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DEAN
ARNETT looks at the county's intriguing contribution to the
age of space travel
A Blue
Streak rocket takes off |
Britain
was once in line to be home to the busiest spaceport in the
world, and our answer to Cape Canaveral could have been, of
all places, on the North Norfolk coast.
Only 40
years ago Britain had a thriving space rocket programme. Three
separate vehicles were under development - Blue
Streak, the by-then mothballed missile for delivering atomic
warheads to Russia, Black Knight and Black Arrow rockets.
Whilst
development went on, a search began for a possible launch site.
Three places were eventually short listed. The Outer Hebrides
came third, loosing out because of poor accessibility and unpredictable
weather.
Next under
consideration was Woomera in Australia. This site seemed ideal,
but was obviously a long way from home.
North
Norfolk is first choice
Nicholas
Hill, space historian |
The preferred
site was at Brancaster in North Norfolk. Space historian Nicholas
Hill has researched the thinking behind the Royal Aircraft Establishment's
apparently unlikely choice.
"It
was fairly close, it was convenient," he said. "If
you launched from Norfolk then you had a clear run over the
North Sea and over the polar icecap, and they thought this would
be an ideal site."
Brancaster
was relatively near Hatfield, Stevenage and London, all important
centres in the British Space Industry, and yet offered enough
remote land for support equipment and buildings for launches
of satellite-carrying rockets.
Previously
top secret plans dating back to 1966 show the flight path of
the rockets. The plans have only recently been released to the
public.
secret
plans>>>
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