Project Emily

Project Emily
Thor missile launch, code name "Bean Ball", Vandenberg AFB, 3 August 1959. The third of 21 Thor missiles launched by RAF crews
Commercial?	No
Type of project	Missile deployments
Country	United Kingdom
Prime Minister(s)	Harold Macmillan
Key people	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Established	1959
Disestablished	1963

Project Emily was the deployment of American-built PGM-17 Thor intermediate-range ballistic missiles in the United Kingdom between 1959 and 1963. Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command operated 60 Douglas Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles, dispersed to 20 RAF air stations, as part of the UK nuclear deterrent force.

Due to concerns over the buildup of Soviet missiles, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower met Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in Bermuda in March 1957 to explore the possibility of short-term deployment on UK soil, until more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles were deployed. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, 59 of the RAF missiles, with their W49 1.44 megaton thermonuclear warheads, were brought to operational readiness. Intended to remain in place until 1968, the missile force was disbanded in 1963, and the missiles were returned to the U.S., most for eventual use in developing hardware and techniques as part of the space race.

Background

During the early part of the Second World War, Britain had a nuclear weapons project, codenamed Tube Alloys.^[1] At the Quebec Conference in August 1943, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill and the President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, signed the Quebec Agreement, which merged Tube Alloys with the American Manhattan Project to create a combined British, American and Canadian project.^[2] The British government trusted that the United States would continue to share nuclear technology, which it regarded as a joint discovery, after the war,^[3] but the United States Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) ended technical cooperation. Its control of "restricted data" prevented the United States' allies from receiving any information.^[4] Fearing a resurgence of American isolationism and Britain losing its great power status, the British government restarted its own development effort,^[5] now codenamed High Explosive Research.^[6]

Britain's nuclear weapons armament was initially based on free-fall bombs delivered by the V bomber force, but the possibility of the manned bomber becoming obsolete was foreseen. If Britain wanted to have a credible nuclear deterrent threat, a ballistic missile capability was essential. In April 1954 the Americans proposed a joint development programme for ballistic missiles. The United States would develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) of 5,000-nautical-mile (9,300 km) range, while the United Kingdom with United States support would develop a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) of 2,000-nautical-mile (3,700 km) range. The American missile was codenamed Atlas; the British was called Blue Streak.

RAF Strategic Missile (SM) stations and squadrons

Originally conceived as a four-squadron deployment, with each squadron controlling five "flights" of three missiles each, these flights were subsequently reconfigured into separate squadrons. For example, on 22 July 1959, C Flight of No. 77 Squadron was redesignated No. 107 Squadron.^[7]

The subsequent deployment was based on 4 "Strategic Missile Groups", each comprising five squadrons, and each squadron being equipped with three missiles.

The groups were based at RAF stations at Driffield, Feltwell, Hemswell and North Luffenham,^[8] with their satellite bases in close proximity:

North Luffenham and Feltwell came under No. 3 Group RAF, Air Vice-Marshal Michael Harington Dwyer Air Officer Commanding. Feltwell was also home to Bomber Command Strategic Missile School.^[9]

To defend the stations from enemy aircraft, RAF squadrons were raised with the Bristol Bloodhound surface-to-air missile: No. 112 Squadron was based at RAF Breighton, and No. 247 Squadron at RAF Carnaby from 1960.^[11][12]

Missile launches by RAF personnel

One Thor in Vandenberg AFB.

Over twenty RAF crews visited the USA for training, culminating in operational training launches from Vandenberg AFB:^[13]

The RAF personnel were trained by the 392nd Missile Training Squadron of the 704th Strategic Missile Wing of the 1st Missile Division, (USAF).

Listed status

In October 2012 the former launch sites at Harrington and North Luffenham were granted listed status.^[16]

Notes

References

• Boyes, John (2015). Thor Ballistic Missile: The United States and the United Kingdom in Partnership. Fonthill. ISBN 9781781554814. OCLC 921523156. 
• Cathcart, Brian (1995). Test of Greatness: Britain's Struggle for the Atom Bomb. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-5225-7. OCLC 31241690. 
• Cross, Kenneth (May 1963). "Bomber Command's Thor Missile Force". The RUSI Journal. 108 (630): 131–136. 
• Goldberg, Alfred (July 1964). "The Military Origins of the British Nuclear Deterrent". International Affairs. 40 (3): 409–429. JSTOR 2610825. doi:10.2307/2610825. 
• Gowing, Margaret (1964). Britain and Atomic Energy 1939–1945. London: Macmillan. OCLC 3195209. 
• Gowing, Margaret; Arnold, Lorna (1974a). Independence and Deterrence: Britain and Atomic Energy, 1945–1952, Volume 1, Policy Making. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-15781-8. OCLC 611555258. 
• Gowing, Margaret; Arnold, Lorna (1974b). Independence and Deterrence: Britain and Atomic Energy, 1945–1952, Volume 2, Policy and Execution. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-16695-7. OCLC 946341039. 
• Hewlett, Richard G.; Anderson, Oscar E. (1962). The New World, 1939–1946 (PDF). University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-520-07186-7. OCLC 637004643. Retrieved 26 March 2013. 
• Jefford, C. G. (1988). RAF Squadrons: a comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85310-053-6. 
• Wynn, Humphrey (1997). RAF Strategic Nuclear Deterrent Forces, Their Origins, Roles and Deployment, 1946–1969. A documentary history. London: The Stationery Office. ISBN 0-11-772833-0. 
• Young, Ken (Spring 2007). "A Most Special Relationship: The Origins of Anglo-American Nuclear Strike Planning". Journal of Cold War Studies. 9 (2): 5–31. doi:10.1162/jcws.2007.9.2.5. 
• Young, Ken (2016). The American Bomb in Britain: US Air Forces' Strategic Presence 1946–64. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-8675-5. OCLC 942707047. 

Further reading

• Jim Wilson Launch Pad UK: Britain and the Cuban Missile Crisis ISBN 1-84415-799-7

External links

• Official website
• "Thor Missile deployment in the UK". Carpetbagger Aviation Museum. 
• Thor Logistics Flight 1960
• Secret-bases.co.uk guide to aerial views of Thor sites amongst others
• Thors for the RAF Flight 1959