The Blue Streak missile was a British ballistic missile designed in 1955. The ballistic missile programme was cancelled in 1960 but the rocket was used as the first-stage of the European satellite launcher Europa. Tested at Woomera test range, Australia, the Blue Streak project was subsequently cancelled in 1972. Diagram of V-2, the first ballistic missile. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... The Europa rocket was an early expendable launch system of the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO), which was the precursor to the European Space Agency and its Ariane family of launchers. ... Woomera Launchpad in the 60s Woomera (31°09′ S 136°48′ E) is a town in South Australia, 488 km north of Adelaide, along the Stuart Highway. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

Background

Post-war Britain's nuclear weapons armament was initially based on free-fall bombs delivered by the V bomber force. It soon became clear that if Britain wanted to have a credible threat a ballistic missile was essential. There was a political need for an independent deterrent, so that Britain could remain a major post-war power. The use of any American missile would have appeared to hand control to the United States. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... The term V bomber was used for the Royal Air Force aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the UKs strategic nuclear strike force. ...

In April 1954 the Americans proposed a joint development programme for ballistic missiles. The United States would develop an Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) of 5,000 nautical mile (9,300 km) range, while the United Kingdom with United States support would develop a Medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) of 2,000 nautical mile (3,700 km) range. The proposal was accepted as part of the Wilson-Sandys Agreement of August 1954 which provided for collaboration, exchange of information and mutual planning of development programs. The decision to develop was influenced by what could be learnt about missile design and development in the US. Initial requirements for the booster were made by the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough with input on the rocket engine design from the Rocket Propulsion Establishment at Westcott. Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A Minuteman III ICBM test launch from Vandenberg AFB, California, United States. ... A nautical mile or sea mile is a unit of length. ... A Medium Range Ballistic Missile, commonly abreviated to MRBM, is a type of ballistic missile with a range between 1500 and 2000 km. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Farnborough is a town in the Hampshire borough of Rushmoor in South East England. ... The Rocket Propulsion Establishment at Westcott, Buckinghamshire has made a number of notable contributions in the field of rocket propulsion, including input on the rocket design for the Blue Streak missile. ... Westcott is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. ...

De Havilland won the contract to build the missile, and it was to be powered by an uprated liquid-fuelled Rocketdyne S3D engine, developed by Rolls-Royce, called RZ2. Subcontractors included the Sperry Gyroscope Company who produced the guidance system whilst the warhead itself was designed by the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston. Until 1920, Geoffrey de Havillands de Havilland Aircraft Company had been known as Airco, where he was owner and chief designer. ... F-1 rocket engine Rocketdyne is a liquid rocket engine design and production company in the United States. ... Rolls-Royce Limited was a British car and aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Henry Royce and C.S. Rolls in 1906 and was the result of a partnership formed in 1904. ... The RZ2 can be seen on a display cradle alongside the vertically displayed Blue Streak missile at the National Space Centre, Leicester UK ... Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the twentieth century. ... AWE plc logo The Atomic Weapons Establishment, Aldermaston (formerly the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, Aldermaston) is situated in the UK, just 7 miles north of Basingstoke and approximately 14 miles south-west of Reading, Berkshire, near a village called Aldermaston, bordering with Tadley. ... View of Aldermaston village circa 1959 Aldermaston is a village in the English county of Berkshire, two miles north of Tadley. ...

Doubts arose as the cost escalated from the first tentative figure of £50m submitted to the Treasury in early 1955, to £300m in late 1959. The programme was crawling along when compared with the speed of development in the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The new eastern entrance to HM Treasury HM Treasury, in full Her Majestys Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the UK Governments financial and economic policy. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Cancellation

Eventually the project was cancelled due to its apparent lack of credibility as a deterrent. Some considered the cancellation of Blue Streak to be not only a blow to British military-industrial efforts, but also to Commonwealth ally Australia, which had its own vested interest in the project. The Commonwealth of Nations (CN), usually known as The Commonwealth, is a voluntary association of 53 independent sovereign states, the majority of which are former colonies of the United Kingdom. ...

The missiles used cryogenic propellants that could only be kept in the missile for a short length of time before icing became a problem. Fueling the rocket took 15 minutes, rendering it incapable for use as a rapid response to an attack. It had been intended to site the missiles in underground silos, capable of withstanding a one megaton blast at a distance of half a mile (800 m), silos originally a British innovation, later exported to the USA. These silos would have protected the missile from a first-strike attack while the missile was being fuelled. However, finding sites for these silos proved extremely difficult and RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria was the only site where construction was undertaken. The best sites for silo construction were the more stable rock strata in parts of southern England, but the construction of many underground silos in the countryside carried enormous political cost. Cryogenics is the study of very low temperatures or the production of the same, and is often confused with cryobiology, the study of the effect of low temperatures on organisms, or the study of cryopreservation. ... A missile silo is a underground vertical cylindrical container for the storage and launching of ICBMs. ... RAF Spadeadam is a Royal Air Force station spanning England and Scotland. ... Cumbria (IPA: ), created in 1974, is a county in the North West region of England. ...

As no site in Britain provided enough space for test firing, a test site was established at Woomera, South Australia. Whitehall opposition to the project grew, and it was eventually cancelled on the ostensible grounds that it would be too vulnerable to a first-strike attack. Around £84m had been spent. Woomera Launchpad in the 60s Woomera (31°09′ S 136°48′ E) is a town in South Australia, 488 km north of Adelaide, along the Stuart Highway. ...

The British government transferred its hopes to the Anglo-American Skybolt missile, before the project's cancellation by the USA as its ICBM program reached maturity. The British instead purchased the Polaris system from the Americans, to be carried in British-built submarines. The Douglas GAM-87A Skybolt was an air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) developed during the late 1950s. ... The Polaris Missile was a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) carrying a nuclear warhead developed during the Cold War for the United States Navy. ... German UC-1 class World War I submarine A model of Günther Priens Unterseeboot 47 (U-47), German WWII Type VII diesel-electric hunter Typhoon class nuclear ballistic missile submarine USS Virginia, a Virginia-class nuclear attack (SSN) submarine A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate...

Civilian Programme

Main article: Blue Streak Satellite Launch Vehicle

Blue Streak at the Deutsches Museum at Schleissheim, Munich

After the cancellation as a military project, there was reluctance to cancel the project because of the huge cost incurred. Blue Streak would have become the first stage of a projected all British satellite launcher known as "Black Prince", the second stage was derived from the Black Knight test vehicle, and the orbital injection stage was a small hydrogen peroxide/kerosene motor. This launcher never progressed beyond the design stage. Blue Streak at the Deutsches Museum at Schleissheim, Munich The Blue Streak Satellite Launch Vehicle is the name given to a range of proposals for a satellite launch vehicle based on the Blue Streak missile developed by the UK around the period from 1957 to 1972. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 1572 KB) Summary Taken by John McCullagh Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 1572 KB) Summary Taken by John McCullagh Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Edward the Black Prince - illustration from Cassells History of England circa 1902 Effigy on the Black Princes tomb in Canterbury Cathedral Edward, Prince of Wales, known as the Black Prince (June 15, 1330 - June 8, 1376) was the eldest son of King Edward III of England. ... Black Knight was a British launch vehicle to test and verify the design of a re-entry vehicle for the Blue Streak missile. ...

This also proved too expensive, and the European Development Launcher Organisation - ELDO - was set up. This used Blue Streak as the first stage, used French and German second and third stages. The Blue Streak first stage was successfully tested three times at the Woomera test range in Australia as part of the ELDO programme. The European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) was a multinational consortium formed in the 1960s to build an indigenous European space launch vehicle. ... Woomera Prohibited Area is a weapons testing range located in central South Australia. ...

Although a total of 8 launches were made of the multi-stage vehicle, the French and German components proved unreliable leading to the project's final cancellation, and the end of Blue Streak. The final launch was made at the French site of Kourou in French Guiana. Kourou is a town and commune in French Guiana. ...

The full launch history of Blue Streak is as follows, (Taken from the "Europa SLV Historiograph", produced by HSD Ltd):

Blue Streak Today

Following the cancellation of the Blue Streak project some of the remaining rockets were preserved at

• The National Space Centre in Leicester, England.
• The Deutsches Museum at Oberschleißheim near Munich
• The National Museum of Flight in East Fortune, Scotland.
• Royal Air Force Spadeadam Click here to go to their page!

An RZ2 engine is on display at Armagh Planetarium, Northern Ireland. The National Space Centre is the UKs only visitor attraction devoted to space science and astronomy. ... Leicester (pronounced ) is the largest city in the East Midlands of England. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum is one of the worlds largest museums of technology and science. ... Oberschleißheim is a municipality in the district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. ... Coordinates: Time zone: CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country: Germany State: Bavaria Administrative region: Upper Bavaria District: Urban district City subdivisions: 25 borroughs Lord Mayor: Christian Ude (SPD) Governing parties: SPD / Greens / Rosa Liste Basic Statistics Area: 310. ... The Museum of Flight is an aerospace musuem in East Lothian, Scotland, and part of the National Museums of Scotland. ... East Fortune is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, located 2 miles (3 km) north west of East Linton. ... Motto: (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots2 Government  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - UK Prime Minister Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I 843  Area    - Total 78,772 km... The RZ2 can be seen on a display cradle alongside the vertically displayed Blue Streak missile at the National Space Centre, Leicester UK ... Armagh Planetarium is a planetarium situated in Armagh, Northern Ireland. ... Motto:  (Latin for Who will separate us?)[1] Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official language(s) English (de facto), Ulster Scots, Irish3, Northern Ireland Sign Language, Irish Sign Language Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of...

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 June 5, 1964 from Woomera, Australia, found 50km SE of Woomera in 1980 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 Prisoner was a 1967 UK science fiction television series, starring Patrick McGoohan. ... Fall Out is the title of the controversial seventeenth and final episode of the British science-fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan as Number Six. ... June 5 is the 156th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (157th in leap years), with 209 days remaining. ... Woomera Launchpad in the 60s Woomera (31°09′ S 136°48′ E) is a town in South Australia, 488 km north of Adelaide, along the Stuart Highway. ...

See also

• List of missiles
• Rainbow Codes
• Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom
• UK topics

Below is a list of (links to pages on) missiles, sorted alphabetically by name. ... The Rainbow Codes were a series of code names used to disguise the nature of various British military research projects from after the Second World War until 1958 when they were replaced by an alphanumeric code system. ... The United Kingdom was the third country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon in October 1952. ... This is a list of topics related to the United Kingdom. ...

External links

• http://www.spaceuk.org/bstreak/bstreak.htm
• http://www.skomer.u-net.com/projects/bluestreak.htm
• http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/6133/bluestreak.html
• Blue Streak including newsreel footage
• RAF Spadeadam
• National Museum of Scotland description of the Museum of Flight exhibit
• Free papermodel of a blue streak missile