Early British ATGWs

[AMMOTECHXT]

Hello Clive,

With regards to Vigilant there was still a box and controller at the AS of A when I arrived there in 1985 - I don't know what happened to them, they may have ended up in the AS of A museum. As teaching aids we had cutaway versions of the missiles and some of the components and hopefully those would have ended up in the museum after the systems were declared obsolete. However space was limited and there was no storage space unless the AS of A had access to an old rail served ESH, so if something were added to the display, something else would no doubt have to be taken away. Vigilants were destroyed on the Otterburn dem ground, two missiles to a pit, with 2 x 50 Lb boxes of modern RDX/TNT chips, 2 boxes x 14 x 1Lb WW2 CE/TNT blocks and a small amount of PE4 and det cord to make the lot go (maximum NEQ per pit was 140 Lb). We still had to run around with fire beaters to put out fires caused by burning Vigilant flares that were thrown clear. I have some photos taken by one of my instructors from that time (I was still an apprentice) and will try to find them to post them as part of this thread. I believe the dem ground was closed for an indefinite period from the 1980s after one of my colleagues was injured in the stomach by shrapnel after a secondary explosion in one of the pits, when he returned to them to check all had blown. Something in the pit was still burning after the blow and as he reached the pit it exploded.

As you say, SS11 was a difficult beast to control. I went on two firing camps where about 40 practice missiles were fired in each. The helicopter had to be pretty static for the firer to have much chance of a hit. There was only one man I saw who was much good. His colleagues weren't able to do very well but hopefully they were new to the job. It didn't help when a guidance wire from a fired missile got wrapped up in a helicopter's rotor.

I believe ENTAC was before my time, although it was still in service with other countries.

Unfortunately I don't believe I ever photographed a Shorland. I had never heard of it before I saw one for the first time. I remember them swaying as they went round corners, probably due to the weight of the armour. Reminded me of a Robin Reliant (I was once a passenger in the back of a Robin Reliant, driven at speed - difficult to believe it could be driven at speed I guess - an unforgettable experience).

Midge was still in service when I became an instructor, although it was not one of my systems. I remember that it had a cassette for loading a number of photoflash cartridges for use of the camera at night. I would guess that such cartridges are fairly rare. The AN USD part of AN USD 501 was the acronym for `Automatic Navigated Unmanned Surveillance Drone'.

[TimG]

As a young child in about '66, I was given the carcass of Vigilant by my Father. This provided me with hours and hours entertainment. Alas, all I have left now is the gyro rotor shown.

TimG
gyro.jpg

[pzluchs]

National Archives have Project JAWL rocket research programme file. WO 32/20097