FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1210.PDF
312 FLIGHT, 31 August 1961 Avro Blue Steel on trans- porter, with Vulcan British Missiles 1961 A. V. ROE & CO LTD (Weapons Research Division) Woodford, Cheshire. Telephone: Bramhall 1620 Blue Steel Largest British missile at present under development, Blue Steel is essentially a pilotless miniature aeroplane which can be launched from beneath a V-bomber at least 100 miles from a target and left to navigate by itself and deliver its thermonuclear pay- load with pin-point accuracy. Constructed largely from stainless-steel honeycomb sand- wich, the airframe is designed for a cruising speed of about M2, and to perform violent manoeuvres at all altitudes. Propulsion is provided by a Bristol Siddeley Stentor rocket engine fed with HTP and kerosine from tankage within the 35ft fuselage, and the Elliott inertial guidance system controls the trajectory by twist-and-steer, the vehicle being rolled by ailerons on the trailing edge of the rear-mounted wing and then being pulled round in the turn by the canard foreplanes. An upper fin and rudder, and a larger folding lower fin, provide directional control. Intensive trials have brought the Mk 1 weapon within a few months of operational service, and eventually each Victor B.2 and Vulcan B.2 will be equipped to carry one missile on the centreline. Blue Steel is currently of uncommon interest to Members of Parliament, who frequently demand an assurance that it will enter service with Bomber Command long enough before the American Skybolt to make its development worthwhile. Such an assurance has always been forthcoming. BRISTOL AIRCRAFT LTD Filton, Bristol. Telephone: Bristol 693831 Bloodhound Developed for the Royal Air Force by a team led by Bristol Aircraft and Ferranti, this surface-to-air weapon system has proved outstandingly successful, winning major export orders from nations able to select equipment from any country. Virtually a pilotless intercepter, Bloodhound has a body some 25ft in length, much of which is kerosine tankage for the Bristol Siddeley Thor ramjets mounted above and below. These engines are lit shortly before burnout and separation of the four rocket boost motors, and the missile thereafter homes on to its target by means of a semi-active radar system. The radiation reflected from the enemy aircraft is picked up by the receiver aerial in the nose of the missile, which then produces an error signal which controls the flight of the missile Bristol/Ferranti Bloodhound Mk I Fire Unit at RAF Station Woolfox Lodge
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
