managed by Rolls-Royce. The assertion is made that both the Indian Prime Minister andDefence Minister are adamant in refusing to permit R.A.F. Transport Command to stage through Indian territory with BlueStreaks on board. It appears, therefore, that the test rounds will be carried by the twelve Lockheed C-130A Hercules freighters ofthe R.A.A.F. (the only aircraft in the British Commonwealth capable of moving Blue Streak on a global scale) and that theseaircraft will stage through the rebuilt R.A.F. airfield at Gan in the Maldives (itself the centre of no small political controversy). POLARIS VARIATIONS During the past six months the U.S. Navy's Fleet Ballistic MissileSystem has made extraordinary progress. Some 40 major flight- test vehicles have already flown and those currently being launchedfrom Cape Canaveral closely approximate to the configuration of the operational weapon. Although the FBMS originally envis-aged a 5,600-ton nuclear submarine as the carrier vehicle (armed with 16 Polaris), Lockheed's Missiles and Space Division areinvestigating the practicability of developing a much smaller one- shot submarine with a crew of 15. At the same time the U.S.Navy are evaluating the concept of Polaris missiles based on surface ships, and it has been suggested in Aviation Week thatan installation may be made upon the nuclear cruiser Long Beach. AIR-LAUNCHED BALLISTIC MISSILES At least fourteen companies are now competing in the U.S.A.F.competition for Weapon System 138A for an air-launched ballistic missile capable of being carried internally by the North AmericanB-70 Valkyrie. Air launchings of test vehicles have already been made by Lockheed, McDonnell and Martin, using Boeing B-47s and Convair B-58s as carrier aircraft. The specification calls fora weapon some 30ft in length (shortened in some submissions by folding or telescoping) capable of being launched at Mach 3 at70,000ft and of thereafter flying a distance of about 1,000 miles with a megaton warhead. TO THE MOON Speaking on TV in Washington early this month, Dr. HerbertR. York, chief scientist for R. & D. at the Department of Defense, stated that guidance systems developed under the authority of hisDepartment were accurate enough to place a man "on a rather small area" of the moon. Such systems had not been used inprevious lunar probes owing to the latter's restricted payload ability. He repeated the previous official estimate of 1965 as theyear in which the United States would place a man on the moon (in the absence of any unforeseen major obstacle). Meanwhile, in a lecture at the Royal Institution, Fred Hoyle,Plumian Professor of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge, described such aspirations as "lunatic fringe stuff." Much betterresults, he said, could be obtained by sending a TV camera to transmit back pictures "which could then be watched by the com-fort of one's fireside." AGARD ON ASTRONAUTICS A series of lectures on astronautics will be presented by theUniversity of Rome, with the co-operation and assistance of the Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research and Development(AGARD), at the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, dur- ing May 18-29. Scientists from NATO countries and professorsfrom Italian universities will attend the seminar, which is intended to be of interest to students and young research workers.
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