No, not a distraction munition.
In 1954 the Royal Society proposed to the Ministry of Suppy a programme of upper atmosphere research using rockets to determine wind structure, temperature and pressure up to about 90km. The Americans had already been doing this for several years and had used rocket-borne grenades to generate a sound pulse, which was the essential ingredient of the experiments. The Skylark Rocket was developed for this programme by the Royal Aircraft Establishment and they were also responsible for the grenades and ejection mechanism. Firings were undertaken by the Weapons Research Establishment, Australia.
Eighteen special grenades were mounted in the Skylark. The grenades were built on a modified RAF 1.75-inch Photoflash cartridge by Royal Ordnance Factory, Chorley. The ejected grenade component comprised a 20g CE exploder, a 77g TNT/Al booster charge and a main filling of 340g SR809 pyrotechnic composition (Aluminium, potassium perchlorate and barium nitrate).
Ground sensors measured rocket trajectory, time of detonation (from the light pulse), time of the sound to travel to numerous ground stations. Subsequent number crunching resulted in the generation of pressure and density profiles which were no doubt used for peaceful weather purposes.
In 1954 the Royal Society proposed to the Ministry of Suppy a programme of upper atmosphere research using rockets to determine wind structure, temperature and pressure up to about 90km. The Americans had already been doing this for several years and had used rocket-borne grenades to generate a sound pulse, which was the essential ingredient of the experiments. The Skylark Rocket was developed for this programme by the Royal Aircraft Establishment and they were also responsible for the grenades and ejection mechanism. Firings were undertaken by the Weapons Research Establishment, Australia.
Eighteen special grenades were mounted in the Skylark. The grenades were built on a modified RAF 1.75-inch Photoflash cartridge by Royal Ordnance Factory, Chorley. The ejected grenade component comprised a 20g CE exploder, a 77g TNT/Al booster charge and a main filling of 340g SR809 pyrotechnic composition (Aluminium, potassium perchlorate and barium nitrate).
Ground sensors measured rocket trajectory, time of detonation (from the light pulse), time of the sound to travel to numerous ground stations. Subsequent number crunching resulted in the generation of pressure and density profiles which were no doubt used for peaceful weather purposes.