1950s – A guided missile air defence system for Britain
’50s
In 1949 I started building an engineering team at Bristol to undertake a secret project
known as ‘Job 1220’. Clearly something so secret was unlikely to ever be famous.
‘Job 1220’ became ‘Red Duster’, and a very large number of companies and Government
establishments became involved. The emerging guided weapon’s progress (or occasionally
the lack of it) was reported monthly to a concerned British Cabinet, because it was
needed to defend the nuclear deterrent.
Before production started, the Bristol Managing Director, Cyril Uwins, noted that
the missile tracked its target all the way from launch and, as all Bristol projects had
names which started with B, he appropriately named it the Bloodhound. It quietly went
into service in Britain, without attracting much attention. It was the fi rst British ground
to air guided weapon to be exported, to Sweden and Australia as a complete defence
system.
1950s – A worldwide, air and land transportable missile air
defence system
The next generation of missile air defence in Britain went through several stages of
evolution, during which corporate politics condemned the Bristol guided weapons
team to extinction. The team was vulnerable and two attempts to eliminate it were
made.
A suggestion by F W Higginson, GW Sales Director, during a ten minute car journey
resulted in a Bloodhound 1 missile being rapidly modifi ed to continuous wave guidance
by Ferranti. This missile destroyed the target aircraft with a direct hit. The other
contractors had not reached this stage, so the Bristol Bloodhound 2 was born. It was
designed and developed within budget and on programme for the Royal Air Force,
Sweden and Switzerland. Its speed, long range and advanced features gave it a very
long service life, during which it was deployed as a deterrent in many World trouble
The Bristol Bloodhound SAM
Missile. Photo by RWK. Courtesy of
spots.
www.wingweb.co.uk
’’60s60s
1960s – A supersonic transatlantic passenger aircraft
British Government and industry studies had defi ned the main features of a supersonic
transport aircraft and indicated that, with good structural and aerodynamic design, its
operating economics would be close to those of subsonic aircraft.
Concorde was successfully developed under an Anglo-French agreement, and saw
airline service for several decades. Its operating economics were not as good as had
been forecast and the gap widened, as subsonic technologies improved, until it was
withdrawn from service.
Concorde
This aircraft is an undoubted icon. On one occasion a Concorde, nose drooped
and undercarriage down, fl ew low over Crystal Palace Park, where a summer evening
symphony concert was being performed. The noise from the four Olympus engines
completely blotted out the music. The audience then applauded. A BOAC/BA
Concorde (G-BOAF) is on display at its Bristol home in Filton.
1960s – An aircraft which fl ies into space.
When international collaboration commenced on the Space Shuttle design, Bristol
supplied two British teams. They designed the payload bay doors and digital
instrumentation in Rockwell’s winning bid for development.
Engineering Designer July/August 2009
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