Thor Site components

[P Bellamy]

I've been compiling a number of photos showing some of the various support trailers etc. which I'll tidy up and post soon, but in the meantime here's a nice period advert to be going on with:



All the best,
PB

[Able Mabel]

Having taken quite a few photos of the Thor sites within the Hemswell sector then i would be interested in putting official name to such.
For example, at Breighton, i took photos of what i believe was some kind of Pyro building. Set back from the lauch pad and with a blast-wall surround so hopefully i will be able to resolve that one ?
Also did all site have a fire pool ?
There was one at Caistor, again away from the launch area.
I also have photos of the OS pillar(s) taken at Bardney and believe that the Copper plate was still within it but just didnt know what it was at the time . . .

[P Bellamy]

Each dispersed launch site had two USAF-controlled buildings, protected by an earth bank.
The smaller of the two buildings was a pyrotechnics store, which held the various charges for re-entry and warhead seperation etc., while the larger one was the "Classified Storage Building" which contained the actual warheads themselves.

All sites should originally have had a number of static fire pools, and there was a progressive upgrade which installed a fire hydrant system.
Not all sites may have received the hydrants by the time Thor was withdrawn.

All the best,
PB

[Carnaby]

... the various charges for re-entry and warhead seperation etc...

Glad you mentioned those.
I did a bit of research at TNA years ago when THOR files first became available. One document mentioned that they had trouble with these charges which kept going off accidentally .
Sounded very hazardous to me and I believe they were referring to ones fitted to the missile. AFAIK this snippet has not appeared in any of the books on the subject.

Graham

[P Bellamy]

There are 10 Major Pyrotechnics Failures listed in Appendix 9 of Project Emily, half of which were related to Re-Entry Vehicle latch releases self-activating.

All the best,
PB

[Carnaby]

How right you are, Paul (Do you have a photographic memory?). Appendices are sometimes more informative than the text.

Graham

[P Bellamy]

Thor Launch Pad Numbers

Feltwell Wing
1 2 3: Feltwell
4 5 6: Shepherds Grove
7 8 9: Tuddenham
10 11 12: Mepal
13 14 15: North Pickenham

Hemswell Wing
16 17 18: Hemswell
19 20 21: Bardney
22 23 24: Caistor
25 26 27: Coleby Grange
28 29 30: Ludford Magna

Driffield Wing
31 32 33: Driffield
34 35 36: Catfoss
37 38 39: Carnaby
40 41 42: Breighton
43 44 45: Full Sutton

North Luffenham Wing
46 47 48: North Luffenham
49 50 51: Harrington
52 53 54: Polebrook
55 56 57: Melton Mowbray
58 59 60: Folkingham

Compiled from data provided in Project Emily, and a bit of deduction to fill in the gaps.
Working out which pad was which at each site might be a bit more difficult...

All the best,
PB

[P Bellamy]

Slowly roughing out SketchUp models of the basic Thor site components.

Tonight, I've been mostly building the Carnaby site.
The black lines indicate where the inner and outer fencing will go:



Closeup of the compound entrance, again still very rough:



The Launch Control Area with 5,000 gal fuel tank is at the bottom.
Immediately above the gates are the two Type B wooden admin huts, with the brick combined Fire Tender and Police Car garage beside them.
The other brick building on the right with a fuel tank is the Power Conversion Building.
The gates are in the inner compound fence, the outer perimiter wire can be seen heading away either side.

As I say, it's all very basic at the moment, but gives an idea of how these sites looked.

All the best,
PB

[buccaneer66]

Paul

There are some sketchup models of Thor on the 3d wharehouse maybe of use to you.

[P Bellamy]

Ta Chris,

I've been using the three MisterMissile Thor Pad models for some time, albeit with a few tweaks here and there.
I've somewhat stupidly begun to rebuild the launch cradle/fuelling rig from scratch, using only the photos I have for reference... Not a wise move if you ever want to sleep at night.
What I really need is a decent scale plan of the launch pad, and the ancilliary buildings, and then I can really get going.

All the best,
PB