Britain's Secret Rocket Base

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  • Опубліковано 22 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 330

  • @JagoHazzard
    @JagoHazzard  Рік тому +11

    Try Readly, with my link you can get 2 months free, which can be cancelled at any time: readly.com/jago-nov

    • @mikestafford74
      @mikestafford74 7 місяців тому

      Very plaased to see the Readly link is still working as my sub had just lapsed. Two months free and then at £3 cheaper than the current new subscriber price too is hard to complain about. Yet another great video too of course!

  • @K1W1fly
    @K1W1fly Рік тому +58

    Naming the Satellite Prospero was a classic British dig by the engineers at the politicians who cancelled the programme. Prospero was a magician in Shakespeare's "The Tempest", who gave up his magic powers...

  • @DaveF.
    @DaveF. Рік тому +75

    Nice - I got very annoyed with all the silliness that was in the media about that Virgin 'launch' from Cornwall earlier this year - no-one seemed to remember that we actually had the capability of launching our own satellites on our own rockets - albeit from Australia - back in the 1970's.

    • @emjackson2289
      @emjackson2289 Рік тому +4

      What Virgin did was little more than what North American did with the X15. . . . . back when Neil Armstrong was yet to prove he had "The Right Stuff"

  • @iankemp1131
    @iankemp1131 Рік тому +55

    Great to see Jago venturing further afield and describing High Down in his own inimitable and masterful style. It's not well known, and worth a visit. The shots at 0:30 and 1:10 are clearly taken from the Needles Breezer open-top bus which runs from Yarmouth (for the Lymington ferry) and is an easy way to access the rocket site, the Needles and Alum Bay. As a kid a treasured possession was a little jar of multicoloured sands (about 20) from Alum Bay, which also has a chairlift as an alternative to walking down to the beach. Happy memories! My father taught a boy at school who was one of the team on the Black Knight and Black Arrow rocket; as a result he was allowed to visit the site in the late 1960s. He took pictures on the way there by coach, but they were firmly barred from any photos in the vicinity!

    • @paulsengupta971
      @paulsengupta971 Рік тому +2

      I loved that chair lift. I used to go on it with my grandfather back in the mid-1970s at the age of 4 or 5 or so, when on holiday there. I've no idea where my thing of multi-coloured sand which I made myself in a test tube is, but I think it's still in the house somewhere.

    • @unclenogbad1509
      @unclenogbad1509 Рік тому +3

      Further afield, but I'm betting on a vid about the ex-tube trains that run from Ryde to Ventnor (or thereabouts). I'd be interested.

  • @PenryMMJ
    @PenryMMJ Рік тому +100

    Aha, now we know how Geoff Marshal manages to never visit the Isle of Wight. Jago goes down there to film on the island, Geoff films himself in front of a green screen, and through the magic of editing it looks like Geoff was there.

    • @zetectic7968
      @zetectic7968 Рік тому +11

      Mr M was there! He visited the factory that makes the LU signage.

    • @lloydcollins6337
      @lloydcollins6337 Рік тому +14

      ​@@zetectic7968that's exactly what they want you to think!

    • @oldtechnobodycaresabout
      @oldtechnobodycaresabout Рік тому

      ​@@zetectic7968you are part of them, escape from ingsoc!

    • @georgedunn3935
      @georgedunn3935 Рік тому +1

      Geoff obviously doesn’t work overseas😉😂

    • @ktipuss
      @ktipuss Рік тому +2

      @@lloydcollins6337 Can't see why Geoff Marshall would need to have a body double; he's not invading Ukraine....

  • @peterbradburn9115
    @peterbradburn9115 Рік тому +55

    Always thought the work done by the British rocketry programme almost criminally forgotten. But the thing strikes me most about this excellent video is just how crisp a lot of that concrete looks, after all these years, in such an exposed position!

    • @petegarnett7731
      @petegarnett7731 Рік тому +3

      Sadly, even British concrete seems to be inferior in recent years.

  • @roderickmain9697
    @roderickmain9697 Рік тому +21

    You'd think some arch-villain hell-bent on world domination would have loved a ready made secret base.
    40 odd years ago a programmer of my acquaintance was working on designs for missile engines in the UK. One of the simulation runs seemed to suggest that a new prototype might solve all Britain's defence needs when the missile reached 1/3rd speed of light. Somewhere a bug had changed the mass to be negative. Thus proving one of computings earliest maxims -> "Garbage in = Garbage out". Ah...but what might have been.

  • @stewartellinson8846
    @stewartellinson8846 Рік тому +48

    As you say, the UK is the only country on earth to develop, and then abandon, a satellite launch capability. You might want to have a look at RAF Spadeadam, where similar test facilities were based and where British IRBMs might have been located with a plan to build silos for blue streaks.

    • @binarydinosaurs
      @binarydinosaurs Рік тому +5

      I thought of Spadeadam as soon as I heard Jago mention Blue Streaks. Spent many years driving past it on the A69 and only discovered what it was well known for 10 or so years ago.

    • @kevinrkinsella
      @kevinrkinsella Рік тому

      Spadedam metamorphosed into the most hostile airspace in the UK. Aspirant Top Guns were tasked with getting in and out of the airspace whilst being sought by an International array of Anti Aircraft equipment, accumulated over time. I’ve no idea what the situation is today.

    • @johnritter6864
      @johnritter6864 Рік тому

      I worked there for 12 years. Blue streak was long gone by then though but the old test structures are still there

  • @iankemp1131
    @iankemp1131 Рік тому +51

    The Congreve rockets mentioned at 2:15 had two well-known spinoffs. Firstly, in "The Star Spangled Banner" the reference to "the rocket's red glare ... gave proof through the night that our flag was still there" (from the Battle of Baltimore in 1814). Secondly, of course, the name of Stephenson's Rocket.

    • @LarryJohnVA
      @LarryJohnVA Рік тому +4

      The US Marines apparently still refer to some sort of rockets as "Congreves." I'm no expert in such things, but the Quantico MCB in Prince William County, Virginia (where I reside), issues noise advisories relating to their training exercises for area residents. Among the types of noisy ordnance listed on various days are "Congreves" and "Bangalores", not to mention the more typical Howitzers, mortars, machine guns, small arms, demolition charges, etc. I'm between 5 and 15 miles from their grounds (depending on what part you're measuring to), and can sometimes hear the booms and rumbles in the distance on quiet mornings, but it's not bothersome.

    • @pattheplanter
      @pattheplanter Рік тому +2

      @@LarryJohnVA You would think that Bangalore would have been a more popular name for explosive devices.

    • @Punnery
      @Punnery Рік тому +3

      Ah, yes, the Howitzers... not to be confused with the "Howzatters", which only fire off cricket balls....

    • @alanclarke4646
      @alanclarke4646 Рік тому +2

      ​@@pattheplanterBangalores are named after the city of Bangalore ( now Bengaluru ) in India, where the first ones were developed by a British Army officer.

  • @Julius_Hardware
    @Julius_Hardware Рік тому +18

    Prospero is still up there, and will be for another 50 years. Britain isn't a minor player in space - we build large numbers of satellites and spacecraft components. We just don't launch them ourselves or do astronauts, sadly.

    • @littlewink7941
      @littlewink7941 Рік тому +2

      That's why Britain is a minor player,even New Zealand launches satellites .

    • @kevinrkinsella
      @kevinrkinsella Рік тому +2

      My dad was a technician at RPE Westcott, that’s Rocket Propulsion Establishment Westcott. They were involved with engineering design work and testing of flight rated engines before installation. Another area researched extensively was higher energy and novel propellants.
      Halogen Hypergolic compounds have been belatedly acknowledged as being proven untameable by Westcott teams.
      Westcott and Pyestock were both broken up by Privatisation and redevelopment followed. The remaining RPE testing towers and some other buildings have been recognised as National Monuments and protected by Grade 2 listing.
      All’s not lost at Westcott, one of the things that staff were very very good at was Reaction Thrusters. Production and Development continued and the team seems to have acquired a fearsome reputation for quality. Westcott thrusters are literally spread across the Solar System and more fly every year.

  • @155Ringman
    @155Ringman Рік тому +2

    I worked on the IOW at GKN 23 years ago, who were formerly Saunders-Roe/BHL and one of the older engineers had worked on the satellite and had a radio in his office that could still pick up the beacon signal that Prospero was still emitting at that time. Been up at high down a few times during my year there, it's an impressive site, great video!

  • @RadioJonophone
    @RadioJonophone Рік тому +10

    My father worked for de Havilland Propellors in Manchester in the 1950s. We all had to move to Hatfield in 1958 so he could work on Blue Streak. It was all very hush-hush.
    You say that Blue Streak was cancelled in 1960, and I can remember my uncle in the Royal Navy saying it was best consigned to the dustbin. There was a bit of rivalry there.
    Dad kep working on the rocket programme for a couple of years after that, but was transferred to jet engine cool air design until his retirement in 1966.

    • @jorbharris8097
      @jorbharris8097 Рік тому +1

      I worked on the Blue Streak programme as a humble assistant in the guidance systems lab at DH propellers. I was seventeen. I learned a lot.

  • @send2gl
    @send2gl Рік тому +4

    That was a fascinating video, I grew up in that era and was aware of Blue Streak, if I recall Corgi produced a model of the rocket on a transporter and I also believe Raleigh Bicycles had a Blue Streak model. Halcyon days indeed.

  • @brendanaengenheister5351
    @brendanaengenheister5351 Рік тому +3

    In the 1960's I lived in North Buckinghamshire rocket motors were being tested at the rocket propulsion establishment at Westcott its next to the A41 between Aylesbury and Thame and even though Westcott was about 12 miles from the school I attended the noise still made us jump when an engine was being tested.

  • @richardbaron7106
    @richardbaron7106 Рік тому +5

    The British Science Museum is a fantastic place to visit and I've spent many hours there. If you're in London and have a free day, make the time to really explore the museum, especially the flight hall way up on the top floor.

  • @bingbong7316
    @bingbong7316 Рік тому +17

    The successful launch of Prosperous was the 3rd attempt during the test period and Black Arrow put it into a polar orbit - something very challenging to accomplish - and the satellite still orbits, as far as I know. It was a stunning success and HM Govt. had already chucked it away. Bloody typical.

    • @bingbong7316
      @bingbong7316 Рік тому +5

      Prospero* frickin autocorrect :-(

    • @Stuart-AJC
      @Stuart-AJC Рік тому +6

      Yes, still in orbit. Not expected to re-enter until 2070

    • @cdl0
      @cdl0 Рік тому +3

      @@Stuart-AJC Correct: still in orbit _and_ still transmitting!

    • @colinelliott5629
      @colinelliott5629 Рік тому

      The UK civil servants, devoid of scientific education or even recognition of its value, thought only of saving money on weapons. One dismissed satellites as of no practical use - obviously Arthur C Clarke wasn't on his reading list.

  • @terrybailey2769
    @terrybailey2769 Рік тому +20

    It is a shame that government in the UK is so short sighted. So many inovative programs get to a point of almost succeeding and then get cancelled, Blue Streak, Black Knight, Advanced Passenger Train, TSR II, etc etc etc etc. We used to excel in technology and then either give up on it or sell it off for a quick buck.

    • @984francis
      @984francis Рік тому

      TSR2

    • @eekee6034
      @eekee6034 Рік тому +3

      Don't forget our shot at breaking the sound barrier for the first time. It was:
      * Ready before the X-1
      * Jet-powered, unlike the rocket-powered X-1
      * Already proven, in a way: a 7/9ths scale version had broken the sound barrier under remote control
      The team requested government permission to take their first supersonic flight, and the reply came back that the project was cancelled! I've known about this for most of my life, and I still can't quite believe it. The man who was to pilot it would later rationalize it by saying the politician who oversaw the program was a kindly man who didn't want anyone to get hurt. That may be true, I don't know.

    • @ricequackers
      @ricequackers Рік тому +3

      We're still a global leader in designing and building satellites, even if we don't launch them ourselves. The UK government part-owns OneWeb which is busy launching a satellite broadband constellation similar to SpaceX's Starlink. We also dominate in the aerospace and defence industries, being one of the very few countries capable of making fighter jet engines, and our naval tech is one of the best in the world. The Americans were frankly shocked at the performance of the Astute class subs dominating their own not-too-shabby Virginia class in mock battles. Pharma and biotech is another area we excel at, but I'm not as familiar with developments there.
      So yes we still do design, develop and commercialise some really advanced technology, it's just that a) it's not that well publicised in headlines and b) we could do even more if we had just a little more funding and investment in these areas, both from public and private sources.

    • @paulsengupta971
      @paulsengupta971 Рік тому +1

      @@eekee6034 Miles M52. We were beholden to the Americans at the time so we basically had to hand over our tech to them, and when they were asked to reciprocate, they said, "It's classified." We were still ahead of them and would have got there first, that's why the government ordered it to be cancelled and the jigs destroyed so the programme couldn't be resumed.

    • @Deepthought-42
      @Deepthought-42 Рік тому +2

      @@984francisEncouraged to cancel so that we could by the F111 instead.

  • @johncamp2567
    @johncamp2567 Рік тому +2

    JAGO: Your voice gives authority to ANY subject, sir.

  • @TrainDriverRob
    @TrainDriverRob Рік тому +1

    Excellent summary, the Brits did explore launch sites within the UK, Norfolk was ‘nearly’ chosen, but it was pointed out that a rocket could potentially crash-land onto a North Sea oil rig, so that was that! The book ‘A Vertical Empire’ is a must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about the British rocketry programme.

  • @Slycockney
    @Slycockney Рік тому +11

    I am still childishly giggling at inside Uranus.
    Great video, enjoyed that a lot, thank you.

    • @apolloc.vermouth5672
      @apolloc.vermouth5672 Рік тому +1

      You're not alone. It probably won out over Rings Around Uranus.

    • @chriswalford4161
      @chriswalford4161 Рік тому

      I think Hilger and Watts made an instrument for that.

  • @ulicnik24
    @ulicnik24 Рік тому +1

    Lovely place to visit. Was there myself 4 years ago on a nice and shiny day and these colorful cliffs were just magnificent.

  • @tpaul2866
    @tpaul2866 Рік тому +7

    Every year the Needles Breezer gets closer to the edge.
    As Saunders Roe was mentioned I’m assuming there’s a hovercraft episode lined up? I commute on it. Tis an awesome way to get to work. When it isn’t broken that is…

    • @richardwillson101
      @richardwillson101 Рік тому +2

      I would love an episode on Saunders Roe 😁

    • @iankemp1131
      @iankemp1131 Рік тому +3

      That would certainly be interesting. The Southsea-Ryde route was Britain's first hovercraft route, and now its last. One of the massive SRN4 cross-channel hovercraft can be seen at the Hovercraft Museum in nearby Lee-on-the-Solent.

    • @CarolineFord1
      @CarolineFord1 Рік тому +1

      I *always* get the Hovercraft. You can get from London to the Isle of Wight by train & Hovercraft for about £45 if you go off peak with a network card.

    • @iankemp1131
      @iankemp1131 Рік тому

      @@CarolineFord1 Especially now that on the "natural" or "traditional" route via Portsmouth Harbour, the ferry-to-train connections at Ryde Pier Head are now decidedly dodgy. For this and other reasons, Island Line usage has plummeted over the last 60 years.

    • @CarolineFord1
      @CarolineFord1 Рік тому

      @@iankemp1131 Well the tickets I get involve the Island Line from Ryde - it stops at Ryde Hoverport after all.

  • @TalesOfWar
    @TalesOfWar Рік тому +27

    The programme was actually a great success from an engineering perspective. Blue Streak still has one of the best launch success rates I believe. The government of the time gave in to US pressure and agreed to just buy the Polaris system instead when we ultimately decided on using SLBM's rather than ICBM's. We worked out having land based missile silo's (we invented those by the way, and ironically don't have any in actual operation other than the ones used for testing) in such a small country was a bad idea. Hiding them at sea where nobody knew where they were was the better deterrent. I believe the ESA still use rockets with engines derived from these things.

    • @samroberts7404
      @samroberts7404 Рік тому +9

      The big problem with blue Streak and black Knight as a deterrent was that they couldn't be kept fuelled up and ready to go, this meant a rapid response was out of the question and with our proximity to USSR we would be wiped out before we could launch as it took about 40 minutes to fuel it...

    • @TalesOfWar
      @TalesOfWar Рік тому +4

      @@samroberts7404 I believe they tested having one on standby ready to go, but the temperatures they had to keep the fuel at made the walls of the missile too brittle after a while, meaning it was as likely to explode on launch as when it hit its target lol. There was a really good documentary on it on either the BBC or Channel 4 around 15 years ago. I forget some of the details!

    • @mrrolandlawrence
      @mrrolandlawrence Рік тому +1

      @@TalesOfWar HTP & RP1 are literally the the most uncryogenic fuels going. You can quite happily keep them at room temps. Its more likely that HTP decomposes & explodes. One of the reasons that V2 rockets had use dates in sequence on them.

  • @ZonkerRoberts
    @ZonkerRoberts Рік тому +30

    I for one am not surprised they couldn't find any buyers for a secret missile base. The 1970's were tough times. Even for Bond villains.

    • @kimvibk9242
      @kimvibk9242 Рік тому +1

      My thought exactly...! 😆

    • @BungleBare
      @BungleBare Рік тому +4

      The setting was actually used by Ian Fleming in the novel Moonraker. It wasn’t the villain’s base as such, but he was involved in the rocket programme and ** SPOILER ALERT!** his evil plan was to re-direct the trajectory of a rocket for his own ends. The book is VERY different to the Bond movie of the same name - about all they share is some character names and the title.

    • @jamiecurran3544
      @jamiecurran3544 Рік тому

      Lol!🤣😂

  • @jimwhitfield7401
    @jimwhitfield7401 Рік тому +1

    Love the site at High Down, had many a good mooch around (and inside) there. Needles Battery (Old and New) is great too.

  • @apc108
    @apc108 Рік тому +2

    There are also remnants of very large test rigs on a site which became RAF Spadeadam, on the Cumbria/Northumberland border, where the Blue Streak engines were tested. That site is within the military area and not accessible to the public.

  • @christopherbrown3695
    @christopherbrown3695 Рік тому +1

    Even your adverts are worth watching with your wonderful turn of phrase, thanks

  • @samroberts7404
    @samroberts7404 Рік тому +6

    My grandad worked at Spadeadam in Northumberland on blue streak, that was actually the main development centre and the kids at achool in brampton (where a lot of the workers families lived) could here the sirens and test firings when they happened. It was well ahead of what the americans were doing at the time in terms of guidance to the extent that both nasa and rocketdyne tried to poach him... As a kid we knew hed worked on rockets, it was only after he died that how much of what he actually did was ICBMs.

  • @tonygallagher6997
    @tonygallagher6997 Рік тому +2

    I just want to say. I’m all in for Jago’s completely unhinged ad segments.

    • @JagoHazzard
      @JagoHazzard  Рік тому +1

      Oh man I have a nutty one coming up next week.

  • @kenattwood8060
    @kenattwood8060 Рік тому +14

    There was also the Megaroc Project of 1946/47 - the first British space project. This one was also killed by Governmental Idiocy. Actually it is possible that this was what gave Nigel Kneal the idea for Quatermass in the first place.

    • @stewartellinson8846
      @stewartellinson8846 Рік тому +3

      it was illed by a lack of cash. The austerity .....

    • @kenattwood8060
      @kenattwood8060 Рік тому

      Not really it was killed because the government blew far more money on the useless Bristol Brabazon and Short Princess aircraft projects both of which were a deadend and useless.@@stewartellinson8846

  • @echoharmony926
    @echoharmony926 Рік тому +14

    Just a minor side note; while the v2 was a rocket, the v1 was a pulsejet powered cruise missile. It looked like a plane, and launched from a catapult ramp.

  • @andrewhotston983
    @andrewhotston983 Рік тому +1

    When I was a schoolboy in 1976 I stayed in one of the old coastguard cottages at The Needles and was able to explore the High Down rocket testing site - it was weird - like an abandoned set from a Bond movie. I hope Jago's next stop is Orford Ness - another sinister defence industry landscape.

  • @thetek2006
    @thetek2006 Рік тому +5

    Holiday on the Isle of Wight? Never miss an opportunity sir! Great work and great holidaying I hope. British engineering in the 50s and 60s was at a level it's hard to conceive of now, world leading in many fields, particularly in the aerospace sector which I guess intersected this missile development in many ways. Some of the aircraft Britain produced in this period are amongst the most iconic aircraft in the history of both civilian and military aviation and some of those military aircraft served well into the 1990s with upgrades. Saunders-Roe in Cowes were an incredibly innovative company producing the largest civilian hovercraft amongst other things. Thanks.

  • @martynstevens100
    @martynstevens100 Рік тому +2

    I stayed in Woomera when I went to view a Total Eclipse. The old buildings are now a hotel called ELDO after the European Launch Developement Organisation. There is definitely a Black Knight rocket there on display with other rockets launched there. Our group did manage to launch a water powered rocket to a height of 50 feet. With regard to Von Braun and others at Peenemunde. The war ended just in time. The V3 was well advanced and would have been able to reach New York. There was also significant progress on the V4 which was planned to reach the west coast of America.

  • @jgodfrey546
    @jgodfrey546 Рік тому +3

    Thx much for this, Jago. Didn't know anything about a British space program... Now I do!

  • @RichardFelstead1949
    @RichardFelstead1949 Рік тому +1

    Jago has gone from The Tue to out of this world. Very interesting. Greetings from Australia.

  • @bloggalot4718
    @bloggalot4718 Рік тому +2

    If I recall correctly, it was Blue Streak which became the basis for the Arianne European rocket.

    • @TrainDriverRob
      @TrainDriverRob Рік тому +1

      Yes, it was used in the ELDO programme and the British part was the most successful stage by far.

  • @ianthomson9363
    @ianthomson9363 Рік тому +1

    Despite being something of a space nut since the Apollo programme, I didn't know much of this. I knew about Woomera, but that's about it. Thank you for broadening my knowledge!

  • @skyd8726
    @skyd8726 Рік тому +1

    My father worked on Black Arrow and was part of the team involved in the rocket, used for the successful launch of Prospero. I still have his project tie.
    Sadly the UK was notorious for inventing brilliant scientific "things" and then walking away from them - normally because of incompetent politicians.

    • @jamiecurran3544
      @jamiecurran3544 Рік тому

      Its the same old story today but with the whole countries wellbeing!😂

  • @m7dgz
    @m7dgz Рік тому +1

    Great video! There is another site close to me in the Midlands at Button Oak that has been used for rocket engine testing since the second world war, still used today and owned by Roxel, very little information available about the facility, would make a great subject for another video!

  • @CarolineFord1
    @CarolineFord1 Рік тому +1

    That's another thing I need to go and see! I've been to Culver Down (which was a disappointment) but didn't know about High Down, which I thought was just a Prison in SW London.

  • @984francis
    @984francis Рік тому +4

    My dad was a project manager on the Petrel programme. I think his path may have been too critical because though he went to Kiruna (Sweden) he did not get to go to Woomera.

  • @18robsmith
    @18robsmith Рік тому +4

    You got me all excited, then only visited the Isle of Wight - next time how about Spadeadam where they really launched rockets (albeit really small ones).

  • @mikedyble3648
    @mikedyble3648 Рік тому +2

    Well that was different, in a good way. I was aware of Spadeadam, and visited a couple of times in the early 80s. I wasn't aware of this site on the IoW.

  • @AtheistOrphan
    @AtheistOrphan Рік тому +4

    7:50 - ‘The Black Knight always triumphs!’

  • @DaveF.
    @DaveF. Рік тому +41

    Just a minor correction -BLACK KNIGHT didn't put warheads into 'orbit' - it put them into space - or at least very high altitude - but one a suborbtial path - definitely not orbital. I mean, firstly it couldn't, but there wasn't a lot of point in putting a warhead into orbit. It's entire job is to come back down again.

    • @allangibson8494
      @allangibson8494 Рік тому +4

      Actually - warhead detonation in orbit is quite devastating. The Americans discovered that with Starfish Prime which detonated at 400km altitude and took out the entire first generation of communication satellites.

    • @DaveF.
      @DaveF. Рік тому +3

      @@allangibson8494 Yeah, that'd be a high-altitude air-burst. But that's not in orbit. Being in orbit is not so much about how high you are but how fast you're going 'sideways' - Things that are put into orbit, stay in orbit - they don't come down again without either firing retro-rockets, or - if they're low enough - eventually due to atmospheric drag. Sounding rockets, like Black Knight, don't have enough oomph to be able to put anything into orbit - they'd more or less go straight up and back down again - and that much power isn't needed for nukes - they only need to go sideways enough to reach Russia. The reason the R7 - the first rocket to put a satellite into orbit - was capable of this was because Soviet nukes were so, soo much heavier than Sputnik was. As a missile, it' could carry a six ton nuke as far as America - but as a launch vehicle it could put a 200Kg Sputmik into orbit.

    • @allangibson8494
      @allangibson8494 Рік тому +1

      @@DaveF. And the Developed R7 could put a Tsar Bomba into the United States.
      The Starfish prime detonation wasn’t an “air-burst” - it was essentially a prototype EMP weapon.

    • @DaveF.
      @DaveF. Рік тому +1

      @@allangibson8494 Yes - it did that by being an 'air-burst' - it was detonated in a very high altitude - but not in orbit.

  • @itsjohndell
    @itsjohndell Рік тому +1

    A great video as always. Nice to see you out of your usual pitch. Really enjoyed this Jago!

  • @huwlewis9059
    @huwlewis9059 Рік тому

    Brings back memories. Was there in 1976, ventured up there with my father, saw the obviously old Keep Out signs and refused to go in. Think my dad was quite disappointed I didn’t.

  • @viking1236
    @viking1236 Рік тому +2

    Check out Spade Adam, now a electronic warfare range but also a rocket test base

  • @billmilligan1705
    @billmilligan1705 Рік тому +1

    As a follow up are you going to do a video on Speyadam? Uk's launch site and home to the UK's only launch silo which is a listed structure

  • @ktipuss
    @ktipuss Рік тому +3

    1:00 Britain was a world leader in railway engineering of all types prior to WW2; it was king in the steam age. Look at how British engineers could pack a lot of power into relatively small steam locos constricted by the loading gauge (more on that in a minute).
    After WW2 though, Britain's rail system was beset with a lot of problems, much of it due to political interference which persists to this day. A succession of poorly performing diesel powered types with too many variations instead of sticking to a few standard types (as the U.S. did). The "Pacer" trains were British Rail's nadir, also a product of politicians trying to prop up an ailing road vehicle sector.
    Another example is the insistence of demanding that rail entities like London Transport (er, "Transport for London") pay their own way. This Economic rationalist stance ignores the socioeconomic benefits of public transport, such as much less air pollution, better use of assets such as road space, and productive time not being wasted by being stuck in traffic jams.
    There is no reason why Britain can't "be great again" (and not in the way Trump might mean). Just means getting out of the morass that the Tories have put it in since Thatcher.
    (Re British loco sizes alluded to above, when the Flying Scotsman 4472 visited Australia in 1988 it was coupled on one run from Newcastle with a Sydney 30 Class Suburban tank, and it was surprising to see that the 30 Class was larger than the Flying Scotsman, despite being less powerful).

    • @70sVRsignalman
      @70sVRsignalman Рік тому

      Dear @ktipuss, actually France, Germany and the USA were also world leaders in railway engineering between the wars. Chapelon demonstrated a higher ratio of power to weight for steam compared to Britain, Germany had better production methods for steam, largely adopted by BR after 1948, Walchearts valve gear is Belgian, and the USA had better metallurgy for railway engineering than Britain, partially due to a revitalised, and world leading , steel production industry.

  • @MrGreatplum
    @MrGreatplum Рік тому +1

    Gosh, Jago; that was really interesting and about a subject I knew nothing about - thank you!

  • @johnjephcote7636
    @johnjephcote7636 Рік тому +3

    I saw what I think was a Black Knight at de Havilland at Hatfield. When I visited RAF North Luffenham (the main gate only!) I could see similar very tall rockets. The guard said the name was secret but told us anyway. I seem to recall the name was Black Knight. They certainly were not stand-off weapons which came later. One cannot disguise such rockets as trees so were very visible .

    • @viking1236
      @viking1236 Рік тому +2

      Look up Thor IRBM. These were based there. Google Earth shows the launch buildings now listed and protected

  • @wtspman
    @wtspman Рік тому +2

    The Black Arrow bears a bit of resemblance to SPECTRE’s Bird One rocket from You Only Live Twice.

  • @alaingadbois2276
    @alaingadbois2276 Рік тому +2

    Britain was first in the supersonic race with the Miles M.52.
    Inexplicably canceled in early 1946, much essential data was given to the US and they made history first with the Bell X-1 in 1947.

    • @markmclaren3836
      @markmclaren3836 Рік тому +2

      As regards the cancellation of the Miles supersonic M52, the reason why it was ' inexplicably cancelled' was that a civilian in the MOD decided that it was too risky to fly at supersonic speeds, or likely to be so. Human life would be at unacceptable risk, or so he unilaterally decided. So , out of the blue, the Miles M52 was cancelled, when it was less than 1 year from first flight. Typical British frame of mind, too conservative ( and too stupid) for their own good, as subsequent zillions of supersonic flights have proven. It was one official on his own who decided to cancel the entire project . Ridiculous

  • @nostalgicplastic4323
    @nostalgicplastic4323 Рік тому +2

    Nice one Mr H! Love the train stuff, but the other themes make a nice change.

  • @malcolmbacchus866
    @malcolmbacchus866 Рік тому +2

    The best book on the British rocket and space programme from 1950 to 197q is "A Vertical Empire" by C N Hill and published by Imperial College Press.

  • @MichaelVanata
    @MichaelVanata Рік тому

    A great video, at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust museum we have a stage one section of a Black Arrow from Australia which to earth it has a few scratches though, and also a wind tunnel model of Black Arrow.

  • @divarachelenvy
    @divarachelenvy Рік тому

    I am glad you mentioned Woomera... cheers.

  • @mikerichards6065
    @mikerichards6065 Рік тому +1

    One of the advantages of using hydrogen peroxide rather than liquid oxygen is that the rocket could be kept fuelled and on stand-by for extended periods of time. The disadvantage is that high concentration hydrogen peroxide has a habit of setting fire to pretty much everything and exploding for no very good reason at all.

  • @DavidWilson-hh2gn
    @DavidWilson-hh2gn Рік тому

    A great deal of work in connection with Blue Streak was undertaken at Spadeadam situated on Spadeadam Waste a Cumbrian wilderness area,many jobs went when that facility closed.

  • @grahampaulkendrick7845
    @grahampaulkendrick7845 Рік тому +1

    My family went on holiday to the West Wight in the summer of '58. My Dad told me that there was a rocket base near to where we were staying. At the time, I didn't really believe him.

  • @garrymartin6474
    @garrymartin6474 Рік тому +2

    The Needles Breezer is the UK's best bus route !

  • @gleggett3817
    @gleggett3817 Рік тому +1

    On the post war British economy: the American loan was 3.75 billion dollars (at a modest 2%) with Canada contributing a further 1.2 billion at same interest rate. And while those were loans to br paid over 50 years, the Marshall plan that followed 2 years later was a outright gift of 3.3 billion dollars

  • @SynchroScore
    @SynchroScore Рік тому +4

    2:11 Did somebody stick a bayonet on a rocket, or did somebody just want to stab somebody who was really far away?

  • @mrrolandlawrence
    @mrrolandlawrence Рік тому +1

    ive seen it mentioned elsewhere that the rocket in the science museum was meant to have been tossed over the side of the ship taking it to the launch site when the project was cancelled.

  • @aarsca6834
    @aarsca6834 Рік тому +7

    I have a question perhaps you could answer, why didnt the city of London expand to take in its suburbs. Ive heard other explain the City itself but never why it didnt expand as other cities do? Thanks for all your great videos

    • @katrinabryce
      @katrinabryce Рік тому +2

      I think because it is kind-of strictly not part of England

    • @luciadegroseille-noire8073
      @luciadegroseille-noire8073 Рік тому +1

      Suburbia was a consequence of railways, so not a thing before the Nineteenth Century. Towns were described by their boundaries and the area around London was a network of boroughs, so the City would have to obtain the undoing of a borough's charter to incorporate it into itself, and why would they bother? The towns governed themselves well enough and being part of the City would confer no advantage on either.

    • @richardwillson101
      @richardwillson101 Рік тому +1

      Probably because "The City" wanted to remain inside its city walls.
      That's just a guess on my part.
      But with such a rich history, it wouldn't surprise me if the city simply didn't "want" it's surrounding areas to be part of it. As if they were not good enough for "The city".

    • @AnthonyHandcock
      @AnthonyHandcock Рік тому +1

      @@katrinabryce Well it is the lucky recipient of one of the three remaining clauses of Magna Carta 1297 which guarantees the 'freedoms of the city of London' so maybe that's it.
      There's also the fact that The City of Westminster which borders it might have had something to say about the matter. My highly uneducated best guess would be simply that nobody really cared enough to worry about it as what is or is not London depended, and still does depend, on who you ask. As a Man of Kent I hold that London doesn't start until Blackheath but the less informed and more wronger majority would probably disagree.

    • @robertward7449
      @robertward7449 Рік тому +1

      The City proper didn't because anything outside the city walls were part of neighbouring counties. Fun fact: the Tower of London is not in the City, but in the LB of Tower Hamlets. In a more practical sense, the conurbation we think of as London has grown to absorb surrounding boroughs. First with the establishment of the County of London in 1880-something (I think offhand), more recently with the establishment of the Greater London Council in the 1960s. The County of London took over the inner suburbs and a large chunk of Middlesex. The GLC took the rest of Middlesex and large chunks of Essex, Surrey and Kent.

  • @MJF-81
    @MJF-81 Рік тому +2

    Funnily enough, the UK is re-entering the space race. A company called Saxavord is currently building the only UK licensed space port on the Shetland islands, mainly to launch satellites but maybe the odd death ray too…

  • @mikehiggins4079
    @mikehiggins4079 Рік тому +3

    Was Black Arrow the inspiration for the SPECTRE rocket ship in 'You Only Live Twice' Bond movie?

  • @craigyllyn
    @craigyllyn Рік тому

    Very interesting. Not only are you an expert on rail but now we learn you’re a rocket expert too.

  • @PokhrajRoy.
    @PokhrajRoy. Рік тому +4

    Thank you for this nugget of hidden history as always!

  • @cjf97
    @cjf97 Рік тому +1

    Thanks as always Jago. I was expecting a rocket displaying an LT (not TfL) roundel though. 😅

  • @PokhrajRoy.
    @PokhrajRoy. Рік тому +4

    2:46 So, this was the inspiration behind the rocket to the Moon in Tintin.

  • @john1703
    @john1703 Рік тому

    Was the work at High Down linked to similar or related work, for Blue Streak, at RAF Spade-Adam in Cumbria?

  • @gnhansen29
    @gnhansen29 Рік тому +1

    I love the space references in this video.

  • @briangarrow448
    @briangarrow448 Рік тому +3

    Congreave rockets play an essential part of the storyline in one of George Fraser’s Flashman novels. I believe it is the one about how Sir Harry Flashman escaped from Russian captivity during the Crimean War and escapes through Central Asia and helps a Muslim independence movement fight against Imperial Russian aggression. A rip roaring tale of adventure that is totally not politically correct but is very entertaining.

    • @grahamturner5963
      @grahamturner5963 Рік тому +1

      Flashman and The Great Game, I think is the title. A brilliant series. Hard to believe I've been re-reading some of these for 50 years

  • @Andrewjg_89
    @Andrewjg_89 Рік тому +1

    Nice to see you doing a video on a rocket. Have you ever considered making a video of a rocket that runs on railway tracks and blasts off into space.

  • @peterthorpe8104
    @peterthorpe8104 Рік тому

    Fascinating video. Many thanks Jago.

  • @truckerallikatuk
    @truckerallikatuk Рік тому +1

    I mean, it's not that odd if you think about it, more unlikely things have happened. For example, a (now derelict ) pier at Weston-Super-Mare helped bring down several dams in Germany...

  • @davidioanhedges
    @davidioanhedges Рік тому +5

    The UK space program was cancelled by a Conservative government, when it was no longer expensive or unreliable, under pressure from the USA to not bother and just use their systems... which were expensive and unreliable ...

  • @brianartillery
    @brianartillery Рік тому +1

    I believe that an earlier British satellite, 'Ariel' was destroyed when the Americans detonated a huge atomic device in the upper atmosphere, unaware of the effects of an EMP.
    There's another abandoned rocket site at RAF Spadeadam, in Cumbria.

  • @jacquesmertens3369
    @jacquesmertens3369 Рік тому +2

    Very interesting. Until this video I thought Britain's only space program was called Stanley Kubrick.

  • @davidsirett5560
    @davidsirett5560 Рік тому

    loving the mention for Professor Bernard Quatermass.

  • @tarnmonath
    @tarnmonath Рік тому +3

    Now you need to travel north, so that you can talk about the Spadeadam rocket testing facility. 😎

    • @paulsengupta971
      @paulsengupta971 Рік тому +1

      They won't let him in!

    • @tarnmonath
      @tarnmonath Рік тому

      Probably not! He could try the Solway Aviation Museum, though. They've got some good stuff there.

  • @neilforbes416
    @neilforbes416 Рік тому

    11:00 And the opposite of "High Down" would be "Low Up"! LOL.

  • @alejandrayalanbowman367
    @alejandrayalanbowman367 Рік тому +1

    There was another launching base on the west coast of Wales and the Bloodhound's engines were tested on Foulness Island.

  • @brianbell4937
    @brianbell4937 Рік тому

    Shame you never included a view of the bus climbing up with the bay behind, a spectacular route. At least you had a ride on it !

  • @bryan3550
    @bryan3550 Рік тому

    Thanks, Jago, for the lowdown on High Down!

  • @Lurker1979
    @Lurker1979 Рік тому +1

    As an American. I think it's sad that the UK gave up on its independent space program. Decided to go American.

  • @johnsowerby7182
    @johnsowerby7182 Рік тому

    Kudos for the Dan Dare and Prof. Quatermass reference.

  • @bobmcdermott9535
    @bobmcdermott9535 Рік тому

    No mention of Bloodhound, or Ferranti. Dad spent most of his working life on Bloodhound, a lot of it at Woomera.

  • @Lurker1979
    @Lurker1979 Рік тому +1

    As always. Great video.

  • @brenstratters2026
    @brenstratters2026 Рік тому +2

    I was waiting for the underground railway system to be mentioned? 😀

  • @kevinm3586
    @kevinm3586 Рік тому +1

    "They were efficient, technologically sound and well built". So, the opposite of any politician then. No wonder they cancelled it.

  • @dougmhd2006
    @dougmhd2006 Рік тому

    6:24 Wonderful look at bits of history that are seldom mentioned. By the way, I noticed you mentioned Professor Quatermass...'coff-coff'...'Hobbs End Tube station'...'coff-coff'.😊
    Right. I'll see myself out now. Have a wonderful day.

  • @PaulSmith-pl7fo
    @PaulSmith-pl7fo Рік тому

    Hi Jago. Out of this world!

  • @aDifferentJT
    @aDifferentJT Рік тому +3

    Germany’s V1 was a jet, not a rocket, the V2 was a rocket

  • @domc7363
    @domc7363 11 місяців тому

    Years ago, I read an article somewhere, which asserted that British Rail once had a space division. presumably, this was a single office at the back of some faceless municipal building in Derby or some such. Anyway, the whole idea seemed simultaneously both bizarre and also a curiously British approach to competing with the global space super powers of the time. Sadly, I am no longer able to find this article or any other references to BR's Space Division, and wonder whether it was a very good spoof or BR project that barely got off the proposal memo page. But I would be genuinely interested to know if someone else has come across this. I always quite liked the idea of catching the 14:49 Inter-planetary Express from Manchester Victoria to the Shackleton Crater Solar System Interchange.

  • @InquisitiveBaldMan
    @InquisitiveBaldMan Рік тому

    HMS Nemesis was fitted with a Congreves Rocket. HMS Nemesis nearly beat the Quing Dynasty by itself in the first opium war.

  • @NathanEllisBodi-bf5zo
    @NathanEllisBodi-bf5zo Рік тому

    In a parallel universe dominated by the military wing of NT , analysts keep asking "who the hell gave the National Trust a secret missile base?