During my time at Aberporth we always did our Bloodhound launches in the daytime (definitely not at 3 am!), with very high speed Vinten motorised cameras recording everything. The cruising speed was Mach 2.5 if I remember correctly. The missile used to woosh over our heads (the radar crew) and the first time, the scientists warned us that there would be a vibration at the appropriate frequency ro make our eyeballs fall out! Hence there were several radar fitters with eyes tightly closed at the moment of launch. Of course after several launches we became blase, but it was always fun to watch the slow-motion replay, especially when a Meteor took a direct hit. When seen from the ground, the launch was very impressive, one moment the missile was sitting peacefully on its launcher, the next there was a white smoke trail leading up to the heavens – no chance of seeing the missile in mid-flight – it was just gone literally in a flash!
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