Raf harrington/nuclear thor missile launch pads jan 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

Well done on finding that and the research into it.

night crawler said:

Well done on finding that and the research into it.

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Cheers night crawler

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

Goldie87 said:

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

Nice work Alex good to see you out and about

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

Nice report mate loved it thanks for sharing

theartist said:

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

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

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

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!

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!

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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.

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!

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!

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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.

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.

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.