A Blue Streak missile at the Deutsches Museum at Schleissheim, Munich.
Data[]
History[]
The placard reads: "Remains of the first Blue Streak rocket launched from Woomera 5 June 1964. Discovered 50km SE of Giles in 1980."
Overview[]
Post-war Britain's nuclear weapons armament was initially based on free-fall bombs delivered by the British V bomber force. It soon became clear that if Britain wanted to have a credible nuclear deterrent threat, a ballistic missile was essential. There was a political need for an independent deterrent, so that Britain could remain a major world power. Britain was unable to purchase American weapons wholesale due to the restrictions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946.
The de Havilland Propellers' Blue Streak missile was a British medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM), and later the first stage of the Europa satellite launch vehicle. Blue Streak was canceled without entering full production.
Europa was tested at Woomera Test Range, Australia, and later at the Kourou Launch Site in in French Guiana. Following launch failures, the ELDO project was canceled in 1972 and development of Blue Streak was halted.
Subcontractors included the Sperry Gyroscope Company who produced the missile guidance system whilst the nuclear warhead was designed by the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston.
From the early days of the Polaris program, American senators and naval officers suggested that the United Kingdom might use Polaris. In 1957 Chief of Naval Operations Arleigh Burke and First Sea Lord, Lord Louis Mountbatten, began corresponding on the project. After the cancellations of the Blue Streak and Skybolt missiles in the 1960s, under the 1962 Nassau Agreement that emerged from meetings between Harold Macmillan and John F. Kennedy, the United States would supply Britain with Polaris missiles, launch tubes, ReBs, and the fire-control systems. Britain would make its own warheads and initially proposed to build five ballistic missile submarines, later reduced to four by the incoming Labour government of Harold Wilson, with 16 missiles to be carried on each boat. The Polaris Sales Agreement was signed on April 6, 1963.
Subcontractors included the Sperry Gyroscope Company who produced the missile guidance system whilst the nuclear warhead was designed by the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston.
Test flights[]
It was tested out in Australia because no site in Britain provided enough space for test flights.
Technical failures[]
The slow fueling-up time []
It took about 4.5 minuets to fuel up and the maximum radar warning available attack the time was 4 minuets, which meant it was useless in retaliation against a surprise attack.
The notoriously fragile body shell[]
The corrugated aluminium shell was notoriously fragile and easy to break and puncture.
As a missile[]
There were initial plans to use missile launchers at RAF Upavon in Wiltshire, but this soon proved to be impractical due to the need for a silo. The silos could only be built at RAF Spadeadam in Cumberland (now in Cumbria), would be too expensive and inevitably hated by CND. It would be test launched at Woomera Test Range in Australia due to the large open spaces available down under.
Admiral of the Fleet Lord Mountbatten had spent considerable effort arguing that the project should be cancelled at once in favour of his Navy being armed with nuclear weapons, capable of pre-emptive strike.
As a space rocket[]
For more on the space rocket, see- Europa satellite launch vehicle.
It was to be the second and third stage of the Europa satellite launch vehicle. The rocket was a 3 stage type that would have launches British, Australian and New Zealand space satellites if it had go ahead. The body consisted of Belgium, Britain, France, W. Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, with Australia as an associate member.
Blue Streak today[]
Whole rockets[]
Following the cancellation of the Blue Streak project some of the remaining rockets were preserved at:
- The National Space Center in Leicester, England.
- The Deutsches Museum at Oberschleißheim near Munich
- The National Museum of Flight in East Fortune, Scotland.
- The Euro Space Center in Redu, Belgium.
Parts of rockets[]
- A section of the propulsion bay, engines and equipment can be found at the Solway Aviation Museum, Carlisle Lake District Airport.
- Only a few miles from the Spadeadam testing site, the museum carries many exhibits, photographs and models of the Blue Streak programme, having inherited the original Spadeadam collection that used to be displayed on site.
RZ2 engines[]
- RZ2 engines are on display at National Space Centre a pair on cradles alongside the Blue Streak rocket, and at the Armagh Planetarium, Northern Ireland and The Euro Space Center in Redu, Belgium.
Related projects[]
Aside from Black Prince Rocket, a range of other proposals was made between 1959 and 1972 for a carrier rocket based on Blue Streak, however, none of these were ever built in full and today only exist in design.
De Havilland/British Interplanetary Society proposal[]
In 1959 de Havilland suggested solving the problem of the Blue Streak/Black Knight geometry by compressing the 10 by 1 metre (30 by 3 foot) Black Knight into a 10-foot-diameter (3.0 m) sphere. Although this seemed logical, the development costs proved to be too high for the limited budget of the programme.
Westland Helicopters Black Arrow[]
Following its merger with Saunders Roe, Westland Helicopters developed the three-stage Black Arrow satellite carrier rocket, derived from the Black Knight test vehicle. The first stage of Black Arrow was given the same diameter as the French Coralie (the second stage of Europa) in order to make it compatible with Blue Streak. Using Blue Streak as an additional stage would have increased Black Arrow's payload capacity. To maintain this compatibility, the first stage diameter was given in metres, although the rest of the rocket was defined in imperial units.
Black Arrow carried out four test launches (without an additional Blue Streak stage) from Woomera between 1969 and 1971, with the final launch carrying the satellite Prospero X-3 into orbit. The United Kingdom remains the only country to have successfully developed and then abandoned a satellite launch capability.
Hawker Siddeley Dynamics proposal[]
In 1972, Hawker Siddeley Dynamics (HSD) produced a brochure for a design using Blue Streak as the first stage of a two-stage to orbit rocket, with an American Centaur upper stage. The Centaur second stage would have either been built in the UK under licence or imported directly from the USA. Both the Centaur and Blue Streak had proved to be very reliable up to this point, and since they were both already designed development costs would have been low. Furthermore, it had a payload of 870–920 kg to a geosynchronous orbit with, and 650–700 kg without the use of additional booster rockets.
Black Prince Rocket[]
In 1959, a year before the cancellation of the Blue Streak as a missile, the government requested that the RAE and Saunders-Roe design a carrier rocket based on Blue Streak and Black Knight. This design used Blue Streak as a first stage and a 54 inch (137 centimetre) second stage based on the Black Knight. Several different third stages would be available, depending on the required payload and orbit.
The cost of developing Black Prince was estimated to be £35 million.
It was planned that Black Prince would be a Commonwealth project. However, since the government of John Diefenbaker in Canada was already spending more money than publicly acknowledged on Alouette and Australia was not interested in the project, these two countries were unwilling to contribute. South Africa was no longer a member of the Commonwealth. New Zealand was only likely to make "modest" contributions.
Blue Streak in popular culture[]
Footage from the Blue Streak launch was briefly incorporated into The Prisoner's final episode, "Fall Out". A part of the Blue Streak rocket launched on 5 June 1964 from Woomera, Australia, found 50 km SE of Giles in 1980 (c.1000km) is on display at Giles Weather Station. Another piece was located in 2006, but its exact location has been kept secret by the finders. The titanium structure of a German third stage was, for some time, sited on the edge of a gravel pit in Gloucestershire. Images of the Blue Streak 1 are incorporated in the 1997 film Contact.
Videos[]
The Blue Streak Rocket launches in Australia (1964)-0
The Blue Streak rocket was originally a British ballistic missile designed in 1955. The Blue Streak project was finally cancelled in 1972.
CAN 212 ENGINE OF BLUE STREAK ROCKET TESTED
The engine of the British designed Blue Streak rocket is tested prior to the first trial launch. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/3ea1f2a39875e47d648183c7b050f655 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork.
Europa Rocket of 1960s (with explosions and other stuff! including "Blue Streak")
Footage related to the ill-fated "Europa" rocket launched by the ill-fated "European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO)" during the 1960s and early 1970s. There is also footage here of a launch of the somewhat more successful "Blue Streak" missile. The rocket never had a successful flight, and can be seen exploding several times here. However, it was an unmanned rocket, so I don't think anyone died. Sorry for the slightly poor picture quality. It should be noted that, though unsuccessful, this rocket would lead later to much more successful rockets later on.
Also see[]
- medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM)
- Europa satellite launch vehicle
- Woomera Test Range
- Kourou Launch Site
- ELDO project
- Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston
- Blue Streak
- Skybolt missile
- 1962 Nassau Agreement
- Space rockets
- Black Knight rocket
- Black Prince rocket
- Europa satellite launch vehicle
- European Launcher Development Organisation
- Ballistic missiles, missiles and military rockets