# Raf harrington/nuclear thor missile launch pads jan 2012



## alex76 (Jan 13, 2012)

Well I came across this place when I was researching some railway porn which is in the same area which I was planning to visit.
So when I was having a look on Google earth I spotted this old A shaped airfield with three strange looking buildings attached to one of the runways which I found interesting.
So as it was my day off work I loaded up the canon and my tripod in to my bag and hoped on my push bike and cycled off to Harrington which is about an hours bike ride away.
Well this site will have to be revisited as it has so many little tricks hidden away waiting to be explored and also as I was trotting around I managed to get a puncher and had to head back.

A little history (it’s worth googling very interesting) From Wikipedia
USAAF use

The airfield was opened in September 1943 and was originally planned as a satellite for No. 84 OTU at RAF Desborough. The airfield was built by 826th and 852nd Engineer Battalions of the US Army intended for heavy bomber use and was completed in the spring of 1944.
Harrington was allocated to the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force and assigned USAAF designation Station 179.

RAF Bomber Command Thor Missile use (cold war)

After the war, Harrington gradually fell into disuse returning to farmland. However the base received a new lease of life when it was selected to become one of the RAF's Thor missile sites in 1958. Three rocket launch pads were constructed together with ancillary buildings, the whole area being declared top security, fenced off and floodlighted.
The IRBM WS-315A missile system had a range of 1,500 nautical miles (2,780 km) and was developed by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation during 1955-56. Deployment with RAF Bomber Command began in December 1958 before being phased out with the advent of the manned V-bombers in 1963.

Civil use

With the deactivation of the Thor missiles, Harringon was returned to agriculture. Almost all of the concreted areas of the airfield were removed for hardcore. Today, with the exception of some single-tracked agricultural roads that outline the former perimeter track, there is very little left of Harrington airfield, although the three Thor Missile launch pads are still clearly visible.

on with some pics

how the airfield looked in 1944








RAF Harrington has three identical launch pads
























And the Thor layout with these concrete structure marked out


















I'm not sure if this is a firing range or some kind of blast wall












The Revetment stores












A few more of how it look in its hayday












One of the missiles leaving RAF harrington in 1963






well a revisit is on the cards as i missed a fair bit 

Thanks for looikng


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## night crawler (Jan 13, 2012)

Well done on finding that and the research into it.


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## alex76 (Jan 13, 2012)

night crawler said:


> Well done on finding that and the research into it.



Cheers night crawler


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## Goldie87 (Jan 13, 2012)

Nice one, good to see some pics of the place. Did you not go to the museum? its well worth a visit.


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## alex76 (Jan 13, 2012)

Goldie87 said:


> Nice one, good to see some pics of the place. Did you not go to the museum? its well worth a visit.



No unfortunately it was closed but when I go back I will make sure its open. Cheers goldie


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## Priority 7 (Jan 13, 2012)

Nice work Alex good to see you out and about


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## alex76 (Jan 14, 2012)

Cheers p7 it was nice to be out the last explore i done was with you guys and i was starting to chew me camera strap :goofy: lol


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## magmo (Jan 14, 2012)

It is one of the best remaining Thor sites Here are some pics from 2007 http://www.urbex.puffinpost.com/harrington.php

The wall you say may be a blast wall is a test firing butt for test firing guns on aircraft and would have been fron the WWII use.

It is well worth a visit.


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## godzilla73 (Jan 14, 2012)

magmo said:


> The wall you say may be a blast wall is a test firing butt for test firing guns on aircraft and would have been fron the WWII use.



Yep - definitely. It looks just like the one that remains at RAF Kenley


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## flyboys90 (Jan 14, 2012)

Great report,the B&W pics are quite an eyeopener!


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## theartist (Jan 14, 2012)

i dont believe it, an uncamoflaged rocket rolling through the village, really bad security. the enemy might see it


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## urban phantom (Jan 14, 2012)

Nice report mate loved it thanks for sharing


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## kathyms (Jan 14, 2012)

theartist said:


> i dont believe it, an uncamoflaged rocket rolling through the village, really bad security. the enemy might see it



fantastic pics and research alex, i love those old pics that show how it was and the rocket going through the town unbelievable.


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## krela (Jan 14, 2012)

I love the face there's a guy sat just in front of the rear axle... madness.


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## BunkerBoy (Jan 14, 2012)

Just a quick post to correct a few items and add some info, I'm a bit of a Thor nerd, so it's not crticism (I used to frequent 28DL too, so I'm not an 'outsider').

The great photo of the missile passing through Rothwell is of it going _to_ Harrington, not from. There are a few of these photos on the web - quite easy to find, another good one is in Weldon - amazing that these things were in plain sight, but then again, when upright on the pads they could be seen for miles and vulnerable to anything like a .22 bullet or bigger. These missiles were flown in to airheads in the UK from the US, then taken by road to North Luffenham (for this wing) where they were checked over before being taken by road to the dispersed sites. The guy at the back of the trailer was there to steer the rear wheels of the trailer (there was another chap the other side). These trailers had to be modified from fixed rear wheels to cope with our narrow roads with tight corners.

The brick wall is indeed the shooting butts from the WWII airfield

The two buildings surrounded by the earth berm; the smallest is the pyrotechnics store (where the squibs for igniting the rocket motors were stored), the largest building contained the three nuclear warheads - a bloody sobering thought. These two buildings were solely under American control, no UK personnel were allowed into this sub-compound.

The launch of the missile was under UK control, the arming of the warheads under US control, the idea being that they could only be used in the event of UK/US agreement, though the control systems were very primitive and various methods were found in the early days of overriding the US controls (screwdriver, knocking a particular panel in a Fonz stlye), or removing the back cover (not tamperproofed) and effecting a quick re-wire. All of these were ironed out such that the dual key system we have today (spaced more than one man's reach) was born.

The musuem opens in Easter, it's well worth a visit.

I could write more on this topic, but at the risk of getting boring. 

Great further reading: _Project Emily - Thor and the RAF_ by John Boyes.

Oh yes, 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile crisis this year; many think the Thor force was disbanded as an appeasement to Kruschev, but he was upset about the Jupiter missiles in Italy & Turkey, though Thor as a deterrent certainly served it's purpose during those 14 days in October 1962, with 59 of the 60 strong Thor force being at 15 minutes readiness during that period. 

Hope you don't mind my contribution!


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## krela (Jan 14, 2012)

BunkerBoy said:


> Just a quick post to correct a few items and add some info, I'm a bit of a Thor nerd, so it's not crticism (I used to frequent 28DL too, so I'm not an 'outsider').
> 
> <snip>
> 
> Hope you don't mind my contribution!



We don't have insiders or outsiders here, everyone is welcome. 

What you shared is really interesting, not boring at all. History is important otherwise the buildings we document are just bricks and mortar or bits of concrete. Context is what makes it fascinating.


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## BunkerBoy (Jan 14, 2012)

Thanks!

Other similar forums have got a bit 'cliquey' lately, so I felt I should explain myself.

I shall be spending more time here I think!


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## krela (Jan 14, 2012)

BunkerBoy said:


> Thanks!
> 
> Other similar forums have got a bit 'cliquey' lately, so I felt I should explain myself.
> 
> I shall be spending more time here I think!



No cliques here, what you see is what you get. There are no "quality" tests, newbie forums or secret insider forums. 

Oh, and we love good information and history.


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## BunkerBoy (Jan 14, 2012)

Oh yes, and of course RAF Harrington as Station 179 had a really interesting role during WWII, as a satellitle to RAF Desbrough initially, it quickly changed over to the US 8th Air Force. The 'Carpetbaggers' as they were known, dropped those brave Special Operations Executive (SOE) agents into occupied France and then kept them and the resistance supplied with kit.

This site is really atmospheric - I've been to scores of old airfields, but at this one it's very easy to let your imagination run and you can almost feel the history.


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## klempner69 (Jan 14, 2012)

Very interesting..I went to RAF Folkinham and saw some remains similar to this but having seen your report,its now a lot clearer what was at Folkinham.


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## BunkerBoy (Jan 14, 2012)

klempner69 said:


> Very interesting..I went to RAF Folkinham and saw some remains similar to this but having seen your report,its now a lot clearer what was at Folkinham.



There are / were 20 sites accross the UK, each with three pads, some have been totally obliterated, and others are decaying to the point that another 10 years will see them beyond interpretation.

The one at RAF Feltwell for instance, is now under a golf course for example.

EDIT:

I've just dug out this StreetView image I saved on Photobucket a few years ago, contrast it with the contemporary image in the OP, not much has changed!


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## alex76 (Jan 14, 2012)

Got to say a big thank you bunkerboy for your info very interesting indeed. When I done this thread yesterday the amount of history on the web kept me awake till silly Am fantastic read.
I have lived in Kettering (Near to Harrington) most of my life and never knew this site was there fantastic.
O and welcome to derelict places mate and thanks again


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## vixil (Jan 14, 2012)

*The Mighty Thor*

Hi Alex,

Thanx & respect for awesome pics & research of this subject. 
I recall the things being 'necessary for the defence of the free world' back in the cold war of my childhood 

Many people must have been involved in their installation & would be interesting to hear from them...also the people in the High St watching the convoys, even the guy sat by the wheel of the trailer lol.

Do any fellow travellers know if any of the missiles were test fired in the uk? 

vixil


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## BunkerBoy (Jan 14, 2012)

alex76 said:


> Got to say a big thank you bunkerboy for your info very interesting indeed. When I done this thread yesterday the amount of history on the web kept me awake till silly Am fantastic read.
> I have lived in Kettering (Near to Harrington) most of my live and never knew this site was there fantastic.
> O and welcome to derelict places mate and thanks again



No problem at all. 

I got interested in Thor about 5 years ago after looking at old airfields on Google Earth and wondering WTF was in the fields at Harrington. Like you, I spent many hours (and the rest...) looking into this topic; there's lots lof info available, but considering it's relatively recent history, there are some yawning gaps in it too. And there are chaps that know much more about it than I do.

There are virtually no site drawings or similar in The National Archive (it is believed most of it was shipped back to the US along with the missiles), and given that most of the chaps that worked on Project Emily (the codename for the Thor deployment) are still with us, finding out the details should be straightforward. It isn't!

218 Squadron, the outfit operating Thor at Harrington, have a squadron association, but unless you want to talk about Wellingtons or Lancasters don't seem to be bothered. A pity; this is a fundamental part of our defence history - of worldwide significance. These missiles were the first proper nuclear missiles the West had, even if they were only a stop gap until the Intercontinental stuff could be developed.


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## BunkerBoy (Jan 14, 2012)

vixil said:


> Do any fellow travellers know if any of the missiles were test fired in the uk?
> 
> vixil



Nope. Most RAF crews got to launch one round (cute name for a nuclear missile), a missile was taken from its dispersed site and flown back to the US to Vandenberg AFB, where the RAF crew got to light the blue touch paper in what was known as a CTL (Combat Training Launch).

Incidentally, we had our own missile system called Blue Streak which was tested at Spadeadam in Cumbria and on the Isle of Wight. Test firings of the missiles were carried out but were clamped so that they never took off. We did launch some rockets from Woomera in Australia and recently some bits that survived re-entry were discovered in the Bush. Co-ordinates were for sale on ebay...

I know some oldsters from the area and they recall seeing the missiles going along the roads, a pity that no-one had camera-phones back then!

Interestingly, the British public were remarkably uninformed about the whole programme (top secret of course), but the CND seemed to know long before anyone else where the sites were to be constructed and made a real nuisance of themselves during construction.

There's some contemporary footage on British Pathe here. Also footage on movietone.com but you need to register (free) to see it, search term 'thor' (obviously).


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## P Bellamy (Jan 15, 2012)

As BB has mentioned, all the RAF launches took place at Vandyland.

Here's Thor 272 prior to CTL 3 "Center Board" in 1960:






Plenty of launch practices in the UK though, live warheads fitted but only the liquid oxygen was actually pumped into the missile, the RP1 fuel being pumped into a spare bowser instead, just in case:

Partial LOX fill, venting slightly as the tank fills:






And once full, excess LOX gets dumped into the boil-off pit alongside the pad:


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## BunkerBoy (Jan 15, 2012)

P Bellamy said:


> As BB has mentioned, all the RAF launches took place at Vandyland.



Hi Paul, Fancy seeing you here!


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## P Bellamy (Jan 15, 2012)

Well, someone mentioned the magic T-word...


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## BunkerBoy (Jan 15, 2012)

That's what dragged me from being a lurker to a poster!


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## P Bellamy (Jan 15, 2012)

After seeing the sorry state the Classified Storage Building has fallen into I dug out some photos I took sometime in the late 80s/ early 90s.
I must get them scanned sometime, but back then the roofs and gutters were intact on both buildings, and the Pyro Store still had its steel door in place.


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## alex76 (Jan 15, 2012)

P Bellamy said:


> After seeing the sorry state the Classified Storage Building has fallen into I dug out some photos I took sometime in the late 80s/ early 90s.
> I must get them scanned sometime, but back then the roofs and gutters were intact on both buildings, and the Pyro Store still had its steel door in place.



Nice one i look forward to seeing them


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## Chris34 (Jan 15, 2012)

Nice one Mate! Will come along on the next one, bloody Work getting in the way


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## alex76 (Jan 15, 2012)

Chris34 said:


> Nice one Mate! Will come along on the next one, bloody Work getting in the way



Yeah you missed a good one bud was a nice relaxed solo. looked into the one we are doing next week and that also was a Thor missile lauch site and yeah the control room will defo be flooded should still be a good one though


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## reddwarf9 (Jan 15, 2012)

nice report and pics and some great history also - somewhere ive been meaning to take a look at myself including the museum

of course northants had a second site on the other side of the county at polebrook where you can still see the shape of the launch pads on google earth


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## vixil (Jan 15, 2012)

BunkerBoy said:


> Nope. Most RAF crews got to launch one round (cute name for a nuclear missile), a missile was taken from its dispersed site and flown back to the US to Vandenberg AFB, where the RAF crew got to light the blue touch paper in what was known as a CTL (Combat Training Launch).
> 
> Incidentally, we had our own missile system called Blue Streak which was tested at Spadeadam in Cumbria and on the Isle of Wight. Test firings of the missiles were carried out but were clamped so that they never took off. We did launch some rockets from Woomera in Australia and recently some bits that survived re-entry were discovered in the Bush. Co-ordinates were for sale on ebay...
> 
> ...



Very interesting bunkerboy, ty ........also for the pathe link, lots of interesting stuff there.
vixil


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## P Bellamy (Jan 15, 2012)

alex76 said:


> Nice one i look forward to seeing them



Here we are Alex, apologies for the light leaks on some of them.
My camera had a slight accident on the bike ride home that day, when it fell out of my bag and burst open on the road. Luckily I was able to salvage _most_ of the exposed film.

Revetted US Warhead Compound area:






Pyrotechnics Store:






Classified Storage Building:






Views from the top of the revetment, turning clockwise...

Launch Emplacement No. 51:






Launch Emplacement No. 50:






CSB:






Pyro Store:






All the best,
PB


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## UrbanX (Jan 15, 2012)

Nice bit of research Alex! And lovely pics as usual. I'm surprised so much is left!


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## alex76 (Jan 16, 2012)

Thank you PB for sharing your images i really enjoyed them... how the buildings have changed in the last 20-30 years or so. It’s also nice to see some 35mm film shots I do think the old film camera take a lot better picture and nice one on saving them.

And thank you all for sharing you info and comments to this thread I’m glad you all have enjoyed it as much as I have as it is very interesting cheers again guys


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## Andymacg (Jan 16, 2012)

cheers alex for the pictures and bunkerboy for the history


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## BunkerBoy (Jan 16, 2012)

Andymacg said:


> cheers alex for the pictures and bunkerboy for the history



A pleasure.


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## cptpies (Jan 16, 2012)

If you are into Thor and the like Bunker Boy you may well be interested in this Forum if you haven't discovered it already. http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/forumdisplay.php?93-Thor


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## BunkerBoy (Jan 16, 2012)

cptpies said:


> If you are into Thor and the like Bunker Boy you may well be interested in this Forum if you haven't discovered it already. http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/forumdisplay.php?93-Thor



You might recognize my avatar on that forum...


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## smiler (Jan 16, 2012)

Shit, they look nasty.


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## gingrove (Jan 16, 2012)

Just found the RAF Harrington Museum Website - Lots of interesting things there!
http://harringtonmuseum.org.uk/CarpetbaggerMuseumHomePage.htm


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## cptpies (Jan 17, 2012)

BunkerBoy said:


> You might recognize my avatar on that forum...



Doh! I thought it looked familiar.


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## BunkerBoy (Jan 17, 2012)

cptpies said:


> Doh! I thought it looked familiar.



I resurrected my old Urbex handle for this forum, it seemed appropriate. Why I feel the need to some up with daft names I don't know. Seems like a good idea at the time


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