Bawdsey Radar Group – Latest News

The North Luffenham Bloodhound on the gate was sold at the same time as the Meteor NF.14 . This was when the Army took over the main functions of the camp. The missile was acquired by Imperial Aviation Group and moved to Sandtoft. Within the camp were two Bloodhounds – one on the flat transport
stand and another which was a little more complete . I will endeavor to have an airborne look at them in the next couple of days .

You beat me to it, I had a sniff round the perimeters of North Luffenham on my way home yesterday evening and found nothing, so I did wonder.

When I was at Bawdsey from October 1964 – May 1966, we had both a Type 80 and a Type 84. Each operated from seperate base structures. When did they change?

Besides these radars, we also had a Type 54, 3 nodding donkeys (AN-FPS 6’s), and a Type 7 at a remote site some 2 – 3 miles away.

I stand corrected, Forgot that Bawdsey would have had both as the first T84 was installed there in 1962. Most of the other T84’s used the R17 complex as the transmitter block. The T80 and T84 shared the same base structure including the rotating cabin under the aerial (Neatishead’s T84 was put in where their T80 had been). Bawdsey’s T84 was moved to Bishops Court in Northern Island and located on the Airfield there (replacing the T80 at Killard point a couple of miles away some time in the 1970’s after Linesman came on line). I’ve no idea when the T80 at Bawdsey was chopped but there is a good chance it was there until the mid 1970’s .

Photo of Bawdsey T80, T54 and FPS-6 height Finder attached

It’s a Type 80 all right, First prototype at Bard Hill in Norfolk, First operational one at Trimingham (again in Norfolk) last operational one at Buchan. Bawdsey’s one was replaced with a Type 84 (on the same base structure) which was then moved to Bishops Court, where it was scrapped in 1990. The other radars on your last but one post are most likely the intercept radars in the cartoon (and do not look like any British radar I know of, however the height finder does look like a Type 13).

When I was at Bawdsey from October 1964 – May 1966, we had both a Type 80 and a Type 84. Each operated from seperate base structures. When did they change?

Besides these radars, we also had a Type 54, 3 nodding donkeys (AN-FPS 6’s), and a Type 7 at a remote site some 2 – 3 miles away.

After a little more searching – this I am almost certain is a Type 80, we had one close to Aberporth and it stirs my memory – although this again is a photograph from Sweden.
Now we’re right back to Bawdsey, Buchan, etc.

It’s a Type 80 all right, First prototype at Bard Hill in Norfolk, First operational one at Trimingham (again in Norfolk) last operational one at Buchan. Bawdsey’s one was replaced with a Type 84 (on the same base structure) which was then moved to Bishops Court, where it was scrapped in 1990. The other radars on your last but one post are most likely the intercept radars in the cartoon (and do not look like any British radar I know of, however the height finder does look like a Type 13).

Type 80 in Sweden

After a little more searching – this I am almost certain is a Type 80, we had one close to Aberporth and it stirs my memory – although this again is a photograph from Sweden.
Now we’re right back to Bawdsey, Buchan, etc.

Swedish search radar

Here is a picture from the same book, showing three of the Swedish search radars.
It’s a very long time since I saw a Type 80, but I don’t think that’s what these are. They are probably Ericsson contraptions, but someone here on this Forum probably knows.
Incidentally I apologise for hijacking this thread and wandering off into Bloodhound land, but at least this post takes us back into the realm of Bawdsey.

Try this.

Nice, Swedes used the Type 80 as the search radar if memory serves (another radar that was at Bawdsey).

Try this.

Here, translated into English, is an amusing diagram from the 1960 edition of the annual mentioned above.
“Light the blue touch-paper!”
I just love those computers!

😀 HUMOUR ALERT 😀

😀 Blue Touch Paper!!! Of course the Bloodhound was launched by the Engagement Controller running out to the Launcher, Lighting the paper with the correct safety firework igniter and then standing WELL back. 😀

Here is a picture of the rear of a missile showing the touch paper hanging out of the missile rear!!!

Its a Joke really 😉 , used to do it to play tricks on the Civvies when displaying the thing at air shows and alike :diablo: . Some of them fell for it as well 😮 . (Paper is Kimwipe, that comes in large rolls and is use to mop up spills of all types of stuff. 😮 Very useful when you spill 70 gallons of OM-15 Hydraulic oil all over the Missile Servicing Flight’s floor by not opening the oil return valve on the side of the missile test rig (The task was not in the servicing procedure in the AP). The Oil then comes out of the Low-Pressure relief valve on the side of the missile. 😮 (Kimwipe is still known in service lingo as the Blue Bog Roll 😉 ).

The photo here is actually of Bloodhound Mk 2 Serial No. 1001. (Now at Cosford) on display at The University of East Anglia at Norwich in 1988. The event was a Local RAF fundraising event for the ITV Telefon that year. (Done by Marham, West Raynham, Coltishall and Neatishead). It would have been a great event (there was a Sea king SAR display, Some USAF A-10s and Ken Wallis with Little Nellie ( 🙂 I still remember Ken driving past in a beat up Rolls Royce with the Autogyro towed behind on a trailer, something you don’t see every day 🙂 )). But unfortunately two things got in the way. Firstly the weather, (it was a bit cold) 😡 and secondly, the RAF officer organising the event was so afraid of CND doing a big protest ( :rolleyes: CND was very big on the university campus at the time :rolleyes: ), that the event was not advertised in the local press until the evening before :confused: . Hence the half the people there were in uniform because they were running the event, and the other half were servicemen’s relatives and friends who knew about the event long before.

Papa Lima, for some reason your bitmap will not display. :confused:

Here a early drawing I did of Mark 2 back in 2001, showing the bits that made up the Mark 2 in Boost and Cruise configurations.

I very much doubt that Frank Munger or Flight were allowed to show such sensitive details, which might even now still be classified!
Working on the radar myself, I never got anywhere near the weapons themselves, of course.

Very true, Its surprising that the Munger drawings were as detailed as they actually were. The missile cutaway drawing in the Bristol publications and the AP’s were nowhere near as detailed. The Mark 1 is completely declassified and has been since 1998. The National Archives at Kew hold the Missile AP and a number of overall system books, The Radar AP’s are in the archives at the RAFADRM at Neatishead. Hendon and Kew hold the declassified Mark 2 publications on the Missile, T86 and Launcher. The T87 AP’s were all classified and are not available in the UK yet (If they have not been shredded). However the complete system has been de-classified in Switzerland and the Gubal Museum has a complete set of British System AP’s for the Missile, Radar T87, Launcher, LCP and other bits in its archive.

The North Luffenham Bloodhound on the gate was sold at the same time as the Meteor NF.14 . This was when the Army took over the main functions of the camp. The missile was acquired by Imperial Aviation Group and moved to Sandtoft. Within the camp were two Bloodhounds – one on the flat transport
stand and another which was a little more complete . I will endeavor to have an airborne look at them in the next couple of days .

*Sigh*
Sorry Vern, you misread my post. On the last weekend, I dusted and polished it; all of a 15 min job – which let me see that an excellent restoration had been done by the friends, some time previously.

OK?

No offence intended JDK, In fact its great to hear that someboby besides the Swiss clean thier Bloodhounds. The boys at Point Cook did an excellent job on that Missile and the Mark 1 will no doubt be in just as good a condition when they get round to it (I believe that their major project is the Mossie at the minute). It’s just a pity that none of the UK missiles get the same tender loving care. The other nice thing to hear is that you guys at Point Cook actually tell visitors about the thing. (The Duxford Mark 1 round (next to the Phantom FGR 2) does not even get a mention on the guided tour there. The Javelin gets a slating however!!!)

I very much doubt that Frank Munger or Flight were allowed to show such sensitive details, which might even now still be classified!
Working on the radar myself, I never got anywhere near the weapons themselves, of course.

The Swedish annual “Ett År i Luften” 1959-1960 issue contained this cutaway that people might find interesting. The drawing is by Frank Munger of “Flight”.
Sorry for the peculiar scan, but it is so large that I had to paste it together in Photoshop and didn’t get the settings quite right!
The annotations are in Swedish, but reduced to this size and low resolution are probably illegible anyway!

Yep, Papa Lima. Its from Flight and is very close to the mark with the exception of the engines (which are not the full production Thor 101’s, but an earlier BRJ5 used on the late XTV5 test vehicles and the early XRD 1 (eXperimental Red Duster pre-prototypes). Also totally incorrect in the drawing is the layout of the warhead bay which is missing the EMI GW2 Proximity fuze and its aerials, along with the 200 pound Royal Ordnance blast warhead and its Initiator Unit.

*Sigh*
Sorry Vern, you misread my post. On the last weekend, I dusted and polished it; all of a 15 min job – which let me see that an excellent restoration had been done by the friends, some time previously.

OK?

Hi folks,

These are the two on display at the RAAF Museum, Point Cook, as BigVern’s said. The one inside was restored a few years ago by the Friends, and after giving it a quick dust and polish, I can say they did a great job. Looks good up the tailpipe too (is this thing loaded?).

Sadly the example on exterior display looks tired, and this is one of the problems with the site – it’s only about 1km from the bay, which is salt water.

The details supplied in this thread will be most useful for when I get a question on the things – up to now I’ve stuck to the minima on missiles. Many thanks chaps.

Vern, let me have an e-mail and I’ll happily send you full size photos.

Cheers

They did a damm slight more than just a dust and polish job on the thing. The job took about three years, if memory serves and involved a complete strip down of the round to its basic components, complete stripping of all of the paint work to the bare metal and major anti-corrosion treatment as well. The missile is a hybird that should be on the launcher outside. (The launcher is a Type 202 off Bloodhound Mk 2). The problem is the only boosts they have are on the Mark 1 (which is the type operated by 30 Squadron RAAF at RAAF Williamtown , along with the Squadron’s ‘A’ Detachment that was at RAAF Darwin until 1968).

No need for Photos, I was sent a disk full of photos of the restoration, by my mate Jim who was on the team who restored it.
(He works for CRAY as a day job)

The link below might also be of interest, it was a really good reference source for Bloodhound material but it seems to be undergoing a rebuild and also encountering a few copyright issues with the MoD. They are also seeking additional information and former Squadron contacts.

http://www.bhmk2.net/

It will be a great site when I get round to finishing it, as its 😀 MINE!!! 😀 , As for the copyright problem, its only that the MoD copyright bod’s will only give me the OK when the site is completed which will not be for some while yet as most of the system AP’s and later Squadron ORB are still classified in the UK. (Web sites are classed as a broadcast and the copyright licence is issued as such with a time limit). The Mod Copyright people on the whole are a very helpful bunch and I’ve had no problems dealing with them on other issues, They have their rules and they stick to them (which I have no problems with at all).

I believe that Newark Air Museum have some interesting variants of the Bloodhound Radar Wagons [not sure of their designations] but sadly no missile itself.

Mike Smith has three Indigo Corkscrews (The codename the radar was developed under by Ferranti Radar in Edinburgh) at Newark. The completed one on the main site is an AD-10 radar off the BAC Thunderbird Mk 2 SAM system and was built for export to Libya, the export name being Firelight (The sale was cancelled by a certain colonel). The radar was then very heavily modified and was used by the Royal Radar and Signals Establishment as trial equipment operating at 32Ghz (The normal AD-10 worked at 8Ghz). The second of the radars is again an AD-10, which was modified to work at 16GHz and was again used for trials work by RRSE. The third is a Type 86 off Bloodhound Mk2 and its last use before going to RRSE was for Technician training at the Bloodhound Maintenance School, RAF North Coates. I do not know the history of that radar before then, as the RAF operated Type 86 radar procured at new builds in the 1960’s, ex British Army AD-10’s (that had been used on the Thunderbird Mk 2’s of 36 (Heavy) Regiment RA) and Firelights that were brought back off the Royal Swedish Air Force in the 1970’s/80’s and it could be one of any of those systems.

and of course, just to keep on topic, the Type 86 was the last radar to be used at RAF Bawdsey.

Bloodhound cutaway drawing

The Swedish annual “Ett År i Luften” 1959-1960 issue contained this cutaway that people might find interesting. The drawing is by Frank Munger of “Flight”.
Sorry for the peculiar scan, but it is so large that I had to paste it together in Photoshop and didn’t get the settings quite right!
The annotations are in Swedish, but reduced to this size and low resolution are probably illegible anyway!

The link below might also be of interest, it was a really good reference source for Bloodhound material but it seems to be undergoing a rebuild and also encountering a few copyright issues with the MoD. They are also seeking additional information and former Squadron contacts.

http://www.bhmk2.net/

I believe that Newark Air Museum have some interesting variants of the Bloodhound Radar Wagons [not sure of their designations] but sadly no missile itself.

Hi folks,

Great thread. Most interesting.

Well, I was cleaning one of these last weekend! (It wasn’t flying in the air display though.)

These are the two on display at the RAAF Museum, Point Cook, as BigVern’s said. The one inside was restored a few years ago by the Friends, and after giving it a quick dust and polish, I can say they did a great job. Looks good up the tailpipe too (is this thing loaded?).

Sadly the example on exterior display looks tired, and this is one of the problems with the site – it’s only about 1km from the bay, which is salt water.

The details supplied in this thread will be most useful for when I get a question on the things – up to now I’ve stuck to the minima on missiles. Many thanks chaps.

Vern, let me have an e-mail and I’ll happily send you full size photos.

Cheers