Thor Bases given Listed status

[magmo]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2218349/Two-UK-missile-sites-given-listed-status-50th-anniversary-Cuban-missile-crisis.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

RAF Harrington and RAF Luffienham given listed status.

50 years ago today 5 miles from my house 3 thor missiles were fulled and raised to a vertical possition for launch, this has only been done once and meant we were 15 Mins away from WWIII.
Now the remains of the Harrington site sit by the side of a country road with hardly anyone aware of its importance in history is to be given Grade II listed status.

It is great news that they are now to be listed.

 

[Seahorse]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19958588

 

[P Bellamy]

The BBC have tied the news of the Harrington and North Luffenham Thor site listings in with their forthcoming "50th Anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis" programming, however both sites actually received their current listed status back in July 2011.

All the best,
PB

 

[krela]

Gotta love the BBC and their selective and self serving reporting!

 

[liquidity]

great news but i doubt anything will be done to preserve these listed sites as both landowners/ farmers are not very co operative in respect of this, which really makes the listed status worthless,its a common problem in respect of ex military sites of historical significance owned by unsympathetic / uninterested parties.The Cold War period in britain was a very significant time,we were literally on the front line then, its only proper that these bases should be recognised for this,They were constructed in record time and to very precise tolerances less than 1/8 th of an inch overall and over 660,000 square feet of concrete used on every installation,

 

[BikinGlynn]

Apparently Harrington was on a 4 min warning, but it took 45 min to set & arm!
We may of been in trouble if there ever was WWIII.

 

[liquidity]

Apparently Harrington was on a 4 min warning, but it took 45 min to set & arm!
We may of been in trouble if there ever was WWIII.

oh yeah there youd be setting up to launch and ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, lost communication ! must wonder what the personell felt, i heard that once missile was launched they had to return home, if they got there before the incoming that is!

 

[P Bellamy]

Thor countdown times were primarily limited by how long the missile could be held when fully fuelled, when the LOX would be happily boiling off with a limited supply to top the tank back up. The RP1 fuel was only loaded when the missile was actually going to be launched, as we didn't have the facilities to purge that side of the fuel system in the UK. For practice drills the RP1 was pumped into a fuel tanker on the pad, instead of into the missile (usually that is, at least one got properly fuelled by accident and had to be replaced)
A series of modifications were done during service to extend this time, and to shorten the entire launch sequence.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis anniversary a while back much was made of the RAF's V Force being brought up to 10 minute alert.
This was the norm for the Thor force at the time.

The original USAF plan, as they retained control over the warheads themselves, was that they would be stored at Mildenhall and trucked out the the launch sites when required. That was changed when the Air Ministry explained that it would take 48 hours to reach the Yorkshire sites and install them.