British missile ID

[klem]

British missile to be identified. Apparently it must be from the 1950s.

 

[Zoo Tycoon]

There was a booster separation Test Vehicle with an inert centre body;- to develop the wrap around booster concept. I’ve never seen a picture of it so can’t confirm if this it but looks promising.

 

[Hood]

What's the source?

 

[fortrena]

The device in question appears to be an Armstrong Whitworth guided missile test vehicle. It was apparently shown in public for the first time at the 1953 edition of the Farnborough air Show. That vehicle might have been tested earlier than that however.

The source of the photo seems to be an article entitled "History, Problems, and Status of Guided Missiles" published in the November 1955 issue of Jet Propulsion, the monthly magazine of the American Rocket Society.

The article appears to be accessible via https://archive.org/details/sim_american-rocket-society-ars-journal_1955-11_25_11/page/620/mode/2up?q="british+research+missiles"

Someone with access can also scroll through it at https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/8.6834

 

[CJGibson]

There was a booster separation Test Vehicle with an inert centre body;- to develop the wrap around booster concept. I’ve never seen a picture of it so can’t confirm if this it but looks promising.

Not seen that photo before, but I agree on it being a test vehicle. This might be the Flying Brick, used for launcher development. If it is, excellent find.

Chris

 

[fortrena]

By any chance, would that Flying Brick be the rocket boosted (concrete?) testing device used to develop the blast mat used in conjunction with the English Electric Thunderbird surface to air missile in order to reduce the erosion scars gouged in the soil by that missile's booster rockets?

 

[CJGibson]

That's the one. I'm beginning to wonder if it would need the fins shown on the photo.
I've done some digging around and the Flying Brick seems to be a rocket motor used on the Separation Test Vehicle to test blast mats. I'll keep looking.

Chris

 

[xena]

Is it possible that this is a D4? This was an early test vehicle of Thunderbird with the first booster rockets. D3 was tested without the boosters, they came with D4.

 

[klem]

The device in question appears to be an Armstrong Whitworth guided missile test vehicle. It was apparently shown in public for the first time at the 1953 edition of the Farnborough air Show. That vehicle might have been tested earlier than that however.

The source of the photo seems to be an article entitled "History, Problems, and Status of Guided Missiles" published in the November 1955 issue of Jet Propulsion, the monthly magazine of the American Rocket Society.

The article appears to be accessible via https://archive.org/details/sim_american-rocket-society-ars-journal_1955-11_25_11/page/620/mode/2up?q="british+research+missiles"

Someone with access can also scroll through it at https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/8.6834

Thank you very much Fortrena. I took this screenshot from one of my pdfs and at the time I forgot to list the reference.

 

[klem]

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